ג'רמין בראיון ל-Essence Magazine
ESSENCE.COM: Was it an amicable parting? DUPRI: I haven't spoken to L.A. [Reid] in three months. I don't know if it's amicable [considering] that they claim they put me out. I feel like it's not amicable. Don't lie, be real about the situation. It goes back to their having the attitude of let's try and do something that's going to hurt this person, because if it hurts us we have nowhere to go after this, but he does and has at least another 20 more years in this business. Again, if L.A. [Reid] gets fired, there will be at least another ten people who will also get fired and we'll never see them again. Def Jam is like one big clique. ESSENCE.COM: Although it's been three months since you've spoken to L.A. Reid, would you be open to reconciliation? DUPRI: I don't know. I saw a side of him that I had never seen before and that to me was a jealous side. I don't know if I should be around people who are jealous of me. Mariah Carey sold more records in that entire Def Jam building and all of that was through my singles; so I'm looking like the golden boy. I only started thinking about it after I left. ESSENCE.COM: Does Janet support your decision? DUPRI: We don't get down like that. She's Janet Jackson without Jermaine Dupri and vice versa. That's how we met doing our own thing. I talk to her about some things but it is what it is. I have to stay in my own lane-that's where Bobby Brown messed up. (Laughs.) ESSENCE.COM: Gossipmongers speculate that your departure was inevitable after Janet Jackson left because you left Virgin Urban Music after Janet left to go to Def Jam. Did Janet's departure from Island influence your decision in any way? DUPRI: No, not really. For a while I had to figure out the bad part about Janet's departure. She was on Island Def Jam and no one ever heard me speak on the situation. Here I'm still working in the building with the people that aren't treating my girlfriend right, but I never let my business and her business get mixed up. She might have been upset about me still being around, but it was never a situation where I was like, "This is bad; I have to move because of this." Janet was handled through L.A. He chased her because he wanted to get her on the label so bad, and when things didn't go right he had a scapegoat for her whole album [not doing well]-me. But what people don't know is that Janet's whole album was designed and made by him. He picked every song. I produced two songs on the entire album. I had a better track record with her at Virgin. ESSENCE.COM: When it comes to your passion for music you are strongly convicted about what you will and won't tolerate. What happened with the Grammy Board? DUPRI: The same thing happened-they let me down. I was the president of the Atlanta chapter. The Grammys chose not to have Janet on the show because of the whole Super Bowl incident. Now, here I am as the president, and you think when you're in that position you can impact and change things. Once they showed me that being a president didn't mean that, I left. He also answered questions about the recent rumors that Janet was pregnant with his child: ESSENCE.COM: As one of the most respected producers and songwriters in the biz you are often the focus of many rumors; one of them is that you and Janet Jackson are expecting a child. Is that true? DUPRI: That's false. The media doesn't care about publicists anymore. I had my publicist send out a written statement about it. No babies, nothing. ESSENCE.COM: Do you and Janet plan to start a family? DUPRI: Yeah, of course. That's going happen. We have to keep our careers and get all the rigmarole out the way but yes, that's something that will definitely happen. ESSENCE.COM: And can we expect you and Janet to continue your musical alliance at another label? DUPRI: Absolutely. We're going to always do that.