Jermaine Dupri recently told a remarkable star about how he and Jay-Z tried to sign 2 Chainz and his surprising response. Moreover, the multi-hyphenate artist spoke on his experience with I Am Athlete and spoke about how Chainz's response affected him. Perhaps that isn't the right word, but the fact that he refused to sign with him and Hov as a teen left Dupri quite surprised. Furthermore, the Georgia MC told Dupri something that he hasn't seen much since then. However, he also spoke on how it could've been a missed opportunity, considering Jermaine's success at helping other young artists break through.
"I tried to sign 2 Chainz one day," the Asheville, North Carolina-born entrepreneur began. "It's crazy because me and Jay-Z- I was in Jay-Z's office one day. I call 2 Chainz, I'm like 'Yo, me and Hov wanna sign you.' He was like- he said, 'OG, respectfully, it's a young man's game.' And I said... 'You do know who you're talking to, right?' So when somebody say that to me, I'm trying to find out where they got that from. Because the only two successful teenage n***as to ever come out in hip-hop came from me. Bow Wow came ten years after Kris Kross, and he was the same age. He was 12. When I put them out, they was 11 and 12."
Jermaine Dupri Shocked By 2 Chainz Refusing To Sign With Jay-Z
Still, his comments aren't necessarily unfounded, as he went on to detail how instrumental he was to Bow Wow and Kris Kross's come up. “I brought that energy to Hip-Hop," he expressed. "There has never been anybody younger than Kris Kross and Bow Wow, that sold more records than Kris’s Kross and Bow Wow. There was no ‘lil’s’ before Bow Wow." Also, he spoke on how his idea for BET's popular music video countdown series 106 & Park helped Bow Wow succeed.
“106 & Park was created by me,” he remarked. “I went to Stephen Hill at BET and told him, ‘Listen. MTV has a TV show called TRL. They let the Backstreet Boys, and N’SYNC, and all these boys come on there and that’s they[‘re] show. I said ‘Yo, we need this in Black music.’ He ain’t know what Bow Wow was gonna be. We put out ‘Bounce With Me’ and they created 106 & Park. “That’s why I named Bow Wow ‘Mr. 106 & Park,’ because I created the show. I basically told them ‘You gotta do this.’” For more hip-hop stories from Jermaine Dupri and more leaders, stick around on HNHH for the latest revelations.
