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Magic City Doc: Jermaine Dupri Reveals Untold Stories 🌟 | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Jul 22, 2025
Jermaine Dupri sits down with Sway In The Morning for an exclusive interview, diving into his legacy as the mastermind behind 100% hit-making classics. From producing and writing for legends like Mariah Carey, Usher, and Bow Wow, to shaping the sound of hip-hop and R&B, JD breaks down his revolutionary approach to songwriting and his unparalleled dedication to creating timeless music. He also shares insights on his upcoming album and the highly-anticipated Starz docuseries, "Magic City: An American Fantasy," showcasing Atlanta’s rich cultural history. Discover how Jermaine’s visionary leadership reshaped the music industry, his thoughts on today’s generation of artists, and his journey to becoming an iconic ambassador for Atlanta. Don’t miss this in-depth conversation full of inspiration, untold stories, and exclusive revelations. Subscribe for more iconic interviews and stay tuned to Sway's Universe for the best in hip-hop, culture, and entertainment! #JermaineDupri #SwayInTheMorning #MagicCityDocuseries #HipHopLegends #100PercentHits 🎶 #sway #rnb #flstudio #howtomakemusic #musicproduction CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Jermaine Dupri’s Impact on Music 02:16 - Jermaine Dupri’s Journey to Self-Discovery 07:23 - The Biggest Challenge Jermaine Dupri Faced as a Producer 09:58 - Jermaine Dupri’s Impact on Atlanta 19:58 - Importance of Magic City 24:01 - Jermaine Dupri on Kandi Burruss & Tiny’s Writing Process 26:40 - Producing True Superstars in Today’s Generation 35:00 - Calls 42:05 - JD Embracing Current Trends 44:10 - JD’s New Single Release 45:43 - JD’s Influence on Young Artists in Rap
View Video Transcript
0:00
When this man talks have to be, I shut up. Got to listen. I practice one of my best assets and
0:07
qualities is the ability to listen and observe big facts and absorb at the same time and take
0:13
information, gems, nourishment as you receive them and and and utilize them as
0:18
such. When I look at the duration of this man's career, which I'm very fortunate cuz I was there when it first
0:24
started. I was I was in the industry. That's incredible. when it first started. Um, I think it's a case study,
0:31
you know, and it's interesting. I remember when JD really started speaking out, telling his own story, right? And I
0:40
remember you coming on the show and it was like, man, you really been telling your own story, and you felt like it was
0:47
necessary. So, when you said things like, "I'm the greatest." And people wanted to debate it, whether you
0:53
convinced them that you were or not, you got a chance to tell your story. And when you line up all the different
0:58
projects that this man has worked on, all the different eras that he has transcended, all the different ways he
1:05
has reinvented himself, all the different platforms he's created to produce different artists who have now
1:12
gone on to be the some of the greatest artists in the world, whether it's Mariah Carey to Usher, the Lotto, you
1:19
know, you you have to sit back and go, damn, man. This dude got it right and
1:25
he's always had it and he continues to have it. And today we're celebrating a new project that he's working on, a new
1:32
album that he's working on. He had an album release party last night. He got
1:37
that I wasn't invited to. But hey, man, listen. Wait. I don't know, man. Wait.
1:45
Somebody look at somebody in the room. I don't know what's happening. Looking at this dude and they shook my hand.
1:50
They ain't have your number. You move to the west coast. I did move to Hollywood and uh we celebrating the new Stars docu
1:57
series Magic City, an American fantasy um executive produced by Germaine Dri
2:03
himself coming out August 15th, 2025 on Stars. Give it up for the legendary, the
2:09
iconic one, Germaine Dri. All right. All right. Hell of an intro, man. A hell of an
2:16
intro. I was in the flow. I didn't want to stop. Yeah, man. There is somebody talking before and I'm
2:22
like who that sound like me. I ain't expect to hear that but I'm like
2:28
that guy sounds like me talking. Oh man. I like when you talk. Okay. I appreciate that. And in this day
2:35
and age where everybody's talking everybody talking. Everybody talking. I've now focused and
2:42
zeroed in on people who I know have done it, have experienced it, and we witnessed it. And I like when you talk.
2:49
A lot of us, you don't see me do a lot of talking. I don't go out and do a lot of talking. That's not in my wheelhouse
2:55
right now. But I appreciate when when people do. Um, and I do recall you saying, "I got
3:01
to tell my own story." Now, we see how important that is because they're erasing stories, you
3:07
know, they're erasing history in our education system. Um, you know, with these new platforms, people tell half
3:13
stories and halftruths and then they become the narratives, right? Yeah. Um, but you got to learn how to talk,
3:19
man. You've been very comfortable talking out loud. Was it always like that? Um, no. I mean, you know, um, yeah, you
3:27
had to find why you should speak. Yeah. Um, and I I had to find my why.
3:35
Uh, it took me probably 25 years to find that why, I
3:40
should speak. Mhm. And um I think that it it it it really occurred to me that I should start
3:46
speaking after the um Songwriters Hall of Fame. Mhm. Cuz that's when I realized that people
3:52
like myself really exist and um and but we didn't have people speaking for us.
3:59
You know what I mean? Um people always just assume what they assume. And that's what I started realizing. I'm like,
4:05
"Okay, people just they don't they don't really understand who you are. They assume you are this person, but they
4:11
don't really know who you are. And the Songwriters Hall of Fame made me realize that because it was like a bunch
4:18
of writers in there that I didn't know and but I but I saw that we're doing the
4:25
same thing that I was doing and they had the ability and had the disability at
4:31
the same time. Cuz we have an ability, but we also have a disability. And that's like writing songs. And I
4:37
don't sing. I c I can't sing. Um, but I can sing. You know what I mean? And but
4:42
I but people don't know this, right? So when people talk about me, they think I'm like a 20% writer.
4:48
Yeah. Or like if you look at these new records, it's like a hundred different writers on these records. You look at my records, it's just one
4:55
person name on there, right? So you don't hear people talk about 100%. Um like we like when we talk
5:02
about like people discussing like crisscross the first album or whatever whatever these albums are escape um
5:08
Usher my way these these songs or whatever it is people really discuss it from a perspective of like I'm just a
5:14
producer and he probably gave somebody an idea they don't really understand like I
5:20
wrote these songs 100%. He's a 100enter. I ain't heard that.
5:27
I ain't heard that expression. This This is Haley's comment right here.
5:33
This is a rare species. 100enter. Yeah. Like, you know, like I said, and
5:39
it's but like I said, I I I have to listen to what everybody else is saying to understand that I should start saying
5:44
this because I don't think, you know, I think, like I said, some people have it just
5:49
in their mind that I'm I'm just like this person or I'm just like this person. And it ain't really nobody that
5:56
could actually get y'all to understand I'm not like this person besides me other than yourself. So, when we look at
6:02
like you and everybody got their way of creating their pie. Some producers do like to have 50 people in the room and
6:09
and that's fine. That's their thing. So when we hear about a Kanye session that
6:14
has a ton of writers in it or, you know, a Dr. Dre session that might have a ton
6:20
ton of writers and producers, in your mind, you're saying, "Well, that kind of separates me from everybody else."
6:27
Yeah. And and by the way, I want people to listen. I want people that's listening to understand it didn't happen that way because I wanted it to. Yeah,
6:34
it happened because I was, you know, I was disabled to and I'm disabled might not be the word, but I was so young
6:40
that I ain't have reach the right if if that if that was even a
6:45
thing, right? I ain't have no access to other people to be like, "Yo, I'm making a beat come over my house."
6:52
I was way too young to even have, you know, damn near have a phone back then. Uh it was, you know what I mean? It was
6:58
like, so all I had was myself, right? And if I wanted to get to where I had to go, I had to be the person to do it. And
7:06
so, so I it's not like and like I said, at that period of time, you're not even thinking about I wasn't thinking about,
7:11
oh, I should have somebody else, right? I'm just thinking about I got to get I got I got to get to where I'm trying to
7:16
go, you know? Wow, man. I love this, man. Germaine Depri is here. Give him a big round of applause. U when I think about all the
7:24
the different projects you've worked on, you mentioned Escape, you mentioned crisscross. Well, you know, we that Ari
7:31
Linux, man, you know, that pressure always that was one of my favorite songs, you know, you know, Money Long
7:37
came up here and she did um uh the the questions. She wrapped over the question beat 21 questions. 21 questions up here. I
7:44
saw that. Uh who has been the biggest challenge for you as an artist to really produce
7:51
and write for? Um, I always say brat, you know, because because um,
8:00
in a space where you are a writer and you have, you know, you I'm coming off
8:05
crisscross. Boom. I'm coming off escape. Boom. Um, and then I'm going to brat and
8:14
um, it wasn't boom immediately for me, right? And it's like that's the time that I become become challenged and
8:21
became challenged or whatever. It's that that's that time when it's like, okay, you know, you start secondg guessing
8:27
yourself and you start believing the hype, you know, like people told me crisscross was luck.
8:33
You know what I'm saying? Um, escape. I I I start believing it was luck cuz I'm like I never did this
8:39
before, but I never wrote for girls to sing what I want to say. That's what I'm saying. I don't think people even take that into their understanding.
8:46
Yeah. Like Just Kicking It was written 100% by me.
8:51
Nobody wrote one line, right? It's females singing this and you don't have to think, you don't think about
8:57
that. And by the way, even me, this is my first time even trying to do it. I don't even know what I was doing, but
9:03
I just did it, right? And I and I made them sing it the way I would I viewed
9:08
it, right? Um and um so yeah, so I'm that worked
9:13
and it worked. So then I'm like, oh, I know what I'm doing, right? And then Brat comes and then it's like, nah, you
9:19
don't know what you're doing. Yeah. And it seemed like it seemed it was really frustrating cuz it was rap
9:25
and that's how I grew up. That's where I come from. It would be easier for that, right? Yeah. But I couldn't get I couldn't get
9:30
my hands wrapped around what we needed to do. Uhhuh. For it to happen immediately.
9:35
But eventually you did. Yeah, I figured it out. You figured it out, man. Jermaine Depri, man, when I think of this guy, you know,
9:42
um that's cool. You could You don't got to give him a half a plug. Full clap, Ka. Make it clap.
9:49
We do that to JD, man. We celebrating them again, man. Um I I going we we
9:56
going to move forward, but I think it's always proper to put things in context because for is now, right? And and and
10:03
what happened in the past created the now. And when you first came into the business um and you were witnessing
10:10
things as a young man being on the road Houdini and all these different things that was at a time and era where they
10:16
said this they were still saying it wasn't going to last. Right. I don't know what it was like in Atlanta but it was hard to sell it in
10:23
the bay. I know it was it was you know it wasn't even sell it wasn't for sale in Atlanta.
10:28
Yeah. Um you know we had um we had one radio station
10:33
Mhm. that played rap for one hour on Friday. Damn.
10:39
Wow. One hour Friday night. So, one day Yeah.
10:44
One hour on Friday night and we used to sit there and listen to the radio and act like that one hour was a whole day.
10:52
What station was that? V3 103. Okay. V 103. They had a, you know, it's called the Fresh Party.
10:57
Uhhuh. And um who hosted that? Um, it was a guy named Darren Fierce and um,
11:04
I mean, I remember it because that's all I listen to right there. I listen, you know what I mean? And the Fresh Party and it was like within an hour, you
11:09
know, y'all y'all know radio and commercials. This is commercial radio. Um, they probably played five songs.
11:16
Yeah. At the most. And that was it. That was it. And so what was the consensus of the general population when
11:22
you think of like local politicians, when you think of just businessmen, the
11:28
whole nine? Because when you look at what it was then and you fast forward
11:33
now, I think it's amazing that you were recently um named the ambassador for
11:39
your own hometown of ATL where back in the day to have, you know, a Germaine Depri, you know,
11:46
being deemed an ambassador was unheard of. Now you're the ATL representative.
11:52
Without that soul so death sign, without all all the things that you've done, you're the you're the representative.
11:59
You're our representation now that you was looking for when when it was the Songwriters Hall of Fame and you
12:05
realized it wasn't enough of us talking. Now you're our representation. You're an ambassador, man. How does that make you
12:11
feel? I don't I mean I still look at it like um I still look at the same way I always
12:17
looked at it. You know what I mean? I was just talking to um one of the people that work at the Falcons um the the
12:24
MercedesBenz u dome stadium and um
12:31
um Brat asked me to get her some tickets for Beyonce concert, right? And I got the tickets for her and got,
12:37
you know what I'm saying? And then I called them cuz they just, you know, it was tickets for her. Brat's pretty
12:42
famous and her wife and um I'm telling them at the place I'm like yo what's the
12:48
interest for the celebrities right and you know like you saying we can move very very far but we haven't
12:55
moved that far right cuz when I called them I'm like where's can can brat can y'all make sure that brat go through
13:01
like a entrance that's cool blah blah blah had a cars pull up you know what I mean real real like low maintenance and
13:08
um they was like we don't have no celebrity entrance she got to go through the front door. And I'm like, "What?" I
13:13
said, "Wait a minute. This Atlanta like what's wrong with y'all?" I like I said, "In LA, they got a celebrity entrance. I
13:20
seen Ice Cube pull up when the Low Rider and go through the side door, you know, and I've been to the staple. I mean,
13:26
well, what is it the what is it called now? Krypto. Krypto. I've been to Krypto.
13:31
Um when the Knicks was in the playoffs, you seen the little side. You seen them come like I'm like, how are we
13:38
how why are we still in this space? Yeah. You know what I mean? Beyonce got four nights at Yad
13:46
in the city wants to come and y'all telling me me the person that you said ambassador
13:51
ambassador for the MLB allar all of this stuff that my artist has to go through the
13:57
front door now. And I don't want people to think we just too good to go through the front door cuz I haven't
14:02
done this. Mhm. But it it it it seems like everybody ain't moving to the beat that that that
14:09
I'm on. So I still even in saying that, I still feel like I'm fighting for what I
14:15
believe should be right in that city. Germaine Depri, y'all give him a big round of applause. 8887423345.
14:25
I've been to Magic City. What was you doing? She said,
14:32
"What were you doing? What was you doing?" Cuz All right. Now, let's now let's talk to
14:38
you. Okay. Heather, you know what was You was in Magic City. How much you bought?
14:44
A lot of fried chicken. I You went to eat? I absolutely went to eat.
14:49
That's a That's a thing. Yeah, I went to eat. Breast, too. You ain't spend no money. You ain't throw nothing. I Whatever that chicken cost.
14:57
Wow. I wasn't throwing I didn't make it rain or nothing like that.
15:02
I went up and they said people in Atlanta would say if you the best food would be to go to Magic City. And so I
15:09
went up in there and you know and I ordered some food. I spent so much time eating food and making connections that
15:18
it wasn't what you think. I wasn't getting lap dances or I and I wasn't tripping on it, you know. It was just it
15:24
was so many people there to talk to that that I realized Magic City wasn't just a
15:31
dance club. It was it was social. It was a social club. It was a hub. Like
15:36
some people in the upper echelon go do business on golf courses. Yeah. Mhm. You could do business there, right?
15:42
Yeah. Can you recall a time in Magic City that you know you you sealed a deal? um not
15:50
seal the deal, but just meet, you know, meet people that turn into a relationship um that you probably didn't
15:55
know that you needed or that you know would have happened like that, right? And I think that's the brilliant thing
16:01
about this documentary that people are going to be surprised about because like you know im immediately people think
16:06
it's ass and titties that they going, you know, it's by the way you're going to see a lot of that. But you going to
16:12
also hear a story about a black man that's had a business for 40 years
16:18
successfully and sometimes not so successfully in Atlanta. Right. And um the reason people
16:26
go to Magic City is like you said the food, the social life, the music, the dances
16:33
and um they got multiple reasons. Everybody got a different reason why they in there. Mhm. Um, and clear your mind and all that
16:40
type of stuff. It's like, you know, you go in there if you want to hear the new hip-hop records or you want to hear what
16:46
should be bubbling in Atlanta, nine times out of 10, you going to hear it at Magic City first. That's where you get it, right? And if
16:52
you get your song played at Magic City back in the day, that could be that could determine your career.
16:57
Oh, 100%. Oh, it definitely would make people question and ask, you know, like
17:02
if they had Shazam in the I guess I would say ' 80s or early 90s.
17:07
Uhhuh. Um, yeah. A lot of records probably would have did way better than they actually did cuz Magic they was, you
17:13
know, they was pumping them in there. Magic City. You I I don't know if it was with Esso and Heineken or I saw you say
17:19
you might have spent of your own money maybe you've invested about $10 million into Magic City.
17:25
Yeah, I see people have Yeah. put that number together. By the way, and I want to break this down for people. I want to
17:30
break it down. Um, so yeah, $10,000 a week um every
17:36
Monday for 10 years straight. Um, but you got also think like I'm going in
17:41
there with entourage, right? Okay. The entourage is buying food. Mhm.
17:47
We drinking. We are and we getting dances. So, I mean, you know, it's probably other it's
17:53
a probably a 100 to 100,000 200,000 people that spent that same amount of money if you look at it from that
17:58
perspective. When I said it, people just start thinking I'm just throwing $10,000 on girls. Yeah.
18:04
Right. I'm spending $10,000 in the club, period. Right. And you, by the way, it's people that's doing this in other clubs
18:10
and the girls ain't even getting naked. Yeah. I don't actually condone that. Okay.
18:15
You know what? Get out.
18:21
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not That's not I'm not I'm not signing up for that.
18:28
Yeah. I'm not signed up for that. I'm trying to tell you. You going to go there, get your money's worth, [Â __Â ]
18:33
But for real, not for real. So you this and this was an era when I mean I used
18:38
to drink a lot. Okay. Yeah. Um you know this prior money anything,
18:44
right? This is before money and a thing. I was in the clubs. I go by four bottles
18:50
of Chris Style. I mean, this is what rap was made of, right? I'm I'm I'm part of the I'm the person that you hear about
18:58
in these in these records that people be talking about. I'm doing exactly what you heard. So, I'm going in the club.
19:04
I'm getting like four bottles of Crystal. We run through that. My friends still we still partying. Magic City also
19:10
stayed open till 4:00 in the morning, right? So if you go at one and you stay
19:16
till closing and you got money Uhhuh.
19:22
you're going to spend it. They don't ain't no if and buts about it. All right. And I think a lot of people don't pay. I mean know a lot of people
19:28
that heard me say that they not even they never even went by the way. They never went. They don't understand it. Right. And this was before I became
19:34
vegan. So then I was like I was actually eating the stuff that you was talking about. I wasn't a chicken guy, but they
19:40
had like cuz you know Magic City goes into like lobster. Yeah. They go into fish plates. They go into
19:46
shrimp. You know what I mean? So, it's a whole bunch of things you can order that will get your bill going.
19:52
Wow. Magic City, man. More more than meets the eye. 100%. When you get a rebuttal from residents
20:00
or, you know, maybe even churchgoing folks of why are you promoting this?
20:06
Couldn't you be promoting something else? Why is this story important to tell? How do you respond to that?
20:11
Um, I hate having to say it the way that I'm saying it because it doesn't sound like I'm
20:17
uh it sounds like I'm like pointing a finger at everybody else, but it is basically I have to point a finger like
20:23
um Atlanta has never really gotten its um proper understanding of what our
20:30
culture is, right? So, like when I'm I, you know, me being a hip-hop guy or a
20:35
baby, um, I've seen everybody else's culture be celebrated, whether it's good
20:41
or bad, right? When I came here to LA, I learned about Crips and Bloods. I'm not from the West Coast, so I don't know
20:46
nothing about it. But when I came out here, you learn don't wear this, don't wear this. You know what this person is,
20:51
you know what this person is, dickies, low riders, da da da da. Gang banging ain't the ain't a nice
20:57
great thing. It's not beautiful. And but it's part of the lifestyle and you ain't getting ready to get away from it. And
21:03
ain't no one lady that go to church getting ready to change that. The lady that go to church understand crips and bloods in LA, right? They don't even
21:09
speak on it as if it's a bad thing. It's just part of the culture, right? That's what Magic City is in Atlanta.
21:17
You know what I mean? It's just part of our culture. It is what it is. This I mean, this club been going before I could even get in the club. I'm not
21:24
speaking about something I created. I'm speaking about something that's been going in Atlanta before I could even get
21:30
you grew up wanting to go there. I grew up wanting to go in there. And it's other clubs. Blue Flame, uh,
21:36
Lil Nikki's Nikki. Lil Nikki and Nikki was where Tupac shot the police officers. This is like a co This is
21:43
This is where everybody has gone. Whether it be Magic or the Gentleman's Club or gold room or gold club, whatever
21:50
it is, Cheetah, the whole city is surrounded by strip clubs. It's not just
21:56
Magic that's getting all this energy. Uh, matter of fact, I think Blue Flame, shout out to Blue Flame. They've been
22:01
there longer than Magic City. Okay. Wow. All right, Jermaine Depri. I get it. Cuz um, and I I know my
22:09
experience. I I look, I I've never been cuz I'm a father. I got a daughter. So once that happened, I I I wouldn't
22:16
you can't go to strip I can't go to strip clubs. But the the experience I did have, I didn't see it like I thought
22:22
it would be. I was like, man, I walked out of there with numbers, business, and a full belly with, you know, chicken
22:29
carcass. Yeah. I mean, like I said, it's it's it's it's it's interesting when I when I
22:34
hear people say that because I didn't see people have the same reaction when they did the Studio 54. um
22:42
documentary and they in the documentary talking about how much cocaine was being snorted in the bathroom. We're not
22:47
talking about that. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like so I'm trying to figure I'm trying to figure out what
22:54
where's where do I get a little break at here. You know what I mean? It's like I'm just doing a documentary about where
22:59
I live at and a we not talking no you know ain't nobody getting murdered in the club. We not talking about how much
23:04
cocaine is being done in the club. The women naked. Yeah, they are. I get it. I understand that might be a little thing, but I but at the same time we we allow
23:12
so many other things to pass and when we start talking about this strip club activity, oh Lord Jesus
23:20
Christ, you know, so I just want everybody to understand it's just part of our culture. It's not, you know what I mean?
23:25
It's not something that um I'm promoting cuz I'm trying to promote it. It's something that I have that that's that's
23:31
right there every time I turn around. It's people that come to Atlanta and they be like, "J, you going to Magic tonight?" And I'm like, "No, I've gone I
23:39
was just there two nights ago." And they just like, "Nah, but I'm, you know, it's my last night in town. Take me to
23:45
Magic." Mhm. It's like, you know, it's like going to Orlando and not going to Disney World.
23:50
I get that. That's a good analogy, JD. That's one of them bars. That's how he be writing them. That's how them come
23:57
out. That's what it is. I like that. Uh HB, you want to join in? We got Jermaine Depri here with us. Well, I've always
24:03
told Jermaine um and I will remind him every time I see him, I think you're one of the greatest. Um and I think you are
24:10
under acknowledged. So, I'm always saying your name. I'm always saluting you because you've earned that. And I
24:16
definitely understand why that story needed to be told, particularly by you. That's how I heard of Magic City is do
24:22
Jermaine Dri. Um it's like coming to New York. Somebody had to do a documentary on Latin Quarters or the tunnel. It's
24:28
part of our you know history. It's part of it. and it wasn't pretty things that happened in there either. So, you know,
24:34
you you telling the story and I get that. But I'm curious when Sway mentioned the writing because you're such an amazing writer, producer, you've
24:41
been able to watch a lot of writers come up as well. Can you share um watching
24:46
Candy Burus and and watching her develop as a writer and and and what she has become and made of her career as a
24:52
writer? That's interesting because I didn't know that Candi wanted to be a writer. Um, that's one that's very interesting cuz I
24:58
didn't know and I don't know if it was cuz I was too boisterous about me writing that she
25:04
that she held it back. But her and Tiny both wrote no scrubs and they wrote
25:10
bills bills bills. So her and her and Tiny both are like a writing partners. Um, but yeah, I didn't they didn't they
25:16
didn't show me that when we was in the studio. Wow. So it took you by total surprise.
25:21
Yeah. I mean I was I was like wow. And it's like they didn't write just like some little songs. They wrote some wrote
25:27
gigantic banger songs. Yeah. They wrote some big songs. So I was definitely surprised by that. I mean it's been other artists that come through the
25:33
studio that you know write but um yeah I was definitely like wow. Okay. You know
25:38
I I'm glad you cleared that up because I was always um I just assumed that they
25:44
kind of learned from you. I I just always thought that. So it's it's crazy to hear that you said you were caught off guard as well.
25:49
Yeah. And that's that's what I was saying sway about that is like so so Candy and Tidy wrote them songs and them
25:54
songs was so big that people automatically start thinking that they must have wrote just kicking
26:00
it when they wrote they songs right that's what I'm saying if you don't speak on it people not they they just
26:06
going to assume what they assume the story will always be about the hunter until the lion learns how to
26:12
write I'm telling you you got to tell the truth I've been saying that she been saying that all morning if you
26:18
don't If you don't tell your truth, you allow other people to write the story.
26:24
Yeah. 100%. Or you don't learn how to tell your story. Like you said, you had to learn how to do that. You allow other people
26:29
to tell it for you. And it's not always accurate. Yeah. 100%. Man, let's go to New York. Tracy G.
26:35
Tracy [Â __Â ] Jermaine Depri. One of the greatest of all time, man. When it comes to
26:40
producing as an executive, just we love you. You are a global treasure, JD. I
26:46
say that with full sincerity. Okay. I feel like you also had a perfect person to um give your perspective on a
26:53
conversation I feel like that's been really brewing throughout the years, which is whether today's generation of
27:00
artists, particularly in hip-hop and R&B, are capable of producing a true
27:06
erading superstar in the way that we've seen in past decades. Not just we have
27:12
many chart toppers of course but we're talking about cultural institutions
27:17
because when you look at the landscape now and you have to include streaming you have to include social media of
27:23
course there's such a sheer volume of content and it's made it in some ways
27:30
almost impossible for anyone to reach um the masses but that's different from
27:36
reaching like universal dominance you know but on the flip side of it. Maybe
27:42
we just have a different archetype of what a superstar is today. But I would
27:47
love your thoughts on that cuz DOI's been speaking about that as well, even though a lot of people would pin her as
27:52
the next great superstar, but when she was speaking to British Vogue, she said she doesn't know if this generation or
27:58
the ones in the future got it or what it even entails. Yeah. Um I my perspective on this is
28:05
that um this young generation, they don't want to be leaders. Um and and um
28:12
they they have created this mindset that leaders are gatekeepers, right? And
28:19
everybody young goes against gatekeeping. Their whole mentality is it like to go against the gatekeepers.
28:25
Let's go around them. Let's do this. So if you in order to be a gatekeeper, you got to be a leader. That's the only
28:30
thing. And the only way that you can get to that space that you talking about, the only people that do that is leaders.
28:36
The only people that do create artists and do that have been leaders. Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, Barry Gordy, um
28:44
myself, um Herby, Michael Bivven. These are people that people look at as
28:50
leaders. Um you don't see people, you know what I mean? I was saying this the other day. I'm like even in Atlanta, like who's the
28:56
new Jermaine Dri in Atlanta that's even trying to be me? It's not nobody that even wants to do that. They don't even
29:01
want that responsibility. They they want to be the person that says, "I did it without a gatekeeper." And um I feel
29:10
like that's that's that's what's being set as people are wanting to mold themselves as guys that don't want to be
29:16
leaders. They just want to be here and figure it out without leading. And that's hard to do, especially based on
29:23
what you're asking for. Um, and we can try to find them in that in their little way of doing it, but it ain't gonna be
29:29
the same as what you're used to because they not leading the artist. You know what I mean? They not telling, you know,
29:34
like like I'm saying with Escape, if I had these two girls that wrote these songs, I was speaking so much that they
29:41
held their talent away from me. If they was, if they felt like that, they might have got to that point. I don't know when they got to the feeling comfortable
29:48
writing music, but they never spoke up while I was in the studio. Um, and I wouldn't like block them if they had the
29:54
song. So, you know what I mean? But I was I also was guiding them and telling them like, "Candy, this is how I want
30:00
you to sing. This is what I want y'all to do. This is what I believe needs to happen." And I just feel like you don't
30:05
have you don't have younger guys, you know, um, telling younger people what to
30:11
do anymore cuz they feel like telling them what to do sounds like mother and
30:16
dad and they trying to stay away from that. You can't tell me what to do. You know what I I mean, we the same age. You can't tell me what to do. I was
30:22
younger than damn near the artist I was working with still telling them what to do when they was listening. So, I just don't think I think it's u I just think
30:29
that's a that's that's the dynamic that's going on. People are trying to get away from
30:35
um these people telling them what to do. I was I was saying this yesterday cuz I just performed at the MLB and I saw
30:42
people complaining about the players not dancing while me and Ludicrous was rapping, right? And they was like, "We
30:48
don't know how they just standing up there looking stiff and looking like they don't like the music." And you
30:54
know, the thing I learned about the MLB is that they have baseball etiquette,
31:00
right? It's a thing with them guys, right? Um, it's a way that they know that they supposed to represent their
31:05
league. It's a way that they know that they supposed to look when they on TV. It's a thing they know when they
31:11
supposed to have fun is the home run derby. Y'all have y'all fun right here. Y'all can hang around. Y'all can do whatever you want to do. But when we get
31:17
to this Allstar game, you going to act like all star and y'all going to conduct yourselves like that. That's coming from
31:22
somewhere. That's not all of them just standing up there not liking the music. This is instructions and they part of,
31:29
you know, they part of an organization that has this set rules. Yeah. Cuz to your point, that's the
31:34
baseball culture. Like you mentioned, that's their baseball culture. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So like even like when I was out there,
31:40
um, shout out Jesse Collins for even allowing us to do this. He he he wanted me to stand on the mound when I first
31:45
started. So he's like, "J, I want you to stand on the mound. I want you to look like it's your city." Blah blah blah blah. This little white man came out
31:51
when I got ready to walk out there on that land and he said, "Hey, listen. You not getting ready to stand on my mound."
31:57
And he don't play baseball. He just was a white man sitting in one of them dugouts and came up out of there. He said, "You not about to stand on my
32:03
mound when I put these lines down here. Matter of fact, y'all ain't even getting ready to walk across my lines. You going
32:08
to walk around the lines and you going to get to where you got to go." And I said, "Hey, hey, hey, hey. Y'all ain't
32:13
hear this. Y'all need to come over here and listen to what homeboy talking about cuz he got
32:20
he sound like he sound like we not getting and seriously." So I start so then I start thinking about all the
32:26
times I seen when you get to the plate and the dude be cleaning it up like that's that's baseball etiquette. They
32:32
got it's something with that. Like they don't want they lines messed up. Even though they playing, they running, you
32:38
got to run outside them lines cuz I put these lines down here. That's how the man was talking to me. Yo, he was going to shut down the whole
32:45
thing. One little white guy was going to shut down. You're not standing on this mound. He ain't even play baseball. He just
32:51
some man came out. I'm telling you, he came out of no like out of the dugout.
32:56
We was out there on the field. We out there doing our little thing. And Jesse them, you know, they this day production
33:03
like JD, we see you standing right here. They didn't speak the homeboy before they decided. And I'm just saying that's that's that's
33:09
just just etiquette. And I feel like it sounds like we have a lot of famous
33:15
people because etiquette is not required for fame. But maybe we don't have a lot of
33:20
superstars. No, it is. No, no, it is. That's the thing. Etiquette is required. That's what the problem is. That's what That's
33:26
what Doi Dochi's probably talking about for superstars. Yeah. I mean, that's what's missing
33:32
purity in music. You can't win a game by yourself. You can't be the center and everybody else got a whole team out
33:38
there. You know what I mean? I say this all the time. It's like people that keep trying to like I get it. I understand going independent. But if you going to
33:44
be independent, you got to have a team. You can't be independent and just be you and your homeboy and y'all believe y'all
33:50
going to win. It's you. It's people out here with full teams. Yeah. And you're playing against them. You're
33:55
not playing against the the DSP. I think that's what you know, these people have it confused.
34:01
You're going up against somebody who has a full team. Drake has a full team
34:06
around him. Kendrick Lamar has a full team on the field. You walk out there with you and your your homeboy, you're
34:12
going to get your ass beat. That's what I'm talking about. Bad bad. You know what I'm saying? It's just what
34:18
it is. And and people don't they don't view it like that. They think that this just the music business. If they give a record to Sway, Yeah. Sway play it,
34:25
but then Sway is going to have somebody else that come the next day that got a team. Yeah,
34:30
that's telling Sway to play it. They tell they hitting Heather. They they hitting everybody in this room, right?
34:36
That's five more times than what y'all just did when y'all came. And you you can't win the game without a
34:41
team. You know what I mean? You got to have a quarterback. You got to have a center. You got to have somebody go out there wide receivers. You got to have
34:48
got to have some blockers, too. Yeah. You got to have some blockers. Blockers. I see you got your blockers right here. They blocked me from going
34:54
to the listening party last night. I already know that. You changed your number. You moved. You in Hollywood. All right. But Jermaine Depri is here,
35:00
man. Let let us not forget. August 15th on Stars Magic City docu series
35:05
documentary. Well, it's the Magic City five-part documentary. Okay. And uh I'm I'm I'm dropping a new
35:12
album, a Jermaine Depri album um that same date. Um basically um and it's a
35:18
Jermaine Depri album inspired by the Magic City documentary. Okay, I like that. We're going to play Turn around in a second. Uh I want to
35:25
just get a couple callers in. Man, the lines lit up. So Philippa in North Carolina, we got Jermaine Depri here.
35:31
What you want to say? Yep. Hey Jermaine, I am a super fan and I just want to know the real Why is there
35:38
not more Mariah Carey and Jermaine Depri music? Weed out.
35:43
I don't know. I can't answer that question, but I thank you. I um I mean I don't know. I think I think Well, I mean
35:50
how much records did I do? I mean we did we gave y'all Emancipation to Me. U
35:57
I feel like sometimes artists they feel like they don't want to you know they don't want to repeat themselves. They want to try to do something else and I
36:04
mean you know and and you got to let the artist do that sometimes because if they don't um then they they start feeling
36:09
like it's they bored. So I don't ever get into that, you know. I just take the calls when somebody called me.
36:14
20 years anniversary of the Emancipation Project, right? Congratulations, man. Congratulations, Philip. A great call.
36:21
Great question. Um, let me uh go to Omari in Miami. Go ahead, Omari.
36:27
Omari Omari. Hey, what's going on JD, man? Big fan, man. What's uh been been the fan since I
36:34
guess 97 money in the thing. I'm a young so grew up in the BA area era. And my
36:41
question cuz y'all never mentioned Lil Bao. Y I heard y'all mentioned every social death artist, but y'all ain't mentioning Lil Bao. And that's my era
36:47
for real. And I was so amazed by like I just realized you were behind well you
36:53
were instrumental to his career like throughout his whole career. How did you get into a mindset to write
37:00
rhymes for a kid like that? Because I'm telling you like you think about like and I remember uh y talking about
37:06
streamers and stuff. If Lil Baba was a streamer like was in that era. Oh my god. He he would have been probably the
37:12
biggest thing. Yeah% had all Omari money. Yeah, you
37:17
know, right? I went to stores as a kid. Everything as I was literally like the biggest Lil
37:22
Ball fan. Like, how did you get into that mindset of writing lines for a kid like and making it like connect like
37:29
that? Um, I mean, I started as a kid, right? Um, but I also had the practice of
37:35
crisscross in '92 and then I waited 10 years to do Bowwow. So, I mean, I I I
37:42
actually was fighting it. I was actually fighting trying to put out another kid artist. I actually didn't even think it
37:47
would work, but I actually gave myself a 10ear stretch. You know, Bow came out in
37:52
2000, so or 2001 one, something like that. So, I gave myself enough room to
37:59
actually really think like, okay, I did this with Crisscross this way. And then once Bow came to me, the way Bow was
38:05
already, he was already a rapper, you know, I mean, he was signed to death row when he was six. So, he meet I met Bao
38:11
when he was 11 or something like that, right? So when he came to me, his name was Kid Gangster. He was he his
38:17
mentality was just rap. And um Kid Gangster. Yeah. I had I had enough um I guess
38:24
between myself being a wanting to be a rapper when I was younger and then the success of Crisscross. Um I knew exactly
38:31
what I was supposed to do with Bow at that point in time because I also saw that the you know the the market was
38:38
open and they didn't have nobody. Um, I always feel like, you know, even now I think that it should be more kid artist
38:44
because as you say, you got kids and you know, kids, my daughter, I got a 14-y old daughter. She don't have no artist that
38:50
actually caters to her. Wow. You know. Wow. Wow. Really? At 14? Huh? Yeah. I mean, but I always say this
38:55
before, like when I made crisscross, my mentality was that that age 12 to 17,
39:02
don't nobody in the world care about them. Nobody. Food, nothing. They don't really
39:09
marketing to them. They're not advertising to them. They don't care. They don't they don't care about them. 12 to six 12 to 17 that
39:15
that that group of people, people don't really care about them. They do everything in the world that don't have nothing to do with them. We we we we
39:22
talk about liquor on TV. We put bad food out there. We don't, you know, I mean,
39:27
the music don't cater to them. Nothing in the world caters to 12 to 17 besides
39:33
Disney World. And that's so ironic because that's the most formative ears, right? 100%. That's the That's the ears that
39:39
will get your parents to spend the most money. Yeah. That's why Backstreet Boys, InSync, Bowwow,
39:46
that's why when they come out, they it's an explosion. Justin Bieber, because they're so underfed,
39:52
right? That when you start feeding them, they buying it. Like he just said, if Ba was a streamer, he would have been the biggest thing the world had ever seen.
40:01
Yeah. 100%. U man, let's give this man a round of applause. Every time he comes here, it's like a lecture hall, and I
40:07
treat it like that. I could be asking you some [Â __Â ] but I don't do that with you, brother. You know, because I
40:13
think you have so much to offer. And my biggest challenge is
40:18
trying to unlock it. Yeah, you do a very good job. All right. Thank you, man. I, you know, cuz I always whenever you walk away, I
40:25
think about 10 things like why ask him that.
40:31
You know, but love you, brother. You got to come co-host one day with us. Please do. Yeah, come co-host. I saw
40:37
Stevie Wonder pulled up on you when you was DJing. Oh, yeah. That was crazy. Was that crazy, bro? Crazy.
40:42
It's crazy. Stevie's like Stevie, man. Steviey's crazy. Yeah. What did he say to you? He just
40:48
said, "Hey, play that shit." What he say? Yeah. Stevie Stevie I mean, you know, you just I'm a [Â __Â ] but I mean I don't
40:57
be thinking like Steviey's a [Â __Â ] Like that's what I'm saying. Like I
41:02
[Applause] I'm I'm like I'm DJing. He in my ear like, "Nigga, play that shit." And I'm
41:08
like, "Wait a minute. Hold on, man. Wait, wait, wait. What's going on?" Like, "What is what what's going on
41:14
right now?" Right. And I just had to like say it like, "Yo, Stevie Wonder is in the DJ booth. Do you guys even
41:20
understand what's going on right now?" And he up in here like, "Yeah, JD. Yeah, play that shit." And I'm like, "What is
41:26
going on? How do you even I mean he knows what's happening. Yeah. You know what I mean? He's one of the most
41:32
informative people I've ever talked to. But you just he took he take me by storm
41:38
every time. Yeah. Every time. And I'm glad you honor him properly. He's the greatest artist of all time.
41:44
There you go. Okay. I won't debate that. Yeah. All right. Okay. Jermaine Depri, give
41:49
him a big round of applause. Citizen. Thank you. Uh we going to end the show with Turnaround featuring TI Two Trains and
41:54
Young Dro. What we do, man. Don't forget Magic City, American Fantasy August
42:00
15th. All right. Five-part series on Star that will drop that day as well. That's right. Chrissy B was at your
42:06
listening party last night and one of the things she works with Sways Universe and one of the things she said was
42:12
Jermaine expressed that he wants to embrace what's happening now. Uh he, you know, with the younger artists as well
42:18
as creating his own, like I'm paraphrasing, but creating, you know, matching that up with his traditional
42:24
sound, but moving forward. Yeah. Cuz I think that, you know, like I said, we are in an era where people keep
42:29
talking about, you know, the younger generation, they trying to push the they they they're they're fighting OGs, you
42:35
know what I mean? I think like even when you talk about like the Essence Fest, that's one of the things that people don't talk about and all this people
42:41
talking about the Essence wasn't good as it was. This a lot of that has to do with Glorilla went on before um Ron
42:49
Eley. Right now, even in my world of music, I'm like, "Oh shit." like Glower
42:56
didn't run Eley. I don't know how you supposed, you know, I mean, I don't know how you digest this, but this is what
43:02
this we have to start realizing this is what life is. She's one of the new successful rappers.
43:08
He's one of the most successful R&B artists in the world. That's what Essence has always done, right? They've
43:14
always been able to give us the black music that we all love. The older people have to understand that Glorilla is one
43:20
of the new superstars. Mhm. And the younger people have to understand that Glorilla going up against right after Ron Eley, you
43:28
shouldn't leave. You should get that that that knowledge that come with what he's doing. As well as if you you know
43:34
is you want the old people to sit there and listen to Glorilla. That's where the that's where the real battle is, right?
43:40
So with this album, I start making records based on my taste. I'm not making music for who's hot and what's
43:46
going on. I'm making records that I hear in my head. So, it's a lot of rappers out there that's like hitting me now like JD, I got to get on that album. And
43:54
I'm like, I don't hear you in my head. You know, I know a lot of people not going to understand it. I'm not dissing you. I just write songs. And that's what
44:00
I'm saying. I write songs. When I'm writing songs, I'm writing songs saying this person should go right here, right?
44:06
This person should go right here. I want this person right here. So, I'm going after what I'm hearing in my mind. I'm
44:12
not writing music based on hey, who who hot? Trends or none of that stuff, right?
44:18
algorithms, none of that. No, that don't matter to me. I mean, that's it matters to, I guess, a lot of people, but not for this album. Okay.
44:24
Right. So, um yeah, when you write music like that, you start putting people that
44:31
are new with somebody that might never been out in in 10 years. So, like this Friday, um dropping the second single
44:37
from from Magic City documentary and it's got J Money, Sean Paul from the Young Bloods. Money.
44:44
Yes. J Money, Sean Paul from the Young Bloodoods, Barab and Bank Nia. Now Bank
44:50
Nia and Barab, they the new hot energy in Atlanta. You know what I mean? Right.
44:55
They the Tik Tok video
45:00
calls me and sees this on the phone. You ain't in it.
45:06
And by the way, like that's what I'm saying that that that's a whole new energy of Atlanta and I'm put them with
45:12
a old energy of Atlanta, right? And I could see the comments where people like, "Yo, you should have just made this a J Money and Sean Paul song. Why
45:19
you put them little girls on there?" And it's like, "Oh, you a oldhead. You just don't get what's happening. We can we
45:25
can stop all of this this war because it's rap. We always respected
45:31
rap." And I come from an era where I came from an era where rap wasn't young. You know what I mean? One of the things
45:37
I want and I'm say it right here on the Sway Morning Show for me, I want you people out there to
45:44
listen. I am the reason why young [Â __Â ] are accepted in rap music to this day.
45:53
We going to debate you, man. Show over. So toast. You are the reason why young
45:59
people are accepted in rap today. Explain. I mean crisscross. Mhm. Bow. Ain't
46:05
nobody been out. I mean, I put these kids out at 12. Both both groups, they came out at 12 years old. Wow. When I
46:11
put Crisscross out, hip hop was a old man sport. That's right. They was talking crazy about crisscross.
46:18
Eminem dissed me cuz I was making kid music. I was in beast with people because I was writing songs for younger
46:25
artists. They was kids. Right. Now, everybody wants to be a YN.
46:32
Mhm. And everybody want to diss the OG's. Who started this?
46:37
Jermaine Depri. I didn't start dissing them. No, you didn't start the diss.
46:42
But I start I made I'm the person that opened the door for young [Â __Â ] to get record deals and to even be heard
46:48
cuz the record companies won't even look at you. Yeah. They think legal reasons, too, you know. Yeah. There's legal reasons, but they
46:54
also they want kids kids in rap didn't seem like it would be successful
47:00
because rap music is such a a dirty sport. Yeah. Right. It was weed smoke. It's dark
47:05
clubs. It's you know what I mean? It's I remember when I came to Gavin, right? And people ain't going to know what I'm
47:11
talking about. The Gavin report was a trade magazine that a lot of Brian Samson, Kelly Woo,
47:17
Tambisa Shaka, all you that's where they started. Yeah. So, I went to Gavin with Crissc Cross and we was the youngest people at
47:24
Gavin. Like, we felt like we weren't even supposed to be there. Yeah. Right. And Chris Cross was on shows with
47:29
Cypress Hill, um, Da Effects, 12y olds on shows with adults where they
47:35
selling alcohol. Like, it was basically not legal what was happening because Chris and Chris weren't supposed to be
47:41
in the clubs that they was performing in. Hip-hop wasn't even made for that, right? I broke that door down and made
47:48
it possible for people their age to get deals and to even come into this game. I remember it. I was there on Kel and we
47:56
were throwing the uh concert that Cypress Hill and Crisscross performed on.
48:01
I remember that JD. I remember you. You might not remember me. No, I remember you. Okay. All right. Cool. Yeah. You know,
48:07
you saw the locks flowing back then. I was the first to put the locks and my
48:12
man just told me. He was like, "J, do you remember we went to C Sway and we was in uh San Francisco?"
48:18
Uhhuh. They was shooting dice in the room while we was doing the interview. While we were doing the interview. You don't remember that? I do remember that. But he just brought
48:24
it up. I didn't know that was him. Yeah. Yeah. He looked different. Yeah, he do.
48:30
And you ain't got locks no more. I ain't got locks no more. But we was shooting dicey. They was shooting dice in the room.
48:36
Yeah. Yeah. No, for sure. Sh, man. L Give it up for Jermaine Depri, man. No doubt. Thank you. Thank you. I want
48:41
to come to your, you know, to Atlanta like Horus talked about when he flew to Atlanta with Nas and you treated them
48:47
really well. You got to come out there. I ain't had that JD experience. It's always cameras and mics with us.
48:52
Yeah, you got to come. You got to come hang out. All right. Proud of you, brother. Keep shining, man. And keep telling your
48:57
story. All right, Jermaine Depri, give him a big round of applause for him and his crew. And we want to thank our other
49:03
guests that came by today. Yeah. Poet girl Ronnie. What's up to her, man? Y'all make sure y'all follow her movement as well. She made that jacket for you, right?
49:09
She made this jacket, bro. You got to see uh Heather got a whole fit. Yeah, my jacket is back. She going to make you one too. She'll
49:14
make you one. It's nice. Um um y'all, you know what? Citizens, thank you for tuning in today. We got Will I
49:20
Am coming tomorrow. JD, tomorrow is the 14th anniversary of the Sway in the morning show as well.
49:25
Congratulations. We've been We've been doing this show for 14 years. Tomorrow grew up watching. Yeah. Yeah. I know
49:32
y'all grew up thinking that's crazy. Um Will I Am is coming. JD, it'd be great cuz Will I Am is a music producer
49:39
that people don't acknowledge as well. Writer as well and songwriter and as
49:44
many things as he does. Well, he don't talk. That's the thing. Huh? He don't talk. That's why you got to get
49:49
him to talk about it. That's the thing. He don't talk about it. He don't even speak about it. He wrote uh Beautiful
49:55
People for Ordinary People. Ordinary people. Wrote the song. Ordinary people.
50:01
Yeah. Wrote the song. I'mma say it again. He wrote the song. Uh-huh. He didn't give him the idea. He wrote
50:07
the song that by as a writer. Yeah. I'm blown away by that. Like what will I
50:14
am wrote this? Yeah. But he don't talk about it. What's the question for Will? I'mma play it back for why he don't talk about that song.
50:21
Okay then. Why? Let the people know. Okay. All right. We going to run that back tomorrow. Give it up for JD. Yeah.
50:27
All right. We going to end. I'm going to let you introduce the song and tell us about Turnaround. What can you tell us? Yeah. This the first single from my new
50:33
album. uh inspired by the Magic City documentary. It's called Turnaround. Uh I know a lot of y'all probably think
50:39
that cuz I'm from Atlanta, I have songs with damn near everybody, but this is the first song that I ever had with TI.
50:44
It's the first song I ever had with Two Chains. This is the first time me and Dro ever made a record. So, this is the first of first and it's called
50:50
Turnaround in the Morning Show. Why not? See, that's what I'm saying. It just it it never happened. It just never
50:56
happened. It's happening right now. He just did his radio thing. He said on the Sway in the morning show. I love that. All right. Here it is, man. Turn
51:04
around.
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