Building Cultural Moments That Outlive the Product with Jermaine Dupri

Narrator: Flowing ad budget on metrics that look great till the CFO sees them. That's bullspend and marketers are calling it out in dashboard confessions.

Speaker B: I remember telling my boss, it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow.

Jermaine Dupri: Yeah, it. It wasn't.

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Narrator: Marketing Architects.

Narrator: Welcome to adspeak Adweek's podcast about the business of marketing, media, and creativity. In this episode, we're sharing a conversation recorded live at Brand Week, featuring leaders from across the industry discussing the ideas shaping brands right now. Let's get into it.

Host: Thank you for having us, or should I say, thank you for having us here in Atlanta.

Jermaine Dupri: Welcome. Welcome.

Host: You are like the, uh, unofficial mayor of Atlanta. You made that theme song. There's so much to Atlanta that we're all learning and experiencing. Some of us are here, some of us have been here. Like, what does Atlanta as a culture mean to you? What really is so special about Atlanta? And also, what made you want to make that welcome to Atlanta classic?

Jermaine Dupri: Well, I mean, Atlanta is a city like no other city. And I think people. I mean, I was saying this prior to welcome to Atlanta, but I don't think people have really recognized it. Right? So when I made welcome to Atlanta, it was just basically to shine a light on something that I thought the rest of the world was, like, ignored. Because at the time, it was like, when I made that song, I used to go through the airport, and they used to have these stores in the airport where you buy, like, souvenirs. And the souvenir said, London, Tokyo, New York, and maybe Detroit or maybe, I don't know, somewhere else. It was like four names in this little shirt. They'd say, right? And it was, I. I saw this everywhere. And I used to be like, why they don't have Atlanta on them shirts? Why Atlanta's name is not on these shirts? And that was, like, the first thing that made me start thinking about this. And I started hearing like, I think LeBron went to the Lakers prior, maybe it was before this. Like the Lakers was winning with Kobe and they used to play this I love LA song all the time, right? We love la. We love it, we love it. And I'm like, okay, wait. And then the Frank Sinatra song in New York and I'm like, what is the Atlanta song? Right? And Ray Charles made Georgia on My Mind. But I'm not from Georgia, I'm from Atlanta. Like, that was the mentality. I mean, that's still my mentality. Like making Georgia is not Atlanta, Georgia and Savannah Georgia is not Atlanta. And I don't think people, for the longest people didn't have that understanding. Atlanta is different. It's just a different place. It looks different, it moves different, it operates different. And I needed a record to kind of put that energy out in the world to let people know that everybody

Host: here has got their kind of voice on what Atlanta is. How would you describe Atlanta? Should we just read the poetry of the lyrics?

Jermaine Dupri: Nah, nah, because I'm talking about actually partying on my song. But I mean, Atlanta is, if I think about it just from a real place, it's like probably the most equal opportunity place ever. And I say that like everywhere I go, I don't see the same working class people, the same people that in different places that you will see in Atlanta. I know like yesterday I was talking to one of my friends and he was talking about just got his son at Morehouse and he was like, he was asking his son about his professors and they from California, right? And they just like, they never been in this place where it's a black school and it is everybody there, the professors is black, the janitors is black. And not just being a black town, it's just a town where everybody is offered the same thing. You can work wherever you want to work in Atlanta, long as you're good at doing the job. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, it might be different. But I'm saying when you come to Atlanta, you see people that understand all walks of life, right? And that's the special thing, I feel like that, uh, we have here.

Host: I love it. I really agree. And uh, there's so many special things. But I totally think the essence of what you're saying, it's so multicultural, so much pride to that. And it just feels really special. You've been doing this for a long time, right? You started when you were nine or even earlier possibly.

Jermaine Dupri: I mean. Well, actually really started, I think, thinking about Music when I was 12.

Host: And you recently turned 50. Right?

Jermaine Dupri: And 50 something.

Host: And, uh, this year, Billboard was ranked you the hip hop and R and B producer of the century.

Jermaine Dupri: Yes.

Host: I mean, so many hits, so many artists you've put on, so many amazing songs you've produced. At this point, you've been called Young Quincy Jones. I know he was a mentor to you. How do you feel about, like, what's next? Like, how do you want the next chapter of when people think of Jermaine Dupri? How do you want that to be defined?

Jermaine Dupri: I mean, in my mind, I want people to be like, the guy that did the impossible, or the guy that did more than what he's supposed to been doing, or, uh, the guy that did what's more than expected. Like I was telling you in the back, I'm successful, but it's not my idea of me being successful. I haven't even reached my idea of being successful. I feel like I'm just like, I'm continuing to chase and I'm headed to that way. And you're going to be successful because the idea that I have of success is so much more successful than what I am. So I have to have this success. But this is not what my idea what it is.

Host: And, uh, you're just such a free thinker. Like, you really do unbind your mind to how you come up with the things that you do. You're just not able to approach making a song, I think, like anybody else or making a campaign. Everything you do just, it feels like it's from you and almost like possessed to a mission that's in your mind that you're making come to life.

Jermaine Dupri: Yeah, it is.

Host: That's cool. But you've done so many, like, amazing marketing stunts along the way. I was just out to dinner with D.C. and he was explaining to me, like, you had the billboard when you come into Atlanta. Like every time somebody saw you got to Atlanta, you saw what your projects were, your record label or your priority artists. Like, what was the thought on, um, I want the first billboard when you pull into the city too, man.

Jermaine Dupri: Cocky. No, I don't know. I think that, you know, Motown is a big influence on me. And they had a billboard in Motown, you know, Perry, Gordy had a billboard. And you know, like I was saying about my focus is to do things that nobody else is doing. Right.

Host: That's what I think every brand marketer wants to do.

Jermaine Dupri: And to some, yeah, uh, my mind automatically thinks different than, oh, let's do this. I'm trying to do that, right? So it's a peacock effect that I have, right? I had these peacocks too at my house. And peacocks, they always want to stand up on something so people can see them. Like, they want to get up, they want to be seen, they want to show off. I feel like I'm a peacock. It's just like I have that mentality when it comes to my projects. You have to see what I'm doing. I want you to see what I'm doing. So it's something we have to figure out a way to make you see it from way over there, right? And it started out with Kris Kross. It's like, okay, I got these two kids and they could rap. We got a song, cool. But it's not enough. Put your clothes on backwards. And everybody's like, what? Why Fuck will we put our clothes on backwards? I don't know why, but just do it. This is a real conversation. And one of the Chris's had his jumper. His pants was already so baggy that you could turn around in the clothes without even. You wouldn't even be mad anyway, right? So I was like, so just flip them on backwards and let's see what's happening. The other Chris was like, oh, I'm not doing this. Chris did it. I said, let's go to Lenny Square. I don't know what was gonna happen. I don't even know why I'm saying this. I'm just telling you what I'm saying. Let's go to Lennox and see if people pay attention to it. We went to Lennox Square and I saw people actually bumping into things looking at this kid's clothes, and I couldn't believe it. I'm like, this is incredible.

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Jermaine Dupri: You guys do know that he just put his jumper on backwards. It's not like anything that, like, it's not no new thing that we made up or anything. It's just like put your clothes on backwards. And it was like, that's like the first time I realized how much more you should add to having a hit record.

Host: This is brilliant marketing here. So you talk about when you're making a record, you want to create a vibe for the record to live in. Yeah, it's so different than I'd ever heard an executive producer talking about making a track. It's like you want to see the whole vision for the song before you even or while you're making the song before you put it out, you want to see where it lives. So if it's a song in one club, it's for there that's like world building around a track. Do you think of each song as a brand? Like, how do you even go that deep down vision board of what a song or project looks like if you're creating a world for an actual track?

Jermaine Dupri: I mean, for the most part it's already done. It's already there for you to do it. Right? So we take grills from Nelly, right? The song grills. We made the song mentally in Magic City, right? We was standing up beside each other talking and he heard a tempo. He's like, this, the tempo. And I'm like, uh, okay, cool. So at that point you're gathering information. It's just like the Internet, but you're your own algorithm, right? You're gathering the information. So you're gathering, okay, this is the tempo that I feel like he likes. This is a tempo that the DJ keeps playing records that's in the same tempo. All of this stuff is for me to digest, right? And then Nelly started saying something to me and he started talking about grills. And at that point it's like, okay, cool, we know that this song is going to be about grills. And then we both decided at that point while we was in the club, call Paul Wall and get him to come from Houston. Because he's the grill guy, he makes grills. So it was like all of this Transpiring. All in one moment. I mean, like, all in one night. Call Paul Wall. Get on the plane. We're at Maggie City. We gonna meet you at the studio. We gonna do this song. And it was like a whole thing. And, yeah, you're just basically creating this. You can create this without even having the music, but you have to have the music match once you get to where you gotta go, which is the talent. Yeah.

Host: So you've worked with some brands. This is brand week. You know, the Boost Mobile Epic anthem, the Sprite, Obey your Thirst. Like the original Sprite, Obey your Thirst. They just relaunched that. We saw that up on the stage yesterday. It's doing extremely well for Sprite. Like, what are some lessons you've learned from working with brands? And what's the difference when working with a brand versus working with an artist? Like, what's your difference in approach?

Jermaine Dupri: It's interesting because when you in the forefront of this. That's why I asked you why you guys are even here doing this? Because when I first started doing this, companies in Atlanta didn't understand the power of companies like, so DEF or Jermaine Dupree or whatever. Like, we did the Sprite ad. Ah. The company that they hired was in Chicago. And I kept saying, like, wait a minute, ain't Coca Cola in Atlanta? And don't I live, like, right around the corner? Why the hell is somebody in Chicago putting us together? Right. And that's one of the things I've just been trying to, like, make happen. And that was. Like, that's. So you say that about dealing with brands. That's what I'm always trying to get them to understand. Like, get as close to the source as possible. Because you're trying to sell to the source. You're not trying to sell to a side person. You're trying to sell to the source. You gonna do something in Atlanta? Get somebody in Atlanta that knows what's going on in Atlanta to help you with whatever you're trying to sell in Atlanta. Same way with New York or anywhere else. That's what I would say.

Host: But you would approach that similarly with music as, like, if you were working with an artist and you were doing a song for them, you probably would want to do Usher songs in Atlanta, right?

Jermaine Dupri: Like, yeah, I had a myth or a, uh, thing where I thought that that wouldn't work. And I used to, like, try to avoid, like, going anywhere besides recording here in Atlanta. And then we made confessions in la, and I guess that was the end of that little bit.

Host: New Thesis New knowledge, new approach with new information. That's the sign of intelligence.

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Host: with your entrepreneurial adventures and your also kind of passion points. Like as a vegan, how do you approach your entrepreneurial life beyond a producer or even as a producer, when it pertains to the things that matter to you. Like you created a vegan ice cream, is that because you wanted to put like veganism on the map? Like, how do you approach the endeavors you take on versus the passion points that matter to you on, uh, me,

Jermaine Dupri: I just wake up and go, you know, I mean, it's based on real life. And I also pay attention to space feeling right. Because coming from Atlanta and how hard it was for us to get on in this city and how hard it was for us to even make people pay attention to Atlanta, I'm always creating from looking at the hole that's left there, like in between those seats right there, right? It's this thing, right? I'm trying to get right there. Yeah. I'm thinking they ain't gonna let me sit in the seat, so I'm gonna get in between the seat and in between the seat, I'm gonna split the seat open. You know what I mean? I'm thinking like that, right? So my mentality is just that. It's like I'm trying to find a space and I'm always trying to figure out what can I do to fill this space that's missing. And whatever's missing is what I try to do. And when I look at hip hop, for the longest hip hop, it's been sex, violence, Drugs and nothing positive really in the last 10 years, right? And me creating Kris Kross made people start saying that I was the guy that create kids artists, right? And I was fighting that for as long as I could. But then 10 years later I made Bow Wow, right? And then it was like, I guess I am the person that's responsible for making music for youth in that space. Then I created this show called the Rap Game that was putting more kids on TV and more kids into the rap business. And when I start looking at that space, I just start looking at like, okay, as a consumer or as a person that's putting out product for this, what is here for the 13 to 16 year old kid? What's designed for them? And I, uh, looked at, uh, kept saying nothing. Nothing actually to this day is nothing that you can actually look at that comes on TV that's like for the 13 to 16 year old kid, right? And it just became like a space where it's like God chose me to do Kris Kross, Bow Wow, uh, the Rap Game. And I feel like, like I said, I wasn't trying to answer that call, but I'm good at it, right? So then I just started saying, okay, let me do something. Not saying vegan ice cream is just perfect for kids, but it just became my lifestyle. And then it's also healthy. It is healthier than anything else in a way. Right. So it's just like, don't be scared about it. Put it out there.

Speaker G: You know what I mean?

Jermaine Dupri: And that's basically what it was.

Host: I love it. All right, let's have a little bit of fun here. So we're going to do some manifesting. What's the dream brand you want to produce for? What's the dream artist you want to produce for? And what's the difference?

Jermaine Dupri: I don't really have a dream artist.

Host: If you could be tomorrow, obviously this could change. But like, who would you want to produce for?

Jermaine Dupri: I don't know.

Host: What brand would you love to.

Jermaine Dupri: I would say, uh, brand. Like I would probably do. Is it clothing? Are we talking about anything?

Host: I mean we got everything from CPG to airlines to beverage to food.

Narrator: Yeah.

Jermaine Dupri: I mean I would have in a different bunch of different spaces if it was clothing, I would probably do look

Host: hot, make a theme song.

Jermaine Dupri: No, I would be the creative designer of the clothes.

Host: It's awesome. Amazing.

Jermaine Dupri: I mean, just because I don't. I think there's still a lot of brands out here that don't understand what they mean to my world. Right. So I would have to take a survey of what that is and just look at it. But it's still a lot of them that don't really understand how much we utilize what it is that they make.

Host: And what about artists? What, like, is there no artists? You want to make a song by

Jermaine Dupri: making the artist wise? I don't know. I have to really think about that one. That was. That was tough.

Narrator: All.

Host: Uh, right.

Jermaine Dupri: And I want to buy a take. Me saying that they send it to my other artists and they be mad, but I don't know.

Host: Would you approach it differently if you were working with your dream artist project or if you were working with your favorite brand to produce a commercial or.

Jermaine Dupri: Um, no, it's not. It's the same. It's the same thing. You know, I mean, I'm very much moved by what actually is a real movement. Like what this artist did that would make me say I want to work with them is what would drive me musically. And the same thing with a brand. It's like, whatever it is that brand has done or that I've seen my friends or, uh, somebody else, whatever it is, that's what I would be like, okay, you should let me do this, because this friend, my friend, this friend, that friend, we got like, we bought like a million dollars worth of your clothes. You should let us continue that going on.

Host: Who better to market it than someone that really loves it and gets it? Let's talk a little bit about the current landscape in culture. Like, what is the next generation? What do you see is coming up bubbling up in terms of your circles or what you think is next in culture? And in terms of artists, producers, sound brands, style, like, what captivates you about where things are going?

Jermaine Dupri: Oddly enough, I think that I hear people saying, you know, I hear the younger generation talk about the gatekeepers, but I also see them wanting information from the gatekeepers. So I actually believe that the gatekeeping is going to come back. And I believe that it's going to come back because somebody's going to figure out that somebody's going to pay really, really close attention to it and understand that it's just a bunch of young people that really need information and they want the information, but it's just how you speak it to them and how it's presented to them.

Host: I think that's, you know, the return to trusted sources.

Jermaine Dupri: Yeah, 100% right now.

Host: It's very hard to find that.

Jermaine Dupri: Yeah. Because the success is different. Right. And the young generation wants the success of the past. They want to do things that's new. But they want the success of the past. You can't get the success of the past unless you have people showing you how to get to that space.

Host: Is it possible to do something new? Is everything under the sun already been done? Is everything generative?

Jermaine Dupri: No. Uh, it's just a bunch of new stuff that you.

Host: You think so. Every day, there could be fully every belief every day, artists that have never been seen or heard before.

Jermaine Dupri: Every day it's just, you walk in a room of people who don't have a mindset of doing something that hasn't been done before. And a majority of the time, those are the people that get the jobs, the people that can't see doing something new.

Host: Right.

Jermaine Dupri: You gotta start hiring people who think

Host: like me, Never been done before. Honestly, you know it. All right, we gotta talk about it, because it feels like this is Brand Week 2025. Obligatory AI question. Is AI good for what you do? Is it helping you?

Jermaine Dupri: Are.

Host: Are you feeling like it's a useful tool, or are you feeling like it's a destructive, creative tool?

Jermaine Dupri: I think it's based on how you use it. If you trying to tell me that AI is going to take the place of music that I make, then I'm not listening to you. But if you're trying to tell me that it's, uh, a helpful tool for you to do something and, like, look at it as an idea board for you to do something for something else, then I believe that that's great. But it also, you have to keep in mind that AI can make you lazy like this.

Host: Yeah, right.

Jermaine Dupri: And, um, a lazy person, to me, in business never wins. So if you allow AI to start doing this for you and doing this for you, and you just be, like, trying to sit behind it, like, yo, guess what? I got this plan. I put it in this computer that told me to do this, and you start giving it, it just gets to be like, a cycle of, like, okay, cool. But, you know, because you also have to remember that there's no heart feeling in AI. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, something that we talk about is we say heartfelt. That's a thing. A heartfelt feeling. Heartfelt feeling you will never get from AI. Uh, I don't care who the creator of AI is, they will never have the heartfelt feeling. So with the music, especially in the music space, it'll never be the same.

Host: But like Timbaland wanting to do a AI artist instead of making the next ayah because it's easier to create, it's harder to find an ayah and it's harder to, you know.

Jermaine Dupri: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's vers, basically.

Host: Yeah, that's not the right way.

Jermaine Dupri: Yeah, that's just like, you know, I was telling him in the back. It's like the saying that people say, what do you get somebody has everything for Christmas. People tell me this every year. Uh, like, what do we get somebody? I don't know what to get somebody who has everything. I don't have everything, first of all. And it's be your job, if you really, really were concerned about it, to find out what I don't have. Right. But people use this as a crutch to not do anything, to not get anything right. And that's the same place that I feel like this AI shit is going to do with people. It's going to make people be like, uh, what do you get? Anybody that's got everything, just let the AI do it. And we can't allow the world to go to that space. Not me.

Host: Man. There's been so many gems. They're so nice to hear. One last word here. What do you hope to inspire the next generation of marketer of music entrepreneur? As such a visionary, what do you hope to leave them with here as a final word of inspiration?

Jermaine Dupri: Always just think out of the box. You know what I mean? Think out of the box and join forces with people who think out of the box. Because for the longest of my life, I've always been a person that people try to avoid because they know I'm going to come in the room and say something that they weren't thinking about or, uh, something that's going to cost too much money. Okay, cool. But I can be talked down on the money side. It won't change the idea, though. You know what I mean? So I just think, like, that you just got to find people that you know. I think that that's what I hope. I hope I can inspire you to find more people that think like Jermaine Dupri.

Host: I mean, come on. Uh, this is a very special treat. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Narrator: That was a conversation recorded live at Brand Week. You can find more coverage, analysis and interviews from across the marketing and media world@adweek.com. thanks for listening to Ad Speak. If you like the show, be sure to follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Narrator: Flowing. Ad budget on metrics that look great till the CFO sees them. That's bullspend. And marketers are calling it out in Dashboard Confessions.

Speaker B: I remember telling my boss it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow.

Jermaine Dupri: Yeah, it wasn't.

Narrator: Cut the bull. Spend um LinkedIn lets you target by company job title and More. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend 250 on your first campaign and get a 250 credit. Go to LinkedIn.com campaign terms and conditions apply.

Jermaine Dupri: Par le tu francais hablas espanol Parliament

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