Image via Complex Original
Jermaine Dupri will be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of his So So Def record label at a performance in Atlanta next month, so what better time to highlight the output of one of the most successful companies in hip-hop history than a trip down memory lane? From Xscape to Jagged Edge, J-Kwon to Dem Franchize Boyz, the So So Def label has been churning out hits since the label's inception in 1993. While Dupri's production never had the distinctive, easily-branded qualities of super-producers like The Neptunes, his mercenary ability to adapt to changing musical trends gave him longevity that most in the music business have struggled to match.
As a result, Dupri has been underrated as a producer, businessman, and an A&R. Despite working behind chart-topping smashes, it seems like he doesn't have the same respected pedigree of other producer-auteurs. Dupri hasn't been an innovator in the traditional sense; instead, he understands talent, feels the way the winds are blowing, and knows how to combine those skills to drop hits.
Ironically, his earliest successes weren't on his own label. Although Kris Kross will be performing at the anniversary show in February, they were signed to Ruffhouse/Columbia, the duo was never signed to So So Def Records, and so are absent from this list. Also missing is much of the work Dupri did as an outside collaborator; records for Mariah Carey or Monica, for example, were released on other labels.
This list combines official So So Def remixes and singles released by his label, making it the consummate compilation of the business savvy and musical sensibilities of Jermaine Dupri.
Written by David Drake (@somanyshrimp)
30. Destiny's Child f/ Bow Wow, Jermaine Dupri & Da Brat "Jumpin' Jumpin' (So So Def Remix)" (2000)
Album: N/A
Producer: Beyoncé Knowles, Chad Elliott, Jovonn Alexander
The basic So So Def remix formula: add Da Brat, Jermaine Dupri, and Bow Wow, shake and bake. This was the strategy for 2000's "Jumpin Jumpin (So So Def Remix)," which flipped one of Destiny's Child's most popular singles into a hip-hop track.
The song's worth it for Jermaine trying to keep Bow Wow out of the club even though Beyoncé just hit him on his two-way pager. Meanwhile, Da Brat is posted up in the corner with Jermaine Dupri trading bars back and forth like Cowboy and Kid Creole.
The original version of the song peaked at No. 1 on the Hot 100, while the remix video obtained considerable airplay.
29. Playa Poncho "Koochie Kuterz" (1995)
Album: So So Def Bass All Stars Vol. 1
Producer: Playa Poncho & DJ Nabs
Sure, it's a re-branding of Duice's "Dazzey Duks" the way 69 Boyz' "Tootsee Roll" reinvented the Butterfly. But just as Eskimos have scores of words for "snow," some concepts just can't be adequately described with one word.
"Koochie Kuterz" might not have clobbered the pop charts like Bellmark records' "Dazzey Duks," which peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it was a strong single in its own right. Produced by Poncho and DJ Nabs, the song samples Los Angeles electro producer Egyptian Lover. It dropped as a single in 1995 and made the So So Def Bass All Stars Vol. 1 compilation the following year.
28. Harlem World f/ Ma$e & Kelly Price "I Really Like It" (1999)
Album: The Movement
Producer: Just Blaze
By 1999, the looped-disco style, pioneered a few years earlier by Puffy and the Hitmen on albums like Life After Death and Ma$e's Harlem World, was wearing a little thin. "I Really Like It," though, is kind of undeniable.
Early in his career, Ma$e was interested in signing with So So Def before he was scooped up by Bad Boy. When it came time to shop around his Harlem World crew, So So Def was a natural starting point. The celebratory curtain call for the late-90s Bad Boy aesthetic, "I Really Like It"'s DeBarge interpolation was enough to land Harlem World on the R&B charts, although it never managed to cross over to pop.
Ma$e steals the show ("I'm on the low though, with a lot of dough though/And I hate a smart chick, give me a dodo"), and the video is set in a circus, and someone is shot from a cannon.
27. Rocko "Umma Do Me" (2007)
Album: Self Made
Producer: Drumma Boy
Drumma Boy-produced single "Umma Do Me" was Rocko's first release from his underrated debut album Self Made, and it became his biggest hit. The song managed to hit No. 66 on the Hot 100, and reached No. 15 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart.
26. Jermaine Dupri f/ Nas, Monica and Lil Bow Wow "I've Got to Have It" (2000)
Album: Big Momma's House Soundtrack
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
Who knew 2000's Big Momma's House soundtrack could provide hip-hop classics? Jermaine Dupri's "I've Got To Have It" featured Nas (in top pop-Nas form), Monica and Lil Bow Wow over a sample of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer." The song never hit the pop charts and only reached No. 67 on the R&B/Hip-Hop singles list, but the execution is perfect. Come on. Who else could get Nas to spit with Lil Bow Wow over "Sledgehammer"? At least BET used to rep for it.
25. Da Brat f/ Tyrese "What'chu Like" (2000)
Album: Unrestricted
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
"What'chu Like" was the second single from Unrestricted, Da Brat's third album. It peaked at No. 26 on the Hot 100, her final single to go Top 40 to date.The Dupri-produced song sampled Claudja Barry's "Love for the Sake of Love," which had been sampled by Montell Jordan for his song "Get It On Tonite" the previous year. (That song charted higher than Da Brat's, making it to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100).
24. Dem Franchize Boyz "Oh I Think They Like Me (So So Def Remix)" (2006)
Album: On Top of Our Game
Producer: Jamall "Pimpin" Willingham, Maurice "Parlae" Gleaton
Alongside D4L, Dem Franchize Boyz defined the much-derided snap movement that formulated in Atlanta venue the Poole Palace in the mid-2000s. With help from the classic So So Def lineup (Da Brat, Bow Wow, Dupri himself) "I Think They Like Me (So So Def Remix)" was one of the group's best songs, even if it didn't reach the charting heights of its successor, "Lean wit It, Rock wit It."
The chorus samples the group's debut single, "White Tee," and it was enough to push it to the top of the Hip-Hop/R&B chart for three weeks and to No. 15 on the Hot 100. Do the right thing like Spike Lee and give this one another spin.
23. Lil' Bow Wow f/ Snoop Dogg "Bow Wow (That's My Name)" (2000)
Album: Beware of Dog
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
While "Bounce With Me," the first single from Lil' Bow Wow's debut, was a notable track, it was "Bow Wow (That's My Name)" which remains the most impressive moment in the rapper's early career. The second single from Beware of Dog, the Dupri-produced song samples of Francois de Roubaix's "Dernier Domicile Connu" and George Clinton's "Atomic Dog."
Thematically, it was reminiscient of Snoop's "Who Am I (What's My Name)," down to the parenthetical title, so it was appropriate that Snoop would be the guest on the track ("Woof! motherfucker, the dog came to play."). It also transcended its intended age group; older heads knew a jam when they heard one.
The song reached No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 after its release in October of 2000. (Bow Wow's Wanted, released in 2005, would be considered a successful return to form, but that record wasn't released on So So Def.)
22. Jermaine Dupri "Sweetheart" (1998)
Album: Life in 1472
Producer: Jermaine Dupri, Mariah Carey
"Sweetheart" never quite performed like one would have expected a Mariah Carey feature to perform in 1998, reaching only No 125 on the Billboard singles charts; it was initially planned as a single, but the record company pulled it at the last minute (although many singles still entered circulation). It qualified for Billboard due to rule changes that took effect that fall, allowing album tracks to chart through airplay.
Drawn from Jermaine Dupri's solo debut Life in 1472, the song featured such an incredible Mariah performance that she managed to make Dupri seem like a guest on his own song. Today, the song's low-key groove and impeccable vocals make the label's decision surrounding the single even more mysterious.
21. Corina "Summertime Summertime" (1997)
Album: So So Def Bass All Stars Vol. 2
Producer: Albert Cabrera
Corina has had an unusual career. A New York-based Latin freestyle singer, she released one album in 1991, self-titled. It spawned two singles, one of which ("Temptation") made it to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the late '80s and early '90s, she had a series of solo dance hits.
But in 1996, Jonathan Smith—an Atlanta DJ who would go on to be known as Lil Jon—A&R'd a project called So So Def All Stars. One of the compilation's runaway hits was "My Boo," a song that combined slow jam R&B with Atlanta bass music. The following year, when it came time to release a sequel, the R&B/bass combo song count increased, and Corina was one of the beneficiaries.
The freestyle star recorded a cover of Nocera's 1986 freestyle hit "Summertime Summertime." Corina's version scraped into the Hot 100, peaking at No. 86, but it remains a highlight of this rare brand of propulsive, atmospheric R&B. Also, catch Lil Jon spinning on the ones and twos in the video.
In 1999, three years later, she starred as Frida Khalo in the film The Cradle Will Rock.
20. Xscape "My Little Secret" (1998)
Album: Traces of My Lipstick
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
The second single from Xscape's third studio album, "My Little Secret" resides in the female creeping canon alongside TLC's "Creep" and N'Tyce's "Hush Hush Tip." The joy the singers take in being Other Women has probably been responsible for more than a few illicit affairs, and is about as strong an advertisement for wandering eyes as one could ask for. The song was the final release by the group before they disbanded in 1998. Produced by Jermaine Dupri, the single reached No. 9 on the Hot 100.
19. Jagged Edge f/ Rev. Run "Let's Get Married (Remix)" (2000)
Album: J.E. Heartbreak
Producer: Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox
Released in February of 2000, Jagged Edge's "Let's Get Married" topped the R&B charts for three weeks in 2007 and peaked at No. 11 on the U.S. pop charts. Produced by Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox, the song was the third single released from J.E. Heartbreak, the group's second album. The remix, which featured Reverend Run from Run-DMC, is even better; it samples Run-DMC's classic "It's Like That," and transforms what had been an earnest ballad into a thunderous dance floor smash.
18. Dem Franchize Boyz f/ Peanut and Charlay "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It" (2006)
Album: On Top of Our Game
Producer: Maurice "Parlae" Gleaton, Buck$
Once again, a revolution was brewing in Atlanta, and yet again, Dupri was on top of it. Snap music was one of the more derided of ATL's musical movements—dance-focused, without auteurs and lacking in aggression, it wasn't awarded the serious consideration from audiences granted to crunk—but it still marked a significant shift in the sound of Southern rap.
D4L were the scene's biggest act, thanks to the inescapable "Laffy Taffy," but Dupri managed to score some significant chart action with Dem Franchize Boyz, who had three major hits ("White Tee," "I Think They Like Me" and "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It"). The last of those three tracks was also the most successful. Over a sparse, barely-there beat, the rappers instructed listeners specifically on how to move to the beat.
The song peaked at No. 7 on the Hot 100, becoming the group's biggest hit. It would ultimately be certified platinum.
17. Anthony Hamilton "Charlene" (2003)
Album: Comin' From Where I'm From
Producer: Mark Batson
Although he was signed by Andre Harrell to Uptown Records in the '90s and sang backup for D'Angelo on his Voodoo tour, Anthony Hamilton first made his name nationally working on hooks with hip-hop performers, including "Why" for Jadakiss and "Po Folks" for Nappy Roots. Soon after, he released the album Comin From Where I'm From on So So Def.
The title track was successful, but it was "Charlene" that proved to be the singer's high water mark. An elegant ballad of devotion, the song peaked at No. 19 on the Hot 100, helping to push his album to platinum status by December of the year it was released. The song received a Grammy nomination one year later.
16. Bone Crusher f/ Killer Mike & T.I. "Never Scared" (2003)
Album: AttenCHUN!
Producer: Avery Johnson
Although Lil Jon was considered the primary auteur of crunk's commercial crossover, it's notable that Jermaine Dupri was working behind the scenes of Atlanta's early-Aughts musical revolution. One of biggest club hits of the day was Bone Crusher's "Never Scared," a cataclysmic detonation of raw aggression that became one of the genre's foremost anthems. The song even became the Atlanta Braves' theme song for their 2003 season.
A particularly impressive guest verse by T.I. (who was also joined by Killer Mike) was a landmark recording for the rapper, who had already been building significant buzz locally. It was his first performance to chart on the Billboard Top 40 when it peaked at No. 26; it would remain Bonecrusher's only Top 40 performance.
15. Xscape "Who Can I Run To" (1995)
Album: Off the Hook
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
"Who Can I Run To" was originally a B-Side for the Jones Girls in 1979. Covered by Xscape with production courtesy Jermaine Dupri, the song topped the R&B charts and peaked at No. 8 on the Hot 100. The ballad was even sampled by Mannie Fresh for Juvenile's 2007 track of the same name.
14. Jagged Edge "Promise" (2000)
Album: J.E. Heartbreak
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
The fourth and final single from Jagged Edge's J.E. Heartbreak LP, "Promise" became one of the group's largest hits, topping the R&B charts for two consecutive weeks and reaching No. 9 on the Hot 100.
13. J-Kwon "Tipsy" (2004)
Album: Hood Hop
Producer: Trackboyz
Although "Tipsy" missed hitting No. 1 on the Billboard charts due to the phenomenon that was Usher's "Yeah!," it certainly felt like a number-one record, and was ultimately certified two times platinum.
St. Louis rapper J-Kwon's song dominated much of 2004, thanks in part to the unsteady acid-squelch beat and hand clap snares courtesy underrated Midwest producers the Trackboyz. (On the low, J-Kwon's solo record with So So Def, entitled Hood Hop, featured a pretty great selection of beats).
Everyone's favorite spring break anthem, the song was pretty much unavoidable and cleanly crossed over from the hood to the frat house.
12. Da Brat "Give It 2 You (Remix)" (1995)
Album: Funkdafied
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
The third single from Da Brat's debut LP Funkdafied was another massive hit for the new star, eventually going gold and peaking at No. 26 on the Hot 100. The song was produced by Jermaine Dupri, with help from a loop of the Mary Jane Girls' classic "All Night Long." The video was a house party full of cameos: Notorious B.I.G., Bill Bellamy, Puffy, T-Boz, Too $hort, MC Lyte, and Keith Murray were all in attendence, with Jermaine Dupri playing drums.
11. YoungBloodZ f/ Lil Jon "Damn!" (2003)
Album: Drinkin Patnaz
Producer: Jazze Pha, Lil Jon
The Youngbloodz' "Damn!" was one of the first shots fired in Lil Jon's eventual revolution in rap production. With a few synthesizer tones and an assist from Jazze Pha, he set the pattern for a new sound in Atlanta hip-hop, and popular rap more generally. The Youngbloodz, a rap duo consisting of Sean P and J-Bo, were initially signed to LaFace records. Their debut album had a Dungeon Family feel, and one of their best songs, "85," even featured Big Boi.
The group's sophomore record Drinkin Patnaz, however, was released on So So Def, and while "Cadillac Pimpin" would become a minor hit, it was "Damn!" which would become the group's biggest smash, due in part to its extremely novel production sound. It hit No. 4 on the U.S. pop charts and was eventually certified gold. The remix, which featured Ludacris, would also become a favorite among hip-hop heads for featuring one of the rapper's best verses.
10. INOJ "Love You Down" (1997)
Album: So So Def Bass All Stars Vol. 2
Producer: Charles "The Mixologist" Roane
Female singer INOJ's bass version of 1986 hit "Love You Down" gave the '80s slow jam a a feminine flavor and a propulsive engine. Originally written by Ready for the World's Melvin Riley, Jr., INOJ's version added production from Charles Roane. It didn't make it quite as high as the original (which peaked at No. 9) but still managed to hit the Hot 100, coming in at No. 88 on the year-end chart for 1998. The song's central contradiction, between the intimacy of INOJ's performance and the extroverted energy of the beat, was a powerful cocktail.
9. Playa Poncho & LA Sno "Whatz Up, Whatz Up" (1995)
Album: SoSo Def Bass All Stars 1
Producer: Kizzy Rock
L.A. Sno was an Atlanta bass producer known for 1993 smash "Dazzey Duks," a tribute to short shorts everywhere. He went on to release the gold-selling "Whatz Up, Whatz Up," a Freaknik anthem (the video was filmed at Freaknik '95) for So So Def, alongside rapper Playa Poncho and producer Kizzy Rock.
The song dropped as a single that same year, and was included on the label's So So Def Bass All Stars compilation in 1996. It peaked on the Hot Rap Singles chart at No. 17, and remains one of the signature songs of the Atlanta bass movement.
8. Jermaine Dupri f/ Ludacris "Welcome to Atlanta" (2001)
Album: Instructions
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
"Ma'am...in this brochure it says this tour is...crunk? What does that mean?" For Dupri's second solo album, he dropped a song that was perfectly-timed for Atlanta's ascendance to the top of hip-hop's commercial hierarchy. The second single from Instructions and a bonus track on Ludacris' own Word of Mouf, the song became a hit, reaching No. 35 on the Hot 100.
It sampled The Miracles' "Do It Baby" and Whodini's "Five Minutes of Funk." The video, which followed a tour bus full of tourists traveling throughout the city, managed stops at noted nightspots (Strokers, Fuel, Velvet Room). It featured cameos from prominent Atlanta celebrities from T.I. and Lil Jon to Evander Holyfield and Dominique Wilkins (pro tip: windmill dunks are 34% more effective when this song is playing).
The track's "Coast 2 Coast Remix" video added scenes in New York, St. Louis, and Long Beach, CA, and the video featured (among many, many others) Diddy, Nelly, and Snoop Dogg.
7. Mariah Carey "My All/Stay Awhile (So So Def Remix)" (1998)
Album: N/A
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
"My All" was one in a long chain of massive '90s Mariah singles, topping Billboard (Mariah's 13th single to do so) and ultimately reaching platinum sales. The So So Def Remix was a masterful move on Jermaine Dupri's part. Mariah re-recorded her vocals for the remix, and it was retitled "My All/Stay Awhile," due to Mariah's added interpolation of Loose Ends' 1986 R&B hit "Stay A Little While."
The song also featured guest verses from Peter Gunz and Lord Tariq, fresh off the success of the duo's classic "Uptown Baby." The video, shot with the a grainy quality that might qualify as the late-90s equivalent of the retro-Instagram aesthetic, captured the place and time with striking cinematic vision.
6. Da Brat f/ Jermaine Dupri "Funkdafied" (1994)
Album: Funkdafied
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
Longtime Dupri collaborator and Chicago rapper Da Brat made her G-funk-influenced debut in 1994, and lead single and title track "Funkdafied" dropped May 13 of that year. By August, the single went platinum, peaking at No. 6 on the Hot 100. It was Da Brat's biggest single, and her only one to go platinum. The song wed Da Brat's hardcore delivery to the same Isley Brothers sample ("Between the Sheets") as Biggie's "Big Poppa."
5. Jagged Edge f/ Nelly "Where the Party At" (2001)
Album: Jagged Little Thrill
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
One of the biggest crossover club tracks of the So So Def catalog, "Where the Party At," featured Nelly, who was at the height of his popularity; his 2000 album Country Grammar would go on to become one of the ten best-selling LPs of the decade. Shortly after the song's release in May of 2001, it hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the group's biggest single ever.
The song was produced by Dupri, and topped the Hip-Hop/R&B charts for three straight weeks. If you were watching MTV, listening to radio, or walking anywhere in either Midwest farm towns or major metropolises, the song was unavoidable. Everyone had trouble finding the party, and that was reason enough to celebrate.
4. Dru Hill f/ Jermaine Dupri & Da Brat "In My Bed (So So Def Remix)" (1996)
Album: N/A
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
A highlight for lead singer Sisqo, Dru Hill's "In My Bed" gathered enough strength to reach the upper reaches of the pop charts in 1997, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The remix, though, was where So So Def made its mark; with guest verses from Da Brat and Dupri himself, the song transformed a slow jam into a club-ready hit, thanks to the slinky bass line sampled from Le Pamplemousse's 1976 disco track "Gimme What You Got."
3. Xscape "Just Kickin' It" (1993)
Album: Hummin' Comin' At 'Cha
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
Tamika Scott, Kandi Burruss, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle and Tamera Coggins were discovered by Jermaine Dupri while performing in Atlanta at 1991's Martina Luther King, Jr. Festival. After signing them to his then new So So Def label, the quartet released the Hummin' Comin' At 'Cha LP, as well as lead single "Just Kickin' It". The song would become the group's biggest; it was released in August of 1993 and was platinum by November of that year, peaking at No. 2 on the Hot 100.
It was written by Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal, who would write many more songs with Dupri, including Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" and Usher's "U Make Me Wanna" (neither of which were So So Def recordings). The song's relaxed groove, dirty lyrics, and off-the-cuff vocal style made for risque radio.
2. Jermaine Dupri f/ Jay-Z "Money Ain't a Thang" (1998)
Album: Life in 1472
Producer: Jermaine Dupri
The video opens with Jay and Jermaine by a pool listening to Maxwell before kicking into the track, which liberally sampled funk musician Steve Arrington's "Weak at the Knees." The song was Grammy-nominated, and peaked at No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the second single from Jermaine Dupri's album Life in 1472, as well as appearing as a bonus track on Jay's Vol. 2 ... Hard Knock Life.
Jay's line "said she loved my necklace, started relaxing/now that's what the fuck I call a chain reaction," of course, would go on to be referenced by Remy Ma in "Lean Back." Although it didn't chart that high, it became one of the defining singles of Jay's most commercially successful era, when he most artfully balanced song craft and ruthless insouciance.
1. Ghost Town DJ's "My Boo" (1996)
Album: So So Def Bass All Stars Vol. 1
Producer: Carlton "Carl Mo" Mahone, Rodney "Kool Kollie" Terry
It wasn't even close to the label's most successful single, peaking at No. 31 on the Hot 100, but "My Boo" is truly So So Def's most transcendent song. Lead singer Virgo Williams (who released other major Atlanta Bass R&B singles like "Slick Partna" and "Apple Pie" under her own name) sang the lead, and Patrick Smith sang background. The song was the first single off So So Def Bass All Stars Vol. 1, a landmark project (A&R'd by Lil Jon, who at that time was a DJ). It melded R&B to bass production, and was a runaway hit on urban radio.
The song, written by Carleton "Carl Mo" Mahone and Rodney "Kool Kollie" Terry, dropped in spring of '96, and became a hit at that year's Freaknik in Atlanta. It was the same year police clamped down on the festival, which had been growing in size significantly every year. The song brought welcome feminine pressure to bass music, a genre often criticized for its overly lewd and objectifying lyrics.
The way "My Boo" meshed the R&B ballad with the uptempo heartbeat of bass music became its most enduring legacy. The synthesis of such seemingly disparate genres was so seamless that it felt like destiny.