Jermaine Dupri is staying steadfast to the belief that he helped make “106 & Park.” As previously reported by REVOLT, the producer ruffled a few feathers when he claimed that he made the popular music video countdown show to launch Bow Wow to super stardom.
During a previous appearance on “The GAUDS Show” podcast, Dupri said that he was inspired by MTV’s “TRL.” The So So Def executive went on to recall speaking directly with Stephen Hill, BET’s then head of programming, about the creation of the show, and, well, the rest is history. However, both Hill and Bow spoke out saying that Dupri had a vastly different recollection of how the series, which was first hosted by personalities Free and AJ Calloway, came to fruition. Now, in a new appearance on “The Breakfast Club,” the “Welcome to Atlanta” hitmaker laid out exactly how he feels he helped influence the launching of “106 & Park,” and how people can be quick to discredit the work he does behind the scenes.
“If you don’t see Jermaine Dupri working, [if] you don’t see me doing what we gotta do, then you gone always — you not gonna believe anything that happens,” started the Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee on Friday (March 24). The entertainer used “The Rap Game” as a prime example of the work he does to create paths for his artists to succeed. In Dupri’s case, the rap competition that consisted of teens helped to put artists such as Latto and Jayla Marie on the map. “If you didn’t see it…and I said I created a TV show that introduced you to Latto, somebody would challenge that. Somebody would challenge you and say, ‘No, you didn’t,’” he noted.
Dupri further explained, “If they (BET) had this idea in they mind prior to me saying this, then God bless them. But I’m saying what artist was they gon’ launch that show with? Because I provided the artist that made that show what that show became. It wasn’t no Chris Brown before Bow Wow. It wasn’t no Lil Romeo before Bow Wow.”
When asked if he was seeking credit for any involvement he may have had in the show’s success, Durpri said no. “I’m not speaking on it now about me wanting credit. What I was speaking on, on that show (The GAUDS), was the fact of what I do for my artists, right? I’m going to take that extra mile to do what I do to make sure my artists get that stretch, and that’s all I was saying.
He continued, “I put a call in to Stephen Hill and said, ‘Yo, we need to do a show that looks like blah, blah, blah ‘cause I have this new artist by the name of Bow Wow. Is that me making it? I don’t know, but I know that that’s what happened… People can take it however they want to take it.”
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