Jermaine Dupri has shared a story of DMX robbing a journalist using his dogs in a new Instagram series called 30th Anniversary Stories.
This series is to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the legendary Atlanta-based record label, So So Def Recordings – which Dupri has been the CEO of since its inception. In 1993, the prolific music producer created the label in a joint venture with Sony and Columbia and signed the R&B girl quartet Xscape as their first act. The label is also known for signing Jagged Edge, Bow Wow, 3LW and Da Brat – the latter becoming the first female rapper to have a platinum-selling album in the US.
In 1998, Dupri was working on his debut studio album ‘Life In 1472’ and invited a journalist from The Source to his session with Yonkers native DMX as a “marketing thing.” Dupri told fans on Instagram that when he got to the studio, the journalist was robbed.
He said: “I was going to the studio in New York to hear DMX do his verse and [wanted the journalist to be] a fly on the wall at the session, so they could talk about me recording and how the process was, all of this.
“By the time I had gotten to the studio, the reporter had gotten robbed. DMX basically robbed the reporter with his dogs; no guns, just the dogs. DMX started questioning the reporter, told the reporter to run his shit and take off whatever he had on and he had his dogs basically on the dude, making him do this.”
Dupri ended the video by saying: “As I tell these 30th anniversary stories, I got a lot of crazy stories and a lot of crazy shit I can’t tell but I had to tell this one. RIP to my man, DMX.”
DMX, real name Earl Simmons, died in April 2021, at the age of 50 due to a cocaine-induced heart attack.
This year’s BET Hip-Hop Awards will see a So So Def reunion including performances from Da Brat, Bow Wow, Dem Franchise Boys (known for seminal southern hip-hop classic ‘Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It’) and more. The ceremony will happen on October 10 and will be hosted by Fat Joe.
This year, the Grammy Award-winning producer announced the inaugural So So Def Festival, set to take place in Atlanta’s Central Park. It was meant to happen later this week, however, it has been postponed with more details to be revealed.
This summer saw DMX’s 1999 anthem ‘Party Up’ feature on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem soundtrack alongside other hip-hop classics such as Busta Rhymes’ ‘Woo Hah! Got You All in Check’, Blackstreet‘s ‘No Diggity’ and A Tribe Called Quest‘s ‘Can I Kick It?’.
