Jermaine Dupri

“We're just welcoming people to our city.”

“I go to clubs and if I notice the DJs are playing the records faster, then I'll push the beats a little on the next record I make. A lot of people don't know how to watch out for things like that.”

“When you stick to what you're doing, sometimes that road ain't as easy as the rest of them.”

“I'm the father that Bow Wow never had.”

“Teach yourself from others' mistakes.”

“As an employee, you can't work for someone forever.”

“I wanted to feel like an artist for once in my life. I wanted to use other producers for respect, to let them know that I listen to other people's music and that I'm just not out here on my own page.”

“When I came out rapping on my record, a lot of people said, Oh, you just want to be like Puff.”

“So So Def has been one of the most successful and consistent labels in the game in the last 10 years.”

“The majority of my records that become big records are usually done in one day.”

“They keep the song as street as it needs to be. It's got a good catchy hook where it can do what it needs to do on the radio, but they keep the song street where it will keep credibility in the hood.”

“My father was a promoter of Fresh Fest, and they needed an opening act. He got me a slot as a dancer. We tried it out the first time in Atlanta and the crowd went crazy. I was the opening clown.”

“DJing is how I got into So So Def.”

“Because I was in Atlanta, people didn't realize I'm one of the real forefathers in the game.”

“My life is incredible.”

“Following in the footsteps of Berry Gordy, I always admire what he did.”

“I'm very good at separating things, and one of the things that I've always separated is that my business from one artist to the next has nothing to do with each other.”

“We haven't had a slew of artists, but the artists we do come out with have always had the same momentum.”

“I'd go dance at talent shows, and because I was young I had the upper hand on a lot of other crews. People thought it was cute. I used that to my advantage.”

“People know me, and want to know me, as a baller more than anything else.”