The same old story
|  | | Nelly | | It's the same old story with Jermaine Dupri. He's in the studio trying to make even more hits - with everybody. He's producing an all-ballad album for Jagged Edge, then you have Usher, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and one of his best friends, Nelly.
"Nelly's got a crazy collaboration he's trying to put together, which is him, Janet and Mariah Carey all on one song," JD said. "That's what he wants. If he could convince them to do it, it would be crazy. He wants Janet to rap a 16-bar verse, he wants Mariah to sing the hook and he's gonna do two verses. He has it all planned out. You ask him about it! This is what he wants; he's 100-percent deadlocked into it. And I think he's doing a record with Bruce Springsteen. You know he always has to do one of those! My two records [that J.D. has produced for Nelly so far], he's gonna have some people on them - I won't tell it yet. I don't want to jinx the record."
"Me and Nelly in the studio is barely work," he continued. "We can't even get to work, it's so much partying. No sleep, nonstop. It's a party in the studio. He's the only person I go in the studio with and we party all night. The way Nelly works is, he works 100 percent off a vibe and what's going on in the studio and how people in the studio are moving off his record. People come to the studio and might [not give a song a good response]. He'll be like, 'Scrap that beat!' We bring in a whole new set of people in. We put on a new beat and if they start moving, he gets excited and it'll be more drinks and the smoke gets thicker and it gets crazy."
J.D., of course, recently signed on to be president of Island Def Jam Records, and he says he wants to build it up as big as it was when Dru Hill and Kelly Price were big. He divulged that Janet Jackson is in negotiations with label head L.A. Reid to come over and join the likes of Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie, Babyface and the aforementioned Jagged Edge on the roster. He also has one MC under his wing, Hot Dollar, whose underground record "Two Steppin' " caught his ear.
"Me being a talent-finder and looking for artists, he happened to have crazy record in L.A. I got his demo, he had more songs. I was like, 'This ain't bad!' I've always been one to move with the new and young talent, so I was like, 'Let's come in with some fresh blood.' " (MTV News)
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