Jermaine Dupri is an industry name and has worked with the best of the best. From the likes of Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey to Nate Dogg and Ludacris, the rapper, songwriter, producer, entrepreneur, and DJ has done it all.
With that being said, having produced such a vast amount of material across the years makes it hard to pick out his best works because there are so many masterpieces. However, in an interview with music publication, HipHopDX, Dupri did just that.
As a ghostwriter, Dupri has written some classic songs. In fact, he has had such an illustrious career as a ghostwriter that in 2018, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, a feat that is extremely hard to achieve, especially if you are from the world of hip hop. Dupri and Jay-Z, to this day, remain the only hip hop artists in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Dupri, in more recent times, has worked with the likes of Drake and Bryson Tiller. The record producer and songwriter still remains in high demand as a result of his prior success and continues to make huge contributions to hip hop culture from behind the scenes.
While walking down the red carpet and talking to media at this year’s Soul Train Awards, a member of the HipHopDX team asked Dupri to name the best song he’s ever written. The songwriter was a little hesitant at first. However, thinking to himself and slowly going through his catalogue in his head, the Atlanta-born artist revealed that if he had to name his all-time favourite, it would be “Nice And Slow by Usher”.
Delving deeper and explaining why Dupri explained, “For one, it was his first number one across-the-board record. It’s the one song that I completely wrote by myself as far as the lyrics go.” He continued, “Once it got to a space where me and Usher started doctoring it up, then I brought in Jagged Edge,” he recalled. “So I feel like that was one of the ones that taught me like collaborating, bringing in Jagged Edge to help the song go bigger than what it was.”
‘Nice & Slow’ by Usher is certified platinum and landed at number one on Valentine’s Day in 1998. Below you can watch the Jermaine Dupri interview and listen to ‘Nice & Slow’.
