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.
As a record producer and singer, Dupri has spent a lot of time around rappers and, for his debut project, recruited the likes of Nas, Jay-Z, Too $hort, Ma$e and even the late Yonkers icon DMX. However, Dupri’s experience with the ‘Ruff Ryders’ musician was intriguing, to say the least.
During an Instagram video reflecting on his career and experiences with music industry stars, Dupri told fans that, in 1998, while on a trip to New York, he witnessed DMX rob a reporter for The Source with his dog.
Recalling the eye-opening event, Dupri told fans, “One night when I was working on my album, Life in 1472, I was heading to the studio for the DMX session. I was going to the studio in New York to hear DMX do his verse. We tried to make it a marketing thing by having an interviewer from, I think, The Source magazine come and be a fly on the wall at the session so that you could talk about me recording and how the process was and all of this.”
The Source was the most prominent hip-hop magazine of the 1990s and early 2000s. As such, Dupri understandably wanted to create a buzz around his debut album by inviting them to document his studio sessions. DMX (real name Earl Simmons) was featured on the track ‘Get Your Sh*t Right,’ alongside Madd Rapper.
In the 2023 video, the Atlanta singer proceeded to detail how the altercation played out, recounting, “So it goes like this… the session was whatever time it was. So the writer gets to the studio before DMX, and DMX shows up. At this time, DMX is walking around with his dogs, and he got both dogs. But by the time I got to the studio, the reporter had gotten robbed!”
He added, “DMX basically robbed the reporter with his dog. No guns, just the dog. DMX came in and started questioning the reporter and told the reporter to run his shit, take off whatever he had on.”
Simmons was known for his dogs and, as evidenced by the artwork for his 2003 project Grand Champ, was a big fan of pit bulls. Jadakiss has previously explained that DMX’s dog, Boomer, was infamous in Yonkers and clarified that people knew somebody was getting robbed whenever Simmons walked out with his canines.
@weeklyrapgods Jermaine Dupri talks about the night DMX robbed the reporter from The Source Magazine coming to interview them 🫣 X was DIFFERENT #RIPDMX #hiphop50 #jermainedupri #sosodef #dmx #ruffryders #thesourcemagazine #hiphoplegend #hiphop #fyp ♬ That’s My Dog – Instrumental – DMX