Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael Mauldin, a Columbia Records executive.Dupri\'s promising musical career began before he was even ten years old. His father, also an Atlanta talent manager, had coordinated a Diana Ross show in 1982; to the delight of concert-goers, Dupri managed to get on-stage and dance along with Ross. Dupri got his start as a dancer for the hip hop group Whodini when he was twelve. He made an appearance in their music video for the song "Freaks Come Out At Night". He began performing around the country, appearing with Herbie Hancock and Cameo before he opened the New York Fresh Festival, with Run-D.M.C., Whodini, and Grandmaster Flash.\n', '

In 1990, he produced his first act, the female hip hop trio Silk Tymes Leather.He later formed the teen duo Kris Kross (Chris Kelly and Chris Smith) after meeting the boys at a local mall in 1991. The group\'s first album, Totally Krossed Out, was released in 1992 and went multi-platinum due to their singles "Jump" and "Warm It Up", both written and produced by Dupri. He established his own record label called So So Def in 1993. Shortly after, he discovered female R&B group Xscape at a festival in Atlanta and signed them to the label. Their debut album, produced entirely by Dupri, Hummin\' Comin\' at \'Cha, went platinum with the support of the singles "Understanding", "Love on My Mind", "Tonight" and "Just Kickin\' It", with the later peaking at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. During the same year, on Yo! MTV Raps he met Da Brat through Kris Kross, signed her to his label So So Def Recordings, and released her debut Funkdafied (1994) which went platinum. So So Def Recordings entered into a distribution partnership with Columbia Records in 1993. In 1995, he collaborated with Mariah Carey for the first time on the number one hit single "Always Be My Baby." He contributed to Lil\' Kim\'s 1996 album, Hard Core on the track "Not Tonight".\n', '

In 1997, Dupri co-wrote and produced several tracks on Usher\'s second album, My Way. The lead single, "You Make Me Wanna", reached number-one on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. The follow up single "Nice & Slow" went to number-one on the Billboard 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and the last single, "My Way" peaked at number-two on Billboard 100. All three singles have been certified Platinum by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). A featured guest on the album, Monica, would also later become a protegé of Dupri, with her sophomore album, The Boy Is Mine, dropping in July of that year. Dupri produced the single of the album "The First Night", which peaked atop the U.S. Billboard charts, with the album reciving the triple platinum certification and universal acclaim. \n', '

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