Jermaine Dupri has been very opinionated about the current state of hip-hop and R&B lately. At SelectCon in Atlanta, the legendary entertainer shared his thoughts on the disconnect in today’s hip-hop from the past, using Sexyy Redd and her album sales as an example. Talking to well-known marketing and branding director Steve Stoute, Dupri stressed the importance of honesty in the industry.
“People gotta stop lying,” Dupri suggested. “That’s the beginning of the answer. The industry still tries to make you believe that if you’re a hot artist with a single, album sales don’t matter.”
J.D. referenced a post by Akademiks highlighting that Sexyy Red’s album sold only 28,000 copies. The So So Def founder reminisced about an era when such sales numbers would have been unacceptable.
Dupri told Stoute, “In the era that I came into the music industry if you sold 28,000 copies, you didn’t get another chance to walk in the building. People were not talking to you if you sold 28,000 records. There’s such a disconnect between understanding streaming and what you’re actually looking at.”
Jermaine Dupri’s resume includes classic albums with Bow Wow, Kris Kross, Usher, Mariah Carey, Nelly, and more. He is a decorated songwriter, producer, and executive known for turning small acts into global superstars.
He continued: “I came from a time when the numbers were 80,000, 100,000, 200,000, 800,000, 900,000. This feels like it’s going backward to me.”
Among this year’s Summer Jam headliners, Sexyy Red’s project, In Sexyy We Trust, sold 27,000 equivalent units, it still secured the No. 17 spot on the Billboard 200 album chart. Dupri was disappointed with the sales figures, but Sexyy Red remains one of the brightest stars in today’s rap.
She made her wrestling debut on WWE NXT last weekend and announced her upcoming hosting role at NXT’s Battleground event in Las Vegas this Sunday (June 9).