Jermaine Dupri is a man of many successes, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t experienced regret (and, no, we aren’t talking Janet Jackson). The So So Def founder recently revealed that high on his list of “woulda, coulda, shouldas” is best-selling girl group TLC.
Dupri let fans in on a little secret related to the baggy clothes-wearing, midriff-bearing trio, made up of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas during a recent game of Q&A with Black Love’s Instagram. “I regret not trying to do TLC at the same time as Kris Kross,” he responded when asked which artists he regretted passing up on. “I was only 19 years old at the time and didn’t believe in myself as a person, as someone having the bandwidth to have both artists.”
“I was putting so much energy into Kriss Kross, and I was only giving TLC maybe 30 to 40 percent, not even 50 percent,” he continued. “I felt I was spreading myself thin by trying to provide both of these groups what they needed to become the success they eventually grew to become. So I eliminated myself from TLC being a group that I actually introduced to the world.”
“So much respect for this honesty. Things eventually worked out for the best,” said one fan.
“Y’all still made great music together tho. And u helped T-boz cultivate her singing style,” another commented.
“They still showed you so much love!” exclaimed a third.
“Everything happens for a reason 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾,” a fan sympathized.
Dupri previously discussed discovering TLC and the impact that one member of hip-hop’s greatest girl group had on Kriss Kross at the beginning of their careers. “TLC was my group before they got signed to La Face,” he previously told TV One’s “Uncensored,” according to The Source. “Left Eye was living at my house when I found Kris Kross. The backwards clothes came after we started getting more and more songs. … The backwards clothes actually came from being around Left Eye.”
