As the world prepares for the new A&E documentary, “Janet,” a two-part, four-hour glimpse into the life of the music’s first Black pop princess Janet Jackson, Jermaine Dupri reflects on a warning his “Pleasure Principle” girlfriend gave him when they were dating.
The So So Def music mogul did a recent interview on “Ryan Cameron Uncensored” and talked about Janet Jackson’s propensity to pop out on him at any given time and a warning she gave him before they were an official couple. The megastar told him not to get slick, because her brothers put her on to the game.
During the conversation, the host Ryan Cameron reminded Dupri of something that he told him years ago about Jackson being different than other girls he dated.
The producer said, “You can’t really play with rich women. They can do whatever they want to do. … You hang up on the phone with a rich woman and call her all kinds of names and she calls you all kinds of names. You think you hung up the phone and then the doorbell rings. You’re like ‘What? What’s going on? And that person be at your house,’” he shared.
Cameron joked and added that one can’t play with rich women, like the five-time Grammy-winning artist, “Because they got it like that! They have access to the G4’s and G5’s.”
“Access?” Dupri quipped. “They got a G4! You can’t play with rich women, man. You can’t do that. … You can’t play with a poor woman, but you can’t play with a rich woman. Not them games.”
The visionary behind the careers of Da Brat, Bow Wow, Xscape, Kriss Kross, and hitmaker to names like Mariah Carey and Usher, said that Ms. Jackson informed him, “Jermaine, I got six brothers.’”
“‘Like, there’s nothing you can tell me that I ain’t heard. So make sure you think about what you say before you say it, because I done heard it all,’ and I was like damn. … That’s a crazy statement. She got six famous brothers, not no little regular dudes. … She’s heard every lie that a man could possibly tell,” he told the host.
Cameron responded, “Was that like a warning?”
“Yeah, of course it was,” Jermaine remarked. “One hundred percent it was a warning that ‘you won’t get away with anything because I’ve heard it all.’”
Dupri and Jackson dated almost a decade, from 2000 to 2008. Reports say that they broke up because neither would move to the other’s hometown so that the two could live together.
In a 2018 interview with “The Breakfast Club,” Dupri quashed rumors of the two dating after her divorce, saying he had not seen her in years. When Charlamagne Tha God suggested that Dupri was being coy, and keeping their rekindled relationship quiet, the Atlanta native said, “Why?”
“I know her better than the dude she married,” he stated. “Why I have to sneak around?”
“I was never sneaking when I was with her. I would take Janet to The Tunnel,” he said, putting their coupling in context. “We were equal in our relationship. I know she is from the Jackson family. … I was never the thirsty guy.”
The first episode of the two-part, four “Janet” documentary premieres on Jan. 28 on the A&E and Lifetime networks.
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