Speaker 1: What's up everyone, Welcome back to Crash Course Pot. You
Speaker 1: know they say you can't build a skyline without a blueprint,
Speaker 1: but in Atlanta, the blueprint was drawn in the back
Speaker 1: of the tour bus by a kid who wasn't even
Speaker 1: old enough to drive it. Welcome back to Crash Course Pot.
Speaker 1: Today we aren't just talking about a producer. We're talking
Speaker 1: about the architect. We're talking about Jermaine dupris, a man
Speaker 1: who looked at a city known for its history and
Speaker 1: decided to make it the capital of the future. Let's
Speaker 1: give it up for Jermaine Duprie. If you caught our
Speaker 1: episode on Crisscross, you know I couldn't stop talking about
Speaker 1: nineteen year old kid in the background or the foreground.
Speaker 1: While the road was jumping with Chris and Chris, Jermaine
Speaker 1: Duprie was busy drawing the blueprints for an entire city.
Speaker 1: But JD didn't just wake up a mogul before. It's
Speaker 1: so so deaf was a label. It was a mindset
Speaker 1: born in the back of the tour buses and in
Speaker 1: front of the stage. I know you keep wondering, what
Speaker 1: do you mean back of tour buses?
Speaker 2: What do you mean? On stage.
Speaker 1: Well, we're gonna dig into that. We're gonna go back
Speaker 1: to the silk suits, the Rowland eight oh eight and
Speaker 1: the moment a backup dancer, Yes, a backup dancer decided
Speaker 1: to become a king maker the Houdini link. To understand JD,
Speaker 1: you have to understand his dad, Michael Malden. Michael was
Speaker 1: a heavyweight in the industry, an executive and manager who
Speaker 1: was running the show for Houdini back in the early eighties.
Speaker 2: Picture this, It's nice eighty four.
Speaker 1: The fresh Fest tour is the biggest thing in hip hop.
Speaker 1: You've got run DMC, Fat Boys and Houdini. And right
Speaker 1: there on stage dancing for Houdini at the Omni in
Speaker 1: Atlanta is twelve year old Germaine. He didn't get the
Speaker 1: gig because of nepotism. He got it because he could
Speaker 1: actually dance. But being on that tour gave him a
Speaker 1: front row seat to how a hit record actually works.
Speaker 1: He wasn't just doing the Roger Rabbit. He was watching
Speaker 1: how the crowd reacted to a kickdrum. He was learning
Speaker 1: the science of the party, should I say, before.
Speaker 2: He even hit Pubertine.
Speaker 1: By the time he was sixteen, JD was done with dancing.
Speaker 1: He wanted to create the sound, not just move to it.
Speaker 1: His first real shot at production wasn't Crisscross. Actually it
Speaker 1: was a female rap caught Soolktime's Leather around nineteen eighty nine.
Speaker 1: The project didn't set the world on fire, but it
Speaker 1: was his lab. It's where he started perfecting that so
Speaker 1: so death bounce, blending hard hitting hip hop drums with
Speaker 1: those melodic R and B textures. I believe he was
Speaker 1: taking the New York nujack swing energy and giving it
Speaker 1: that slow Southern humidity.
Speaker 2: He was looking for a.
Speaker 1: Start to carry this sound, and that's when he walked
Speaker 1: into the mall and found two kids who would change
Speaker 1: his life. Que in the episode I did on Crisscross.
Speaker 1: If you guys haven't heard that one yet, after this episode.
Speaker 2: Check it out.
Speaker 1: It'll be like the sequel to what I'm talking about here.
Speaker 1: Moving on, after the massive success of Crisscross, JD didn't
Speaker 1: just buy a chain and disappear. He built a factory.
Speaker 1: He looked at Atlanta and saw a hip hop void,
Speaker 1: or a music void. He gave us the Grid of
Speaker 1: de Bratt, proving a girl from the South could outrap
Speaker 1: legends in New York. He gave us the church vocal
Speaker 1: harmonies of Escape. He gave us the boy band meets
Speaker 1: the block energy of Jagged Edge. J D's genius was
Speaker 1: his range. He could produce a ballot for Mariah carry
Speaker 1: on like a Monday, and a club anthem for Ludacros
Speaker 1: on a Wednesday. He actually made Atlanta the New York
Speaker 1: of the South by sheer force of will and talent talent.
Speaker 1: And speaking of de Brat, I want to add that
Speaker 1: j D helped her become the first solo female rapper
Speaker 1: to go platinum. I also think, not think, but I
Speaker 1: also remember hearing that she was discovered by Jermaine Duprie
Speaker 1: because she won a rap contest that JD was hosting
Speaker 1: or judging. And as for Escape, Ian Burke and JD
Speaker 1: discovered them and they were discovered at a Beet talent
Speaker 1: show in Atlanta. So JD's got his hands in the
Speaker 1: Atlanta rap music scene for Suresease, anyways, let's move on.
Speaker 2: And this is my favorite part.
Speaker 1: This is what I love as a music head, and
Speaker 1: that's the fact that JD was the original face of
Speaker 1: the sound. So before you have all the other producers,
Speaker 1: you know, being in the scene for their artists. Before
Speaker 1: Pharrell was in every video, JD was there. He had
Speaker 1: the socio dev tag. He was like a celebrity producer.
Speaker 1: A lot of people tried to play him for it though,
Speaker 1: and wanted to claim it was his.
Speaker 2: Ego, but he was just twenty years ahead of the curve.
Speaker 1: He understood that the brand isn't just the singer, it's
Speaker 1: the architect, the producer.
Speaker 2: He paved the way for every super producer we have
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: He taught us that the person behind the boards is
Speaker 1: the one who really.
Speaker 2: Controls the culture.
Speaker 1: And now j D is currently having a massive second
Speaker 1: act between twenty twenty five and twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about it.
Speaker 1: So honestly, you could say he's still moving like he
Speaker 1: has something to prove. He has not sloped down a bit,
Speaker 1: and he's officially dubbed this air, this new era of
Speaker 1: his the Soco Deaf two point zero. We gotta talk
Speaker 1: about his newest project, Magic City. It's his first full
Speaker 1: length studio album in over twenty years. It was released
Speaker 1: last year September twenty twenty five, and it was actually
Speaker 1: released to be the official soundtrack to His Stars docuseries
Speaker 1: Magic City, an American fantasy, which he executive produced alongside Drake.
Speaker 1: When Magic City hit Stars in August twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: it wasn't just a documentary.
Speaker 2: It was like a victory lap.
Speaker 1: JD and other executive producers didn't.
Speaker 2: Just show us a club.
Speaker 1: They showed us a boardroom with neon lights. The soundtrack
Speaker 1: that followed a month later his full album in two decades.
Speaker 1: It did exactly what JD does best. It made the
Speaker 1: old heads respect the new school, and it made the
Speaker 1: new school study the legends. It reminded us that in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: JD isn't just a resident, He's the one that holds
Speaker 1: the keys to the city. So let's talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about how Magic City did. It debuted with one
Speaker 1: hundred percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. Variety and Time
Speaker 1: praised it for focusing on the entrepreneurial agency of the
Speaker 1: dancers and the science of the party.
Speaker 2: I know, I keep saying that.
Speaker 1: Also, the project was the first major release under the
Speaker 1: Socio Deaf slash Hybe America partnership, which, fun fact, was
Speaker 1: orchestrated by Scooter Bron, who famously started as JD's intern.
Speaker 2: What else can I say about it.
Speaker 1: I mean, as for the album Magic City, it served
Speaker 1: as the official soundtrack. I know I mentioned that already,
Speaker 1: and JD didn't just produce it.
Speaker 2: He curated it to bridge the.
Speaker 1: Gap between the ogs like Luda, Ludacris and Ti and
Speaker 1: then the new school like money Log and Finesse. Two
Speaker 1: times critics called the docuseriies the Black Studio fifty four.
Speaker 1: It featured everyone from former Atlanta made Mayor Keisha Lance
Speaker 1: Bottoms to Big Meach via phone call in prison. So
Speaker 1: it's if you haven't seen it, go check it out.
Speaker 2: The people love it. The people love it.
Speaker 1: So here's a lineup of who JD's been in the booth,
Speaker 1: the booth, the slodal with recently for like twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: twenty six, trying to keep it recent. So we have
Speaker 1: the Atlanta icons. For the Magic City album, he pulled
Speaker 1: the heavyweights Ti, Ludacris, Two Chains, Quavo, Lil John, Young
Speaker 1: Dro and Killer Mike. He produced the anthem Atlanta, which
Speaker 1: JD calls the soul and grit of the city for
Speaker 1: Selo Green. JAD also released a posthumous collaboration in honor
Speaker 1: of Rich Homi Kwan called This or That in late
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, basically a tribute to Kwant's impact on
Speaker 1: the a Atlanta bow Wow. He recently reunited with bow
Speaker 1: Wow for the track She's a Freak, which also featured
Speaker 1: Travis Porter. JD also produced Money Lungs smash hit Made
Speaker 1: for Me I Think That came out in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: Nobody Loves Me Like You Do? No Money Now you know?
Speaker 1: Last song you guys it had TikTok in a chocoal
Speaker 1: with those challenges In twenty twenty four twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: JD also produced Ari Lennox's soulfo track Pressure and Finesse
Speaker 1: two Times. Just dropped a new collap called Peace and Money,
Speaker 1: which JD was a part of. Produced and we Can't
Speaker 1: Forget About dvs N. JD recently entered into a partnership
Speaker 1: with this R and B duo. He's been working closely
Speaker 1: with DVSN and they are a massive part of the
Speaker 1: social def slash HYB America ecosystem. They were historically and
Speaker 1: Ovo Sound Act, but JD entered a creative partnership or
Speaker 1: mentorship under the HYB e umbrella, and that's with this
Speaker 1: R and B, DUO, DVS and.
Speaker 2: Who else, who else?
Speaker 1: I think that's the extent of I'm sure there's more
Speaker 1: for this last two years, twenty five and twenty twenty six,
Speaker 1: but that's what I have for now. So basically, JD
Speaker 1: is proving that his blueprint still works even in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six.
Speaker 2: He developed it, crafted.
Speaker 1: It in like what nineteen eighty nine with his first
Speaker 1: female group, and it's still here twenty twenty six years later.
Speaker 1: Working He isn't just sticking to the nineties legends. He's
Speaker 1: bridging the gap by working with the new generation. You know,
Speaker 1: I already mentioned money long for it's two times and
Speaker 1: the ogs like Ludacris and Ti are still in rotation.
Speaker 1: So basically, JD didn't just build the so soo deaf house.
Speaker 1: He built like a so soo deaf neighborhood. Shall I say?
Speaker 2: He's been doing his big one.
Speaker 1: It's that's why I'm so glad we did this episode.
Speaker 1: I knew we had to after doing the Crisscross episode.
Speaker 1: I knew I had to do an episode on JD
Speaker 1: because he's one of those people that I don't hear
Speaker 1: people talking about. He's one of those producers influencers in
Speaker 1: the music scene that I don't hear a lot of
Speaker 1: people talking about, and I wanted to dive deeper and
Speaker 1: just get to know him, Like what, who are you?
Speaker 1: Where'd you? Where'd you get your roots? Why are you
Speaker 1: so freaking good at music? And putting Atlanta on the map.
Speaker 2: So that's jd You guys.
Speaker 1: He showed the world that Atlanta wasn't just a stop
Speaker 1: on a tour bus. It's a destination. And he took
Speaker 1: everything he learned, all of his experience from being on
Speaker 1: stage with Houdini to signing his own artists, and turned
Speaker 1: all that information into an empire that's still standing. People
Speaker 1: are still begging to work with him. When not begging,
Speaker 1: let me not be dramatic. People still want to work
Speaker 1: with him. The new G's respect him, the ogs respect him,
Speaker 1: and that dad, you guys Jermaine der pre So tune
Speaker 1: in to the next episode. We're gonna switch gears from
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Bounce to the Jungle.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna keep it.
Speaker 1: A secret what episode we're doing, but just think Jungle.
Speaker 2: That's your clue.
Speaker 1: If you want more entertainment. All the details are below.
Speaker 1: Check out my memoir. All the links are down below.
Speaker 1: Just click link and until next time, keep spinning them tracks.
Speaker 2: Bye you guys, Bye,