Jermaine Dupri Celebrates Silver Anniversary with 'So So Def 25': Exclusive

So So Def 25 is the latest in a series of announced salutes to Dupri and his influential career. Later this week (Feb. 15), he will receive the Breaking Barriers Award at the sixth annual Global Spin Awards airing Feb. 22 on Revolt. Recently presented with the 2018 Trump Awards’ Music Innovation Award, Dupri will be given the 2018 Legendary Awards’ Trailblazer Award in March. Then on June 14, the songwriter/producer/musician/entrepreneur will become the second hip-hop act after Jay-Z to be inducted into the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Dupri, co-writer of No. 1 hits such as Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” and “Always Be My Baby,” Usher’s “Burn” and Monica’s “The First Night,” launched So So Def Records in 1993 following the success of another song he wrote and produced: the Kris Kross hit “Jump.” The groundbreaking label, drawing from Southern hip-hop, R&B/soul and new club sounds, became the home of culture-shaping and platinum-selling acts such as the female R&B quartet Xscape, female rapper Da Brat, male R&B group Jagged Edge and rapper Lil Bow Wow.