Whether or not you are Staff Drake or Staff Kendrick Lamar, Jermaine Dupri says there is not any denying that the rappers’ months-long feud has introduced “life again to hip-hop.”
Dupri chatted with ET’s Deidre Behar on the pink carpet of the 2024 BET Awards, the place the 51-year-old mega-producer weighed in on the general public beef that is performed out throughout a number of diss tracks, a second in popular culture that Dupri stated pushed again in opposition to the concept that hip-hop was “dying.”
“It simply introduced life again to hip-hop,” he opined. “Folks saying that hip-hop was dying and it was a dying style on the time and I believe it simply introduced quite a lot of gentle again into it, made individuals begin speaking about rap once more.”
The general public feud seemingly all started with Drake and J. Cole’s October 2023 launch of “First Particular person Shooter” — during which Cole referred to as him, Drake and Lamar the “Massive 3” of rap — and Lamar’s response in “Like That” is what seemingly ignited the lyrical conflict in opposition to Drake.
At one level, even actress Uma Thurman acquired in on the motion, offering support to the GRAMMY winner while he was facing off in opposition to a number of of his hip-hop friends.
Most just lately, Lamar, 37, threw a star-studded one-off concert, “The Pop Out — Ken and Pals,” to have fun Juneteenth, throughout which he gave his first stay efficiency of his viral Drake diss tracks, “Euphoria” and “Not Like Us.” The Juneteenth live performance, introduced by pgLang and Free Lunch, featured a long lineup of iconic artists, principally from Los Angeles and California, who carried out in Lamar’s hometown on the Kia Discussion board.
The best way Lamar’s live performance went viral is an indication of Dupri’s declaration that the rappers’ feud “put quite a lot of fireplace again in there.”
“Hopefully, different individuals include data that is simply as sizzling as these data that was made in that interval and we are able to hold the style the place it is imagined to be at,” he added.
Whereas Dupri most well-liked not to decide on a aspect when it comes between Drake, 37, and Lamar — his daughter, Jalynn, stated she was proudly Staff Kendrick — the producer wasn’t shy to confess that he determined to attend Sunday night time’s award present after it was introduced that Will Smith will take the stage to perform his new song.
The recently released single, “You Can Make It,” is a notable departure from the rapper’s basic dance hits.
“I believe it is actually thrilling. That was one of many issues that made me actually need to come,” he shared with ET. “I began seeing that sort of stuff and I assumed, ‘Okay, that may be one thing to go to.”
Dupri can be wanting ahead to watching Usher be honored with this year’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement BET Award, which is introduced to gamechangers and business pioneers who’ve left an enduring influence on the tradition and leisure. The 45-year-old will be a part of a listing of earlier Lifetime Achievement BET Award recipients, together with Whitney Houston, Prince, Queen Latifah, Anita Baker, Mary J. Blige, Samuel Jackson, Lionel Richie, New Version and Busta Rhymes.
“He put the work in, it has been a protracted soiled journey for him and he is nonetheless on the highest stage of his sport,” Dupri stated of the latest headliner for the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show. “He can go on and on, so it is like he is that artist, he simply deserves this award.”
In the meantime, Dupri’s longtime associates and collaborators, Ashanti and Nelly, just lately introduced that they’re expecting their first child together.Â
Ashanti, 43, and Nelly, 49, who rekindled their longtime, on-again, off-again romance final yr after calling it quits in 2013, have change into inseparable since they despatched the R&B world right into a frenzy after being spotted together for the primary time final yr.Â
The child might be Ashanti’s first and Nelly’s third youngster. The “Sizzling in Herre” rapper is the daddy of grownup youngsters, Chanelle, 29, and Cornell Haynes III, 24, from a earlier relationship. Nelly additionally adopted his sister, Jackie Donahue’s, youngsters — Shawn and Sydney Thomas — after she died from leukemia in 2005.
After months of rumors and hypothesis, Ashanti formally announced her pregnancy with an Instagram video in April. The video confirmed the singer preparing for a efficiency. After one among her handlers checks in on her, Ashanti’s mother, Tina Douglas, checks in a second time, asking the singer how a lot time she wants till she’s prepared. Ashanti emerges — dressed to the nines — and responds, “I am gonna want about 9 months,” prompting Douglas to specific shock on the being pregnant information.
Then, on June 19, it was found that regardless of asserting their engagement in April, Ashanti and Nelly are already married — they usually have been for six months, based on public data in Missouri.Â
The wedding date is listed as Dec. 27, 2023 in Nelly’s hometown of St. Louis County, Missouri.Â
“They love one another. They at all times liked one another since day one and you realize you can see it from day one,” Dupri informed ET of the comfortable couple. “You possibly can actually see it one hundred pc.”
The 2024 BET Awards, hosted by Taraji P. Henson, airs live on the BET channel from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 30, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Try the complete winners list here.
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