Jermaine Dupri's Upcoming Book Release; YOUNG, RICH, AND DANGEROUS: My Life in Music

    NEW YORK, Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The platinum prodigy of the music
 world, and the wizard behind many of today's bestselling artists, Jermaine
 Dupri, went on the road with the New York Fresh Fest -- the first national
 Hip Hop music tour -- as an opening act dancer when he was only twelve
 years old. It gave him a taste for a lifestyle and a glimpse at his own
 talent, and changed his life forever.
     The Fresh Fest hit 50 cities in three months, with performers like
 Whodini, The Fat Boys, Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash, and Kurtis Blow. They'd
 slam into town, rehearse or give interviews, grab some food, perform,
 party, and start all over again the next day. The audience adored him as a
 child; he was hooked. More importantly, his early ability to please a crowd
 primed him to see the raw material of stardom in others. He was only 16
 when he discovered the child rap duo Kris Kross, and just 20 when he
 started his own independent record label. Today, as the president of Island
 Records Urban Music, Dupri is the youngest of three hip-hop moguls holding
 executive positions at large labels. YOUNG, RICH, AND DANGEROUS: My Life in
 Music (Atria Books; October 2007; $24.95) by Jermaine Dupri with Samantha
 Marshall recounts the thrilling journey of Dupri's early prodigal success,
 but it also offers a roadmap for thousands who dream of making it big in
 the boardroom or on the Billboard 100, and reveals the candid truth of what
 really happens behind the music.
     In 1990, still in his teens, Dupri discovered Chris Kelly and Chris
 Smith in the Greenbriar Mall, shopping for sneakers. "What struck me about
 the Chrises was the way their personality came through . . . It was like
 those kids were waiting to be discovered ever since they became friends in
 the first grade. I saw something in them that I could bring out with some
 hard work and imagination." Dupri explains how he built that first album
 from scratch. He describes how the duo all but moved in with Dupri and his
 mother, how he persuaded them to braid their hair and wear their clothes
 backwards, creating their image, and how he wrote, produced and recorded
 all the music on a secondhand four-track recorder. He invented kiddie rap,
 and he was rewarded with incredible success, proving that his instincts
 couldn't have been more on target. Kris Kross started a trend in America
 that went beyond the music, and placed Dupri's feet on the road to power.
     Following that first album, EMI signed him as a songwriter and Columbia
 Records wrote him a check for $1 million to scout and produce new acts. It
 was the birth of So So Def Productions. It was also one of the original
 relationships between a major label and an independent hip-hop label.
     Later Dupri would team up with such superstars as Mariah Carey, the
 girls from TLC, Lil' Bow Wow, Elton John, Bobby Brown, Usher and others.
 But YOUNG, RICH, AND DANGEROUS shares stories that illustrate the price as
 well as the glory of success -- the scary time an overly ambitious musician
 rear-ended him in order to get him to accept his demo tape; the backlash
 he's suffered from critics skeptical of his artists' continuing fame; the
 tough competition within the industry to stay fresh with what's new on the
 streets. Dupri presents the close-up faces of stars of the industry ("Usher
 loves real hard. I've seen him in the studio where he's so into a girl he
 can't even record,") and relates his own personal history -- the birth of
 his daughter, and story of getting to know a crush from his childhood who
 is now the love of his life: Janet Jackson.
     With never-before-seen photographs from studios, parties, and awards
 shows, YOUNG, RICH, AND DANGEROUS presents not only the exhilarating
 step-by- step moves of someone who has risen to the top of this remarkable
 business, but uniquely, someone who still remembers what matters most: the
 discovery and the process and the music. Some of the most exciting moments
 of this Grammy- winner's life are presented, along with invaluable wisdom
 for those wanting to follow in an idolmaker's path. As his close friend
 Teddy Riley writes in the Foreword, "This book YOUNG, RICH, AND DANGEROUS
 is truly a gift. Only someone like Jermaine, who knows it because he lives
 it, is in a position to deliver such necessary and relevant insights."
     Atria Books is an imprint of Simon & Schuster, part of the CBS
 Corporation, a global leader in the field of general interest publishing,
 dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of
 all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Its divisions
 include Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children's
 Publishing, Simon & Schuster Audio, Simon & Schuster Digital, and
 international companies in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. For
 more information, visit our website at www.simonsays.com
     YOUNG, RICH, AND DANGEROUS
     My Life in Music
     By Jermaine Dupri with Samantha Marshall
     Published by Atria Books
     Publication Date: October 2007
     ISBN 0-7432-9980-9/304 pages/$24.95
 
 

SOURCE Atria Books