So So Def icon Jermaine Dupri has been instrumental in helping to shape the careers of some of our favorite top-selling hip hop and R&B artists, but that doesn't make him above criticism. He recently told PEOPLE that he was unable to name his favorite female rapper in the game right now because, according to him, it seems as if they're all spitting bars about the same thing. He claimed that they all were "strippers rapping" and no one artist was trying to put themselves on the map as the best above the others.
The social media backlash was swift, and in the past week, there has been high-praise for talented female hip hop artists that have been long ignored or unnoticed. Dupri's bestie Da Brat flourished under his guidance, and when TMZ caught up with her, she stood by her friend, calling him a genius. "You should be thankful that the conversation is even started now, all female rappers, because now the focus is absolutely on us," Brat said. "New [artists], seasoned [artists], legends. All that."
Finally, Dupri is clarifying his controversial comments. "I think it's something that's just been brewing before I was even asked the question," Dupri told TMZ. "I wasn't aware that it's been brewing. I tell people like...I saw what Cardi said. Cardi started her message off by basically saying, now that Jermaine Dupri has said it, I'm gonna address it. That means, to me, somebody had already said it to her or she's heard it before. So I just feel like it's something that people have already been talking about and for some reason [my comment] just became the loudest."
"There's a million artists rapping," he continued. "There's a million female artists that's out here rapping. Everybody continues to keep getting...what my statement was, was about the three that she asked me about. It wasn't about a general conversation about female rap, but everybody turned it into that. 'He said all female rappers sound like this!' And I'm like, I never said all female rappers. I never said that one time."
"The one thing I want to make clear on is people keep saying 'sexist.' I'm far from a sexist. Let's not do that. That's terrible." There are also no regrets on Dupri's part as far as the interview is concerned. He said he doesn't mind that he's become the verbal punching bag because he didn't diss anyone. He also mentioned that he's dropping a beat on his Soundcloud for female artists to grab so they can enter to be apart of his forthcoming cypher.
