ACLU Taps Dupri…

The ACLU of Southern California will fete Jermaine Dupri with its 2008 Bill of Rights Award next Monday (12/8) at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. The IDJ Urban music chief will be honored along with Magic Johnson. Dupri, a long time member of the board of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, has worked to repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws, benefit the Hurricane Relief Fund and been a significant voice on the “Rap the Vote” campaign. Past honorees include Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Martin Scorsese, Rosa Parks, Antonio “LA” Reid, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Harry Belafonte, Ellen Degeneres, Oliver Stone and Sarah Jessica Parker, among others.

In other JD news…

I Rap, Therefore I Am article by Ryan Vaillancourt – Downtown L.A. Scene

During a pre-opening visit to the Grammy Museum, I found myself making a rap record with famed hip-hop producer Jermaine Dupri, in his personal studio at the museum. Sort of.

The museum floor dedicated to the recording process holds eight listening stations featuring lessons from producers, engineers and artists. But in Dupri’s “studio,” where he talks to visitors via a flat-screen television, the lesson goes beyond how-to. If you step into this sonic laboratory, you’re not walking out until you make some music.

Less than a minute after entering, Dupri plays me a song, “Stepped on My J’s,” by rapper Nelly.

“Familiarize yourself with all the parts,” Dupri tells me, as I fiddle with a small touch-screen that allows me to adjust the sound levels of the vocals, backup vocals, bass, drums and melody. I’m hardly familiar with the track, but with the help of a karaoke-style lyric prompter, I’m soon nodding my head and rapping along. I do one take, the “scratch,” and Dupri is not impressed. My cadence was off and I was clearly a little timid.

But Dupri is encouraging enough, even if it’s by way of a prerecorded message that thousands of others will also hear. Always be confident when coming into the studio, he tells me, and “learn your part first.”