Jermaine Dupri Reveals Why He Never Visited Da Brat in Prison

As much as Da Brat was his recording artist when she went to prison more than a decade ago, Jermaine Dupri admits he never once visited her for several reasons.

Throughout Da Brat’s stay in prison, Jermaine Dupri never once visited her and he has his reasons.

JERMAINE'S INVOLVEMENT IN DA BRAT'S IMPRISONMENT

Back in 2007, the female rapper was embroiled in a violent altercation in Dupri’s former nightclub, Studio 72. She hit a waitress in the face with a rum bottle resulting in her arrest and subsequent imprisonment.

Da Brat served three years behind bars and not once did Dupri set foot in prison to see her. He discovered her in 1993 and signed him as an artist under his label, So So Def Recordings and yet he chose to distance himself from the institution that held his recording artist.

"I completely chop it down the middle. This is the studio, this is what’s going on. Your personal life, that’s you.”

WHY HE NEVER VISITED DA BRAT IN PRISON

Eight years after Da Brat’s release in 2011, Dupri opened up about the reason he never visited her in prison. There were several and it had nothing to do with severing ties with the rapper.

In fact, Dupri revealed his effort not to see Da Brat then was his way of preserving his memory of her.

“I just didn’t want to see her in jail,” he told Atlanta Black Star. “I feel like when you poison yourself mentally that’s what you start thinking about. Now that Brat’s out, I don’t even think about her going to jail. She’s out, she’s around me, we’re kicking it, drinking, partying, having a good time.”

"I felt like me coming to jail would make her feel even worse because it’s like I gotta leave you."

Dupri also admitted he never mixes his business with his artists with their personal lives. “I completely chop it down the middle. This is the studio, this is what’s going on. Your personal life, that’s you.”

ON FEELING HELPLESS

That’s not to say that Dupri didn’t lift a finger to help his incarcerated artist or communicate with her. In fact, he would often speak to her and refer lawyers who could help but it didn’t go their way. Not being able to do something about Da Brat’s situation ate at him.

“I felt helpless, too,” he confessed. “I felt like, ‘Man, I can’t even do nothing for you.’ … I felt like me coming to jail would make her feel even worse because it’s like I gotta leave you. I’m the person that changed her life, so I gotta leave you in here? You gon’ really feel bad if you see me come back in here.”

DA BRAT DEFENDS DUPRI

In spite of his lack of prison visits, Da Brat still holds him at high regard to this day. In fact, she recently defended his genius mind after his controversial remarks about "stripping rappers."

“Everything Jermaine Dupri does is done strategically,” she told TMZ. “He knows what he’s doing; he’s a genius. You should be thankful that the conversation is even started now…‘cause now the focus is absolutely on [female rappers].”

During that same interview where he couldn’t identify a favorite female rapper among those thriving today, Dupri admitted Da Brat “broke the mold” during her time, something he wished female rappers today would also do.