USHER FIX

Jermaine Dupri is the man behind many hip-hop tunes both old and new and one of the people he helped at the start of their career was a guy by the name of Usher, heard of him? Well, Jermaine Dupri doesn’t seem to be happy with the Raymond V Raymond star, because he wasn’t even asked to produce one track for the R&B singer’s new album.

Dupri told VIBE Magazine: “Well, I didn’t really want to be executive producer of Usher’s projects after Confession. Me as a producer, it’s kind of hard for me to go back into people’s projects when I gave you your biggest album ever, you sold more records than any other artist in this decade based on that album and now I have to ask you am I the executive producer of your next album? That seems disrespectful to me. Obviously, I’m looking at something different than everyone is looking at it whether it’s the label, the artist, management, whoever it is.”

He added:  “I’ve had this same conversation with L.A. Reid, because I’m doing Mariah Carey’s album right now. And on her last album, I didn’t have one song on there. But I did Emancipation of Mimi and she sold more records than she sold in the last five years. What part of the game makes y’all not call me? But I’m not going to keep sticking my neck out. But I don’t feel like I’m supposed to ask to produce anymore. People are supposed to come to me and tell me that I’m the executive producer. That’s why I get more kicks working with younger artists.”

Jermaine Dupri is currently back working with Mariah on her forthcoming album.

 
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“Secret Garden” is slated to appear on Quincy Jones’ upcoming third collaboration album Q: Soul Boss Nostra. The album is to be released in the spring on Interscope Records. It was produced by Jermaine Dupri. The full version of the track will also feature LL Cool J, Tevin Campbell, Tyrese and Trey Songz. The original version, (1989 hit “The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite))”, starred seductive vocalists James Ingram, Al B. Sure, El DeBarge and Barry White. Listen below.

Usher ft. Robin Thicke - Secret Garden

DALLAS — It’s apparently the season to remake the classics. Mary J. Blige recently recorded a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and we all know about the remake of “We Are the World.” Now, Jermaine Dupri s spearheading a new version of a classic song, and just like “We Are the World,” it’s another Quincy Jones tune.

JD has called on Usher, Robin Thicke, Tyrese and Trey Songz to cover Jones’ 1989 hit “The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite).” The original version starred seductive vocalists James Ingram, Al B. Sure, El DeBarge and the incomparable Barry White.

Right before the NBA All-Star Game, Dupri talked about his and his team’s rendition.

“It took a minute for me to even think about touching it,” JD admitted. “It’s a couple of components in that record that you don’t wanna touch — Barry White being one of the main components. I had to leave him [on the song]. There’s nobody out there in the world that’s got a voice like his or even sounded the way he sounded. So I had to make sure I could leave that. It’s gonna be interesting for y’all to hear how these young guys sound mixed in with him.”

In 1989, “Secret Garden” was one of the highlights of Quincy Jones’ Grammy-winning Back on the Block LP. Each vocalist had a verse and an opportunity to sing to the ladies.

“Luckily, it’s a record that hip-hop really embraced as a ballad,” JD said. “It was a record I lived with so much. I kinda felt it was a record that was a part of my life. So it wasn’t that hard for me to get into it. But I just had to figure out all the ways and who to put on the song. I feel that at the time [Quincy] made the record, each one of the guys had a certain thing for the ladies.”

Jermaine said his version will woo the females all over again. “I think Robin Thicke got something for the ladies,” Dupri said. “Usher, definitely. Trey, definitely. And Barry White. That was hard, because I wanted to put Anthony Hamilton on there, Maxwell on there. But it’s hard, because it’s only a four- or five-man [song]. That was the hardest part for me.”

Jermaine said the “Secret Garden” remake will appear on a new Quincy Jones album; no release date has been announced.

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