Jermaine Dupri Asserts He’s ‘The First Person’ To ‘Make It Rain’

In the world of hip-hop, there has been a term that has been around for years, particularly in strip clubs, “Make it rain.” This involved usually men throwing cash in the air at the club, as the scene makes the paper bills look like it’s raining. Legendary music producer, Jermaine Dupri is taking credit for coining the term back in 1998 with his smash hit single with Jay-Z, “Money Ain’t a Thing.”

According to HipHopDX, the Atlanta native made the claim in a recent interview on Apple Music on The Estelle Show. He claimed that he used that movement when he used to attend the infamous Magic City strip club back in the 1990s.

The So So Def Recordings owner told Estelle, “Talib Kweli talks about the first time that he ever came to Atlanta. He went to Magic City with me and Janet (Jackson). They’re throwing the money in the air and people seeing that, ‘Make it rain.’ I actually was the person who created this because I did this first in the ‘Money Ain’t A Thing’ video, me and JAY-Z are in the car throwing money throughout the whole video.”

Although we did see the two hip-hop artists doing so, the phrase was never mentioned in the song or video.

Dupri does go on to say that it became his thing when attending strip clubs when that song was popular.

“That became my thing with that song, that became my thing going into these strip clubs. And I remember going to the club throwing the money. The first time I ever threw the money in the air, I probably threw a thousand dollars on the floor. And the girl at the strip club said, ‘You want me to get down on the floor and get my money?’ She didn’t understand what was happening.

“I tried this a couple of places where I was out throwing money and people weren’t… It wasn’t a thing for them, they didn’t understand what was happening. And this is just my confirmation of me saying, ‘I know that I was the first person doing this.’”

Although Dupri makes that claim, coincidentally, there was actually a song that was titled, “Make It Rain” and it was recorded by Lil Wayne and Fat Joe. But, the song was recorded in 2006 and Dictionary.com actually credits the two artists with popularizing the term.

Yet, TMZ had a discussion with producer Southside (who has worked with artists like Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Meek Mill, 2 Chainz, and Travis Scot) and he gave Dupri props but disputed the claim by saying that the gangstas in Atlanta (including his father) were the ones who started that trend.

“I ain’t gonna say that Jermaine Dupri invented that because Atlanta has a lot of different cultures of it. There were a lot of people back in Jermaine Dupri and them days who didn’t do music that were making it rain. But they couldn’t broadcast it because of what they did,” he told TMZ.

Did Dupri actually “make it rain?” No doubt, but as evidenced by the words of Southside and even dictionary.com, it still seems to be disputed that he actually “was the first person doing this,” as he stated in the interview.