Jermaine Dupri Mauldin is an American record producer, rapper, songwriter and music executive. Raised in Atlanta, Georgia, as the son of Columbia Records executive Michael Mauldin, he began his career in music at the age of nine. He discovered the teen hip-hop duo Kris Kross in 1991; Dupri wrote and produced their 1992 single "Jump," which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and was named the 23rd most successful song of that decade.