Strip Clubs & Two-Way Pagers: How Jermaine Dupri Bagged Janet Jackson

Jermaine Dupri is finally opening up about how he bagged Janet Jackson! For so long the couple seemed like an odd pairing. And then, as soon as we were getting used to the idea of them, they broke up.

Since the two ended their relationship in 2009, after eight years of dating, neither one of them have really opened up about their romance. Now Dupri is shedding some light. He was a guest on T.I.’s “Expeditiously” podcast and talked about how they met and even the first gift he bought her.

According to Dupri they met at one of Jackson’s concert. Dupri was with his group Kriss Kross and was invited backstage to meet Janet after the show.

“She realized from that one time that she met me with [Kris Kross] that I was a little bit more important than the person that was supposed to be outside the door. I knew multiple other people. Her friends… and she saw me doing other projects. So we became friends. I guess you wanna call it, I took my shot. And my shot was–she didn’t have a two-way [pager]. They were sending me two-ways like I was the owner… So I found out she didn’t have one and they were sending them to me. I was like, ‘You know what, I want y’all to send one to Janet from me.’ I got her address from her stylist and I sent her the two-way. I’m thinking like, I’m gonna get the number and you gon’ hit me back. She hit me back! It was like, at that point, let’s hang out, let’s kick it.”

Dupri also said Jackson was super sheltered and believe it or not had never been to a strip club and didn’t celebrate a birthday until the age of 23.

“I took her to Magic City [an Atlanta strip club],” Dupri said. “I exposed her to a lot of life that I didn’t even know I could expose a person to. You think when a person is that famous, that rich, they know everything. They’ve seen everything. But it was a lot of world that we was living in, cultural wise, that they hadn’t gotten in L.A. That’s where we basically started hitting it off. We were showing each other multiple things. It was two cool people exchanging energy.”

Ultimately despite being in love the couple split because of long distance. Dupri lived in Atlanta, his hometown, meanwhile, Jackson lived in Malibu, California.

“She wasn’t willing to move to Atlanta,” Dupri shared. “She was willing to come out here for a couple of weeks. But living in Atlanta, for her, just didn’t really seem like L.A. I wasn’t ready to move to Malibu… I like it, I f—k with it. but it ain’t… It’s just something about being here. That stuff didn’t feel like the space where either one of us wanted to be.”

Jackson has said of Dupri that he will always remain a lifelong friend.