Latto has been making waves in the music industry lately. She recently delivered impressive performances on both weekends of Coachella. After gracing the stage, she revealed that she hired Teyana Taylor as her new creative director. Adding this aspect to her performances has solidified her as an artist to look out for. But her artistry isn’t new. She was originally discovered on Jermaine Dupri’s “The Rap Game” show. Dupri is now speaking out about working with the rap star.
Jermaine Dupri’s Work With Latto
At the start of Latto’s career, the rapper got her first big break on TV. She was a contestant on the first season of the Lifetime reality show, “The Rap Game.” Contestants would show their rap skills and compete for the chance to win and work with a high-profile producer. In 2016, Latto, known then as Miss Mulatto, showed the world her skills. She was a young and fresh 16-year-old rapper with dreams of making it big. She won the competition and was able to work with Dupri.
Although winning the competition was a big feat for Latto, Dupri couldn’t help much with the young musician’s career at the time. In an interview with HipHop DX, Durpi explained that he’s tired of people saying he dropped the ball on her. He says the circumstances were just simply not ideal.
“People keep saying, ‘Jermaine, you dropped the ball on [Latto],’” he explained at the Lovers & Friends festival. “But what people don’t understand is, I put Latto’s record out. The deal was, if you win on ‘The Rap Game,’ you get a single from Jermaine Dupri. So that single came out.”
Dupri said the problem he truly faced was with Latto’s age.
“Latto was 16 years old, and the outlets didn’t support it,” he added. “And nobody was like speaking on it. Nobody talked about it. If you watched the TV show, you saw it. But people didn’t really start talking about Latto until she started making more vulgar records, dressing more sexual, and being more adult.”
Ultimately, Latto turned down being signed to So So Def Records after winning. According to a 2016 interview with Vlad TV, the rapper says the label did not offer her enough money. She is now signed to RCA Records.
You can watch the full interview with Dupri below.