Producer Jermaine “JD” Dupri’s lawyer has spoken out against new reports claiming the hitmaker owes more than $3.2 million in taxes to the government.
According to attorney James Kane, Dupri’s tax debts have been made aware of and addressed.
The state of Georgia filed a $135,749 lien against him Nov. 17, 2008, in Fulton County Superior Court. The IRS filed a $3,095,004 lien against him Sept. 4, 2008, in the Westchester County (N.Y.) Clerk’s office. “I can assist you in telling you that all of the taxes have been paid and my law firm has been, and is, in the process of getting the liens removed in normal course,” Kane wrote in an e-mail. “As to any other information, you can certainly understand under the attorney-client privilege that I am not able make any further comment.” (Detroit News)
JD made headlines in the early 2000’s when he was raided by federal agents for tax problems.
He’s the man responsible for the sub-genre known as Kiddie Rap, which vaulted such pre-pubescent hoodlums as Kriss Kross and Lil Bow Wow to the top of the charts. Back in 2002, Dupri got raided by federal agents. They confiscated furniture, computers and cars. His debt to the IRS was reported as $2,541,865. (Tax Prep 101)
New York rapper Nas also had his tax conflicts revealed last month.
Kelis isn’t the only person trying to get money from Nas — turns out Uncle Sam is too! TMZ has obtained a federal tax lien filed last month against Nas for a whopping $2,584,206.31. Looks like Nas didn’t pay his taxes in 2006 and 2007. Nas is currently involved in a bitter divorce battle with Kelis. Looks like she’ll have to wait in line. (TMZ)
Dupri recently spoke on his former position as president at Island Def Jam months after leaving his post.
“They [weren’t] prepared for a person like myself,” he explained in an interview. “They [were] basically out for themselves. I never was on a team like that. I was always on a team that was supportive of what I wanted to do and this time it was more like ‘we need you to do this.’ People know me to create new artists [and to] continuously come with new people. Once I realized I was basically on my own in that building, I said ‘it’s time for me to get out of here.’ I saw the decline of Def Jam and I was just like ‘I don’t want to be a part of a sinking ship.’…[There’s] definitely hard feelings because I’m not cool with people stunting my growth. I’m a person that keeps growing. Everybody knows the history of Jermaine Dupri. Everybody knows what I’ve done from day one from one group to the next, it was all new artists and you have to continue doing that. If you get in the way of that you stunt that growth. They [have] bigger problems to deal with, I mean I’m not running around like ‘f*ck Def Jam!’ I’m just saying I would not really deal with them ever again…It feels like it’s a resurgence of independent labels…It just feels like the right thing for me.” (The Boom Box)
No further information has been revealed as of now.