Jermaine Dupri Criticizes 2025 VMAs‘ Lack of Black Artist Wins
ELMONT, NY – September 7, 2025 – Music executive Jermaine Dupri publicly voiced his disappointment with the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, highlighting a perceived disparity between the nominated Black artists and those who ultimately received awards. Despite a robust list of nominees including Bankz, Jordan Adetunji, Leon Thomas, Sza, Chris Brown, Freddie Gibbs, Party, Asake, Travis Scott, Burna Boy, Moliy, Skillibeng, Shensee, Rema, Tems, Wizkid, Brent Fayaz, and Bigxthaplug, only Tyla, Doja Cat, and Mariah Carey took home Moonman trophies.
Dupri’s comments underscore a longstanding conversation within the music industry regarding portrayal and recognition at major award shows. The imbalance, he argues, diminishes the contributions of Black artists to popular culture and the evolution of music video artistry. This year’s VMAs, held at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, saw Mariah Carey receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award and Busta Rhymes honored with the inaugural Rock The Bells Visionary Award, presented by LL Cool J, but Dupri believes more substantial recognition was due to the breadth of Black talent nominated.
Recalling his early experiences working with Carey, Dupri shared a story illustrating her bold artistic vision. “She came to the studio and she brought me the Wu-Tang record ‘Cream,’ and she was like, ‘this is what I wanna sing over,’ and I was like, what the f**k. I wasn’t prepared for that. I didn’t actually know why she chose to work with me, but I wasn’t prepared for that and I learned that day who she was,” he said.
Dupri also lauded busta Rhymes’ influence on music video production,notably his collaborative work with director Hype Williams. “Just watching him find his video directing partner with Hype [Williams] and how they took videos from this place to that place. I feel like that award is late for Busta because he gave this station a lot of content that nobody else was given,” he stated, emphasizing Rhymes’ consistent delivery of innovative visual content to MTV.
