Legendary music producer, Jermaine Dupri says he coined the term “make it rain” in 1998 with his smash hit single with Jay-Z, “Money Ain’t a Thing.”
In the world of hip-hop, the term has been around for years, particularly in strip clubs. Making it rain involves patrons throwing cash in the air and watching it fall to the ground.
According to HipHopDX, the Atlanta native stated his case on The Estelle Show, saying he used that move in the 1990s.
“Talib Kweli talks about the first time that he ever came to Atlanta,” he said. “He went to Magic City with me and Janet (Jackson). They’re throwing the money in the air and people seeing that, ‘Make it rain.’ I actually was the person who created this because I did this first in the ‘Money Ain’t A Thing’ video, me and Jay-Z are in the car throwing money throughout the whole video.”
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Although the two hip-hop artists do so, the phrase is never mentioned in the song or video.
“That became my thing with that song, that became my thing going into these strip clubs,” Dupri said. “And I remember going to the club throwing the money. The first time I ever threw the money in the air, I probably threw a thousand dollars on the floor. And the girl at the strip club said, ‘You want me to get down on the floor and get my money?’ She didn’t understand what was happening.
“I tried this a couple of places where I was out throwing money and people weren’t… It wasn’t a thing for them, they didn’t understand what was happening. And this is just my confirmation of me saying, ‘I know that I was the first person doing this.’”
The song “Make It Rain” was recorded by Lil Wayne and Fat Joe in 2006. Dictionary.com actually credits the two artists with popularizing the term.
Producer Southside, who has worked with Jay-Z, Rick Ross, and others, told TMZ that gangstas in Atlanta (including his father) started that trend.
“I ain’t gonna say that Jermaine Dupri invented that because Atlanta has a lot of different cultures of it,” Southside said. “There were a lot of people back in Jermaine Dupri and them days who didn’t do music that were making it rain. But they couldn’t broadcast it because of what they did.”
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