NEW YORK — "I'm 29 years old, man," Jermaine Dupri declared with a defiant laugh on the set of his video for the "Welcome to Atlanta" remix on Wednesday. "Don't be mad at me if I'm younger than you and I sold just as many records. Don't be mad."([article id="1453880"]Click for photos[/article] from the video shoot.)

JD was referring to 37-year-old Dr. Dre's implication on Eminem's "What You Say" that the ATL native has a tendency to lie about his age — and that was about the nicest thing Dre had to say about his production peer. The beat doc made fun of Dupri's penchant for making hits with youngsters (Bow Wow, Kris Kross, et al) and his 5' 4" height as well (see [article id="1453646"]"Dre Disses Jermaine Dupri, Calls Him 'Mini-Me' On Eminem B-Side"[/article]).

"He called me 'Mini-Me,' " Dupri, clad in a New York Mets jersey and matching ball cap, said before pulling out two wads of folded bills about the size of Bow Wow's fists. "I'm short, but my doe is way long. Everybody is gonna say, 'JD, he's short.' "

Timbaland also chimed in at the end of Em and Dre's collaboration, telling JD he could put his lips where the sun don't shine. So now Dupri has struck back with a freestyle of his own aimed at the three amigos.

"It don't got a name," Dupri joked of the freestyle. "It was just my thought one night. That's the name, 'My Thought One Night.' "

On the freestyle, which is getting airplay in Los Angeles and being circulated on the Internet, Dupri rhymes using Ice Cube's flow from "Jackin for Beats" over some of Dre and Timbaland's handwork. "Gimme that beat, fool," he raps to the track from Dre's "The Next Episode."

For the second verse, Dupri uses the soundscape from Mary J. Blige's "Family Affair," which Dre also produced, and questions the rap legend's sexuality and if he takes credit for making beats he actually didn't create.

Timbo isn't left untouched on the track. Dupri calls him a "Same-beat making/ Non-rapping individual/ I was making what you make now when I was a child."

He sends a couple more disparaging words their way using Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On" and talks over the beat to Aaliyah's "Try Again" to address Eminem. He likens Slim Shady to a character in Disney World who's known for dissing pop acts and "Justin [Timberlake]'s ex-girlfriend."

"My record was clearly a battle record," JD explained. "I come from the era of battle records. When you say something about LL [Cool J], LL would take your head off in a record. That's the era I come from. I'm a b-boy, ... I'm battling, I want people in the streets to say, 'Woooo!'

"They're gonna make more [answer] records," he predicted. "I'm through with it. It's fun, it's a battle, but I ain't no guinea pig. You just ain't gonna be talking about me. That's all it is. It shouldn't even go no further."

The conflict between the two sides all stems from an article in the November 2001 issue of XXL magazine in which Dupri was asked how he compared himself to other hip-hop producers such as Dre, Timbaland and P. Diddy.

"I never dissed them," Jermaine clarified. "I want to say this to y'all. I never dissed y'all. Y'all took it somewhere y'all ain't need to take it to. All I said was I feel like out of all the producers people compare me to, I feel like I'm the best. If I can't cheerlead for myself, who's gonna cheerlead for me? That's not a dis.

"I'm not saying I'm the best producer," he continued. "Teddy Riley is way better than me ... Quincy Jones [is better]. I was just making a statement saying what I do, nobody in the industry does. I write songs, man. I wrote 'U Got It Bad,' 'Welcome to Atlanta.' I wrote these songs, and I produce these songs. Right there, there's a difference.

"I told them at the end of my record [that] we're too big to be battling. I'm sick and tired of these guys' babbling, so it's there."

For a feature on rap's biggest lyrical skirmishes, check out "The Art Of The Battle."

— Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by [article id="1453178"]Sway Calloway[/article]