Da Brat recently looked back on a wild moment when she unknowingly snuck Mariah Carey out for fast food and nearly got Jermaine Dupri caught up in the chaos.
Speaking on the We Sound Crazy podcast, the Chicago rapper shared the tense story from the ’90s involving Carey and Dupri—a situation that could’ve gone way left.
At the time, Carey was married to Sony Music executive Tommy Mottola and, as she revealed in her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey, lived under strict surveillance in what she described as a “Sing Sing”-like home, comparing it to the infamous New York prison.
Looking for even just a taste of freedom, Carey told Da Brat she wanted fast food. Wanting to help, the “Funkdafied” rapper agreed, not realizing just how controlled and locked down the singer’s world really was.
“She wanted to get some McDonald’s or Burger King or something and I was like, ‘Ok,'” Da Brat remembered around the 22:54 mark of the interview. “She showed me her fleet of cars and I was like, ‘Oh these are yours? Then let’s go!'”
Da Brat continued, “Man, I didn’t know we was gonna be getting called to come back and guns is gonna be drawn where JD was at and get our asses back. I’m like, ‘We going to Burger King, it’s like a mile up the street.’
“She was under lock and key. I had never witnessed anything like that. I’m just being my normal self, going to Burger King wild’n out, jumping on all the cars, smoking weed, drinking, having a good time, just talking shit.”
Things quickly spiraled. Back at the studio, Jermaine Dupri—Da Brat’s mentor and producer—was allegedly confronted with drawn guns and urgent demands for them to return immediately. Since Da Brat was his artist, he was blamed for her actions, even though he had no idea she’d taken Carey out.
Da Brat also revealed that Carey’s home was loaded with surveillance, including hidden cameras inside the walls. Carey would sometimes whisper warnings to stop having fun or laughing too loudly, terrified of the consequences. Security would step in if she showed even the slightest signs of joy.
Mariah Carey later recalled in her memoir that Dupri looked shaken when they finally came back, fully aware of how close the situation had come to turning dangerous. The story highlights just how strictly controlled Carey’s life was during her marriage to Tommy Mottola—a period she has described as suffocating and emotionally stifling.
The moment also shows how even the simplest wish, like grabbing fast food, could put everyone around her at risk.
