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Creativity Quote by Jermaine Dupri

"If you don't know by now, you're never going to know"

About this Quote

There’s a particular kind of cold clarity in “If you don’t know by now, you’re never going to know” - the sound of someone closing a door without slamming it. Jermaine Dupri isn’t offering a mystery to solve; he’s drawing a boundary. The line works because it weaponizes time. Knowledge here isn’t trivia, it’s emotional literacy: you’ve had the evidence, the patterns, the chances to pay attention. If you’re still confused, that confusion is no longer innocent.

Coming from a hitmaking producer steeped in R&B’s push-pull of devotion and disappointment, the quote reads like the studio version of a final text message. It’s not rage; it’s resignation with rhythm. Dupri’s world is full of songs where feelings are communicated through repetition - hooks, choruses, the same argument circling back until it either lands or it doesn’t. This sentence is the anti-hook. No more replay value, no more explaining the obvious.

The subtext is a critique of selective cluelessness, the kind that lets people avoid accountability while pretending they’re still “figuring it out.” It’s also a self-protective mantra: stop auditioning someone for a role they’ve already failed. In pop culture, we romanticize patience and “growth.” Dupri’s line cuts through that fantasy with a harder truth: sometimes the limit isn’t love, it’s comprehension - and you can’t build a relationship on a translation that never arrives.

Quote Details

TopicLetting Go
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Dupri, Jermaine. (2026, January 17). If you don't know by now, you're never going to know. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-dont-know-by-now-youre-never-going-to-know-78588/

Chicago Style
Dupri, Jermaine. "If you don't know by now, you're never going to know." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-dont-know-by-now-youre-never-going-to-know-78588/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If you don't know by now, you're never going to know." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-dont-know-by-now-youre-never-going-to-know-78588/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

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If You Don't Know by Now, You're Never Going to Know
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About the Author

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Jermaine Dupri (born September 23, 1972) is a Musician from USA.

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