The music mogul made his remarks while commenting on the verdict of last week's (ends13Mar15) plagiarism battle between Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke and members of Marvin Gaye's family, revealing he sympathises with the Blurred Lines hitmakers, who were ordered to pay out millions for stealing from the late soul legend's hit Got to Give it Up.

Dupri tells the Associated Press, "Younger producers like myself and Pharrell, we make records that are influenced by other records that are out there. That's how hip-hop has always been created - it has some kind of element of something (from) the past. Or sometimes we just take the entire sample and we give the artist the credit for that sample. We've all been in a position where it could go like this or we can give the producer the credit."

He then takes a swipe at Ciara, claiming her latest single is similar to U Got It Bad, which Dupri produced in 2001.

Janet Jackson's ex-boyfriend insists he will be contacting Ciara to make sure he gets the necessary credit, adding, "Ciara's new single is a complete rip-off of Usher's U Got It Bad. I'm clear on what I made and I'm clear on how music influences people and I'm clear on chord changes and how people move things...

"It might not be as evident as the Blurred Lines situation, but I believe the same thing happened to me."

Williams and Thicke are planning to appeal the ruling that they copied portions of Marvin Gaye's 1977 song. The songwriters have been ordered to hand over $7.4 million (£4.9 million) to the soul legend's heirs.