"At Jermaine Dupri parties, (people) don't stand around taking pictures," he said, in more colorful language, as some at his MTV Video Music Awards kickoff party focused their cameras on stars in the crowd Friday night. "It's star-studded all around this (place)."

The superproducer and sometime rapper threw the party, along with his Tag Records, to kick off the weekend of parties being held for Sunday's MTV VMAs and to promote the label's new artist, rapper Q, who performed.

Dupri might have been generous by describing the crowd as "star-studded": The biggest celebrity sighting was that of actor Taye Diggs and rapper Fabolous. Angela and Vanessa Simmons of MTV's reality show "Run's House" also attended.

Still, the celebrity quotient didn't seem to influence how much fun the crowd had. The dance floor was packed into the early morning as old-school rapper D-Nice worked the turntables, providing a steady stream of hip-hop hits to keep the party jumping.

Dupri's party was just one of the pre-VMA events being held on Friday that lured celebrities. Earlier, the Gibson guitar company hosted a gifting suite that drew stars including reality TV villain Omorosa and "Grey's Anatomy's" Justin Chambers, his wife and their children.

Chambers wasn't sure if he would attend Sunday's VMAs, but said there was one celebrity he was looking forward to seeing on the broadcast.

"I hear Britney Spears is opening up. I don't know if I'm excited but I would like to see her make a comeback from last year," referring to the pop queen's disastrous kickoff performance at the 2007 VMAs.