During the conversation with DJ EFN and N.O.R.E., Irv revealed Ashanti’s single “Happy” was the product of the two having sex.
“Let me explain the relationship and how it worked, and how it worked to our advantage,” Gotti said. “We just finished sleeping together, or whatever, I’m taking a shower. I’m in the shower, a nigga be creative after [sex]. I think of the whole track in the shower.”
Gotti said afterward he called producer Chink Santana to create the beat and then tapped back in with Ashanti to craft the lyrics. “That record came about ’cause of our energy,” Gotti said.
TMZ caught up with Judge Mathis in New York City and he stated Ashanti should send a cease-and-desist or go to court for a gag order.
You can hear the full conversation on Drink Champs and Judge Mathis’ opinion below.
Business mogul and producer Irv Gotti, born Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. has been in a number of headlines recently revealing details of his past relationship with Ashanti, the early days of his career in the music industry, and the creation of Murder, Inc. just ahead of The Murder Inc Story five-part documentary series premiere.
The Murder Inc Story premieres on Tuesday, August 9 at 9PM ET on BET.
The five-part documentary will examine Irv Gotti’s initial success as a music executive at Def Jam and how he masterminded a new label that would forever shift and influence the music industry for generations to come.
Murder, Inc. Records played a pivotal role in launching careers of some of the most influential voices in Hip Hop, Soul, and R&B, including Ja Rule, Ashanti, Lloyd, Charli Baltimore, Vita, Black Child, Caddillac Tah, and many more.
The documentary will not only cover the music of Murder, Inc, but also the drama surrounding the label. From feuds with Aftermath, Shady and G-Unit Records, along with the federal charges he faced, Gotti, 52 is finally ready to reveal his authorized untold story of the rise, sudden fall, and redemption of his iconic record label..
The Source’s KimSoMajor caught up with Irv Gotti via zoom from his home in New York for a passionate and transparent discussion on the future of his company, Visionary Ideas Entertainment, learning what his purpose is, the upcoming Murder Inc. docu-series, why he would not do a reunion tour without Ashanti and much more.
What’s the biggest reason that you wanted the Murder, Inc. documentary to come out and why now?
The biggest reason is I felt it was a great time for me. I felt the ups and downs. The story needed to be told. Because people have been wanting me to do a doc — Been because they just like how I run my mouth. I’m a pretty good interview piece cuz I just keep it real. Right. But I felt this cuz, I knew I was on my way back up Kim. And I’m on my way back up. Even bigger than the legendary sh*t that I’ve done. Because now I’m doing it, not only in music, but movies and films and I’m owning it, you know?
When people say, ‘the universe is aligning,’ you know, when you hear that kind of bullsh*t —it is aligning for me. Yeah. [Laughs] That bullsh*t is, it’s kind of real for me and things just started falling into place and they’re continuing to fall into place with this doc and Tales following the doc, the one, two punch, I love Tuesday 9 and 10 PM on BET. So I just felt like it felt right. It felt right to tell my story because I have the come up part. I have the success. I have the Def Jam. Then the feds, Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, the downfall. What should have been my downfall of 50 [Cent] bombing on me. If the feds wasn’t enough, it’s 50 bombing on me. I’m supposed to be buried and done. And then low and behold I’m coming back like a hundred times stronger.
Also, I wanted to tell my story as an inspiration and I know this is gonna sound corny, but it’s real. I wanted kids and my ni**as to see and hear my story because when I was filming it, one of the execs at BET —I almost moved to tears cuz she was like, I want my son to see this. My son has to see this. And I was like, why? “Cuz” she said, “Yo, you’re saying everything that he’s going through.” And what I was saying was until my dad got laid off, I was f**king off life.
I wasn’t applying myself. I wasn’t taking it serious. So what I said to the viewers and everyone that watches, it’s like, I take myself out of being Irv Gotti, and I basically compare myself to them and I’m like, Yo, I was just like you, I’m 22 years old. I’m playing f**king John Madden 93 for money at a barber shop. And that’s my day. I’m f**king off life. I’m not taking it serious. I had the same talent that I have now, but I wasn’t applying myself. I wasn’t going for it.
That’s what launched you into a savage?
Yeah, my dad was gonna get a pension and his job fired him and I’m at home. And I don’t know why God put me to see this, but he put me to see this. And you know, my dad is talking to my mom and he’s like, “I got no education like that.” He says, “Like, I don’t know what’s gonna happen to us or me,” and that sh*t just put a fire in me, Kim, that still burns right now.
I’m glad that you mentioned that because I wanted to ask you what you felt your meaning and the purpose is. But just taking it back to those earlier moments, I seen a clip where you gave your dad the keys and just the emotion over it. I wanted to tear up. What was that feeling like?
I’m gonna talk about my dad. If I start crying, I start crying, but you know, my dad, —I just, love the f*ck out of him, Kim, him and Nene. ….So that moment is an immortal moment for me because it was the first time I seen my dad cry. He’s crying and he was hugging me and he was like, “My boy, my boy,” he was so f**king happy. And it wasn’t about the car. It was about, my boy is a man. He was like, my boy is a man.
It meant the world to me. He means the world to me. And I give him and Nene all of the credit and all of the props for me because I could honestly say if my dad didn’t get fired, I probably would’ve still been in that stupid ass barber shop playing Sega. And it wouldn’t no Irv Gotti.
Check out the full interview where we get into Irv’s $300M deal and his plans for his company, Visionary Ideas Entertainment and more.
Be sure to catch Tales , following the The Murder Inc Story Tuesdays at 9PM ET on BET.
During the conversation with DJ EFN and N.O.R.E., Irv revealed Ashanti’s single “Happy” was the product of the two having sex.
“Let me explain the relationship and how it worked, and how it worked to our advantage,” Gotti said. “We just finished sleeping together, or whatever, I’m taking a shower. I’m in the shower, a nigga be creative after [sex]. I think of the whole track in the shower.”
Gotti said afterward he called producer Chink Santana to create the beat and then tapped back in with Ashanti to craft the lyrics. “That record came about ’cause of our energy,” Gotti said.
Drink Champs may say that its mission is to give hip-hop icons their flowers while they’re still around to smell them, but fans’ chief interest in the show is the tea that spills in the free-spirited environment. With the alcohol flowing and hosts NORE and DJ EFN egging them on, guests are more than happy to get a little messy about drama both past and current, creating clips that the show’s producers are more than happy to use to promote each upcoming episode.
Case in point, a future episode sees rap producer Irv Gotti of Murder Inc. Records stopping by to promote his upcoming Murder Inc. documentary and, in a clip shared by NORE, waxing nostalgic about his former relationship with Murder Inc. singer Ashanti. “Gotti ain’t over it,” NORE laughs in the caption as Gotti recounts in the video how he found out that Ashanti was dating Country Grammar rapper Nelly. As it happens, he says, “I was at home… NBA package, I like watching sports. ‘My God, what’s this commotion going on in the stadium?’ We just found out what the commotion is: Nelly has walked in with Ashanti.”
Of course, as pointed out by many — and I mean MANY — followers on Twitter, Gotti may not deserve as much sympathy as he feels he does, as he was married at the time, Ashanti was 12 years his junior at 24, and she was technically his employee, creating an imbalanced power dynamic even if he hadn’t been cheating on his wife at the time.
“Lemme tell you how this chick broke my heart yo, I had to really go home back to my wife after hearing this sh*t…I was sick” pic.twitter.com/8YMTCcvTBy
Irv did Ashanti so dirty behind the scenes with the music deals and limiting who she could make songs with… AND HE WAS MARRIED SIR CRY ME A RIVER pic.twitter.com/xzMIhESLxq
This nigga can NOT keep Ashanti’s name out of his mouth. The worst thing you can do, is mistakenly give some coochie to the chatty patty ass nigga. Its been 20 years! https://t.co/39vW55zvwQ
— VIRGO’s GROOVE STAN ACCOUNT (@pinky_balboa) August 2, 2022
Ok… but…. Wasn’t Irv married? I mean, I feel like that’s relevant to this conversation. https://t.co/gLOT0Kp8dA
So, yeah. Drink Champs is where rap icons go to get blitzed and drunkenly reminisce about 20-year-old breakups and beef for the consumption of bored office drones who love the mess but also love dunking on said icons for engagement on Twitter. Jordan Peele was right.
Up $300 million, Irv Gotti is headed to Drink Champs and he is bringing Ja Rule with him.
In a new trailer for the show, N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN sit down with the Murder Inc. legends ahead of The Murder INC Story hitting BET. The clips highlight a bunch of topics, one of which appears to be clarity on who truly made Ashanti’s music.
You can see the trailer below.
But about that $300Ms, Irv Gotti stated that Oliver Chastan’s Iconoclast has purchased the master recordings of Murder Inc. during BET Weekend. The seasoned music businessman revealed a $300 million transaction in which he sold a 50% stake in his master recordings and received additional cash for a number of film and television projects.
Iconoclast, a company founded by an influential figure in the music industry Oliver Chastan, made its debut in the market for acquiring music rights in February by acquiring the publishing and NIL rights of rock legend Robbie Robertson (name, image, and likeless).
Visionary Ideas Entertainment Darcell Lawrence, the company’s president, Nicki Lorenzo-Rabin, the CFO, and John “BJ” Bryant, the EVP, will continue to run the business and create content for BET/Paramount Global.
On August 9, the third season of the BET series Tales debuts. Tales is a scripted anthology series of “song stories” that weaves timeless and contemporary hip-hop songs into engrossing visual narratives from the lyrics of some of hip-hop’s greatest hits. Murder Inc., an unscripted documentary series that will serve as a five-part television series narrating the untold tale of the rise, unexpected fall, and redemption of Murder Inc.
Legendary actor De’Aundre Bonds was recently hired by music executive and producer Irv Gotti, for his new film, “Tales Presents: We Made It In America.” The two have linked up in Georgia for work. It was back in April of last year, when NY rapper 50 Cent and De’Aundre got into a social media bicker. 50 Cent stated “Every now and then I get a hater,” “note to self, never give this n!66a a job Fuck outta here.” Irv decided to not listen to 50 and give De’Aundre a chance.
Gotti’s new film,” We Made It In America” was produced and funded by himself. The film is to be released in January of 2023. Gotti’s team started working on the project earlier this week. Besides the new film, De’Aundre is getting himself prepared for Snowfall’s 6th season in which he will return to the screen as Skully. De’Aundre is also gathering up for his highly anticipated autobiography and cannabis line, Stacey OG, which is set to release later this year.
In a new interview with Billboard, Murder Inc. Records founder Irv Gotti calls music the “lowest form” of the entertainment industry while discussing his plans to finance, write, and direct his own film after selling half of his ownership of his label’s past recordings for $100 million. “The entertainment industry is music, TV, and film,” he explains. “The music business is the lowest form, and I just bagged $100 million for s—t I did 20 years ago.”
As he elaborates, “More money is made in TV and with movies than music. It’s a non-disputable fact. We love the music industry and I love the music industry. There’s money to be made. But [it’s dwarfed by] the money made from TV and film. If I have 100 episodes of television and I own it, they’ll probably put a worth on it at $300 or $400 million. With $300 or $400 million, I could sell it at a 10 to 20 multiple. That’s three to six billion. This is why Tyler Perry is a billionaire. That’s why I sold my masters and did this deal with Iconoclast.”
He’s not wrong; the money-making potential in movies and television easily explains why so many rappers have transitioned to acting careers — some of them before they even have an official album out, like Saweetie. More musicians are also pursuing production deals; Kid Cudi, Megan Thee Stallion, and Vince Staples are all working with Netflix, and 50 Cent has developed a media juggernaut with his Power universe on Starz. As for Irv Gotti’s latest endeavor, here’s hoping it goes better than his last one did; despite grossing over $500 million (according to co-founder Chris Gotti, Irv’s brother), the label declined throughout the late 2000s, after federal investigators accused the Gotti bros. of launching the label to help launder drug money.
Irv Gotti stated that Oliver Chastan’s Iconoclast has purchased the master recordings of Murder Inc. during BET Weekend. The seasoned music businessman revealed a $300 million transaction in which he sold a 50% stake in his master recordings and received additional cash for a number of film and television projects.
Iconoclast, a company founded by influential figure in the music industry Oliver Chastan, made its debut in the market for acquiring music rights in February by acquiring the publishing and NIL rights of rock legend Robbie Robertson (name, image, and likeless).
Brilliant Concepts Darcell Lawrence, the company’s president, Nicki Lorenzo-Rabin, the CFO, and John “BJ” Bryant, the EVP, will continue to run the business and create content for BET/Paramount Global.
On August 9, the third season of the BET series Tales debuts. Tales is a scripted anthology series of “song stories” that weaves timeless and contemporary hip-hop songs into engrossing visual narratives from the lyrics of some of hip-hop’s greatest hits. Murder Inc., an unscripted documentary series that will serve as a five-part television series narrating the untold tale of the rise, unexpected fall, and redemption of Murder Inc.
After Gotti’s demonstrated success as a music executive at Def Jam Records, the company was established in 1999. Ja Rule, Ashanti, Lloyd, Charli Baltimore, and many other top hip-hop, soul, and R&B performers were all introduced by the record company.
Walter Jordan negotiated the agreement while Brian Robinson and Gary Stiffleman served as his legal counsel.
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