Hitmaker
Irv Gotti produced a flurry of hits for such artists as
Ja Rule,
Ashanti, and
DMX beginning in the late '90s, in the process building his Murder Inc. boutique label into a small empire. Like other contemporary superstar producers
Dr. Dre and
Timbaland,
Gotti's name often carried more clout than that of his artists, and the major labels came to him often in search of hit productions for their own artists. When he wasn't busy in the studio,
Gotti also managed to stir up controversy, whether with his then-rival
50 Cent or his alleged criminal background.
Born Irving Lorenzo in Hollis, Queens, in 1971,
Gotti's career in the rap industry as a producer began in the mid-'90s when he aligned himself with
Mic Geronimo, a New York MC whose debut album,
The Natural (1995), featured
Gotti's production (as
DJ Irv, his onetime moniker).
Gotti's big break came when he contributed production to
Reasonable Doubt (1996),
Jay-Z's debut album. The album became an overnight classic, and soon
Gotti's beats were in demand. He next began working with
DMX, whose debut album,
It's Dark and Hell Is Hot (1998), similarly became a very influential album within the trendy rap industry. Then came
Ja's debut album,
Venni Vetti Vecci (1999). This album wasn't quite as successful as
Jay-Z's or
DMX's debuts, but it further established
Gotti's hitmaking ability with unknown artists. The hits only increased with each passing year. Following
Gotti's success executive-producing
DMX and
Ja,
Def Jam -- the label responsible for both artists -- granted the producer his own boutique label, Murder Inc., which
Def Jam would market and distribute.
Murder Inc.'s flagship release,
Irv Gotti Presents: The Murderers (2000), didn't quite scale the charts like
Gotti's work for
Jay-Z or
DMX had, though. Nonetheless, he continued producing hits, most notably for
Ja, whose second album,
Rule 3:36 (2000), racked up a number of chart-topping
Gotti productions, as did his next album,
Pain Is Love (2001). Thanks to
Gotti's success with
Ja,
Def Jam gave the producer more room to establish Murder Inc. as a franchise on a par with other boutique labels such as Roc-A-Fella and Bad Boy.
Gotti then delivered the superstar
Def Jam had hoped for:
Ashanti.
Gotti and the young female vocalist collaborated on a series of chart-topping hits in early 2000s, among them
Ja's "Always on Time,"
Fat Joe's "What's Luv?," and
Ashanti's own "Foolish," all three Top Ten hits -- simultaneously.
By this point,
Gotti had risen to
Dr. Dre-like proportions in the rap industry. He was more than a producer; he was a hitmaker, and for a while, he made headlines regularly. He spoke to the media about his plans to work with
Michael Jackson and sign
Nas to Murder Inc. During the 2002 holiday season he banked on his marketable name yet again by releasing a remix album,
Irv Gotti Presents: The Remixes, mainly comprising reworked tracks featuring
Ashanti,
Ja, and a stable of others. Then controversy struck. Throughout all of his hitmaking and headlines,
Gotti had long fostered a shady persona. He initially presented himself as a self-made don, particularly when he was on the rise during the late '90s. For instance, he named his SoHo studio the Crack House. He furthermore allegedly had ties to Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, a legendary drug dealer also from Queens. These ties were well documented in various songs, among them a particularly revealing one, "Ghetto Qua Ran," by popular rapper
50 Cent. The young, loud-mouthed fellow Queens native had a long, adversarial relationship with
Gotti and the Murder Inc. camp, a storied one that involves shootings, stabbings, and orders of protection.
Amid all of this controversy, the FBI decided to investigate. They raided the Murder Inc. office on January 3, 2003, and the investigation made headlines everywhere, from MTV News ("Drugs, Friends & Allegations: Inside the Murder Inc. Raid") to The New York Times ("Inquiry into Rap Label Asks if 'Gangsta' Is More Than Genre"). More shootings followed throughout New York: the office of
50 Cent's management company, Violator, was shot up multiple times, and
Gotti's brother, Chris, was subsequently shot in the leg outside of the
Def Jam office.
Despite the headlines and legal woes,
Gotti continued producing for artists like
Vanessa Carlton (
Heroes & Thieves),
Ashanti ("Breakup 2 Makeup"),
Memphis Bleek ("Infatuated"), and
the Game ("Nice"). In 2017,
Gotti issued
Irv Gotti Presents: Tales the Playlist, featuring appearances by
Boogiie Byrd,
Fitted Circle,
Black Child,
Ja Rule, Alexza, Keith Powers, and more. ~ Jason Birchmeier