Irv Gotti

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. 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 record 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 record within the trendy rap industry. Then came Ja's debut LP, Venni Vetti Vecci (1999). That 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 Rule, 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 record, 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 the 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. Despite a series of legal woes that culminated in an FBI raid of the Murder Inc. office in early 2003, 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 -- music taken from his show Tales that aired on BET -- featuring appearances by Boogiie Byrd, Fitted Circle, Black Child, Ja Rule, Alexza, Keith Powers, and more. His production work rate slowed after that, though he did produce a single for Kanye West ("Brothers") in 2019. In 2024, Gotti suffered a minor stroke, then in January 2025, he died after a second stroke. ~ Jason Birchmeier & Tim Sendra, Rovi