Irv Gotti, the famed music producer, industry executive, and TV producer, died at the age of 54, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed. The cause of death is currently unknown.
The instrumental hip-hop figure, born Irving Lorenzo, died after previously suffering what his representatives deemed a “minor stroke” in early 2024. At the time, they said he had changed his diet and had been “successful in making a full recovery.”
Gotti, a Hollis, Queens native, co-founded early 2000s rap stalwart Murder Inc. Records, which housed multi-platinum acts such as Ja Rule and Ashanti. The label has collectively sold 30 million units worldwide via hip-hop and R&B standards such as Ja Rule’s “Always On Time” (featuring Ashanti) and “Livin It Up,” (featuring Case) as well as Ashanti’s “Foolish” and “Rock With U (Awww Baby).”
Working in A&R at Def Jam, Lorenzo was pivotal in the foundational label’s late Nineties revival, helping Jay-Z and the late DMX ink deals. He produced “Can I Live” on Jay-Z’s 1996 Reasonable Doubt debut, and served as executive producer on DMX’s 1998 It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, which sold four million records and established the Yonkers MC as a rap superstar. The two artists, along with Ja Rule, were catalysts in bringing Def Jam back to cultural dominance, reportedly boosting its value by more than 100 million dollars in 1998.
Their success helped Lorenzo start Murder Inc. as a Def Jam subsidiary, which also paved the way for him to collaborate with stars such as Jennifer Lopez (“I’m Real,” and the “Ain’t It Funny” remix), as well as Eve and Alicia Keys (“Gangsta Lovin”). In 2003, he won a Best Contemporary R&B Album Grammy for executive producing Ashanti’s eponymous debut album.
In 2005, Irv and his brother Chris Lorenzo (aka Chris Gotti) were charged with money laundering and conspiracy to launder money by the FBI. In one of the earliest instances of rap on trial, federal agents claimed that the Lorenzos laundered drug money from alleged Queens drug kingpin Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff into Murder Inc. They were acquitted of the charges in December of the same year.
Lorenzo’s musical output slowed down after the trial, and he eventually shifted into television. He starred in VH1’s Gotti’s Way reality show from 2007 to 2009, and in 2017 developed Tales for BET, a fictional show that based the premise of each episode on a rap song. He also executive produced The Murder Inc. Story, a five-part 2022 docuseries that chronicled the label’s timeline.
The documentary garnered controversy for Lorenzo’s reveal that he had a romantic relationship with Ashanti while married, which marred his reputation, especially with younger rap fans unaware of his musical contributions. In 2022, Ashanti clarified, “We dealt with each other, but was Irv my boyfriend? Was I his girlfriend? Never.” Last year, he was sued by a Jane Doe who alleged that she was in an abusive relationship with him from 2020 to 2022 which included sexual assault. (Lorenzo “categorically denied” the charges.)
Even with controversy at the end of his life, his impact on hip-hop and R&B can’t be erased. In 2017, while discussing his career on the TV show Drink Champs, show host and industry peer Nore called him a “legendary” hip-hop figure, surmising that he was so impactful that “if he would’ve been in the game [currently], mumble rap wouldn’t exist.”
From Rolling Stone US
