Irv Gotti dies after hip-hop legend who worked with DMX and Jennifer Lopez's health woes Irv Gotti, the legendary hip-hop producer and founder of the Murder Inc. record label, has passed away at the age of 54.
Irv co-founded Murder Inc. with his brother Chris Gotti in 1998 and also became a popular producer and hitmaker for Jennifer Lopez, Ja Rule, the late rapper DMZ and Ashanti, among other top hip-hop and R&B figures.
One of the biggest songs of 2001 was Ja Rule's Always On Time which featured the late singer Ashanti and was produced by Gotti, while Gotti worked on several of Ashanti's solo hits after he discovered her as a teenager and signed her to his label Murder Inc. Records.
The label is now named The Inc., a softening name change that coincided with a drop in its fortunes, with follow-up releases for Ashanti and Ja Rule underperforming before big names left the label one by one.
Meanwhile, Russell Simmons, the record executive who co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, shared the same update, adding that he's "praying" for Irv's "full recovery.".
