Irv Gotti, the boisterous, smiley music mogul who founded Murder Inc. Records and was behind major hip-hop and R&B artists, has died. He was 54.
Def Jam Recordings, which was the parent company of Murder Inc., announced Gotti’s death in a statement late Wednesday night. It did not give a cause of death.
Gotti, whose real name was Irving Lorenzo, created the iconic hip-hop and R&B imprint with his brother in the late 1990s, with the label gaining worldwide prominence through platinum-selling artists Ashanti and Ja Rule.
Still, Gotti never changed the nickname he shared with the late Gambino family boss John Gotti, which he said was given to him by Jay-Z.
