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Like Ja Rule says on his new album, "change gon' come" for the Inc. boss.
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Ja Rule on 50 Cent, God, and Hip-Hop
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50 Cent: Still Hungry After 4 Million Records
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Who Killed Jam Master Jay
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Is The NYPD At War With Hip-Hop?
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Ashanti: Inc.credible
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Murder Inc.: In Gotti We Trust
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Ja Rule: Rule's Choice
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Browse Bands by Name
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 Bands Main
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Like his number one artist, Ja Rule, says on his new album, Blood in My Eye, "change gon' come" for Irv Gotti. The beatmaking exec recently dropped the "Murder" from Murder Inc. and the walking quotable is hoping that 2004 will see his and his artists' luck turn for the better. In 2003, the Incsters suffered a decline in their album sales, heard boos from fans, were investigated by the government and, most tragically, saw a young upstart MC down with the crew, D.O. Cannon, slain.
Still, Gotti is holding his head high. He has an Ashanti remix album and a brand new Ja LP on tap for early '04.
MTV News caught up with the Queens native in New York, right after he held a press conference to explain why "Murder" is dead. Speaking in his hotel room, I.G. refused to pardon Slim Shady, talked about why he picked Louis Farrakhan over Sway and Johnnie Cochran, and expounded on why he liked when people jeered the Inc. at The Source Awards.
MTV: Your label has a history of being on top, selling millions of records, touring, dominating the airwaves. It doesn't seem that the name "Murder" has hampered you too much. Why switch the moniker now?
Gotti: That meeting with Minister Louis Farrakhan was impactful to me. One of the things he had said was, "Don't shy away from being the good person you are by the public putting their pressures on you." So [the name change] has been something that's been teetering with us for a minute. I got Ashanti and Ja, they made all these nice wholesome and big records but a lot of times in corporate America they would always be like, "I don't know if we can do anything with Murder Inc." So it was that, all of the clamor, the negative stuff with the federal investigation. Everything was concentrated on that name. So after the meeting with Farrakhan, I felt it was a good time. I just wanted to continue with the positivity.
MTV: Obviously the meeting with the minister has been the subject of many a headline the last few weeks. There have been a lot of rumors about how the dialogue came about. Just how did the situation first get set into motion?
Gotti: Ja wasn't doing any radio or anything like that [in support of Blood in My Eye]. [Executives at Def Jam] had a meeting, they talked about doing one simulcast with one interviewer for all of radio. Sway's name got thrown around, Clue, La La, [Big] Tigger, all of these names of national VJs got tossed around for doing this. Then I was like, "Man, let's try to take it to a next level." Johnnie Cochran's name got tossed around and I was like, "You know what, let's get Farrakhan."
MTV: Why Farrakhan?
Gotti: Farrakhan has always said that he would have loved to talk to Tupac and Biggie and try to diffuse that. He's a black leader and I thought he could do some good. Once his name got tossed around it was more like a win-win. We thought we could make this a big thing with Farrakhan and also maybe bring things down to a low roar with Ja and 50. After the conversation with Farrakhan I think the stuff with Ja and 50 has been brought down a little bit.
MTV: At the press conference, you griped about how many people in the hip-hop community have forgiven Eminem for the racist comments he made in the freestyle 15 years ago that's been brought to the surface by Benzino.
Irv Gotti: It's just funny to me how they're giving him a pass so quick. I'm not giving him no pass, period. I got a mom, I got five sisters. I ride for black women. He said, "I ain't on that n---a sh--." [Editor's note: Eminem's camp says it has never heard or heard of the freestyle where Em is alleged to have said that line.] What do you mean by that? It just raises the question, "OK, so when you're around all the black guys everything is good, but maybe when you around your white guys, you're like, 'Yeah, look at these stupid n---as.' " N---as put you on the top of the world.
MTV: You guys had so many ups and downs this year. Over the summer at the Z100 concert at Giants Stadium, Ja and Ashanti came out and the cheers were so loud, it was like Elvis stepped in the building. A few days later at the same venue was Hot 97's Summer Jam show. The crowd was laughing at Ja when 50 made fun of his videos onstage. At the R. Kelly concert at Madison Square Garden later in the summer, Ja made a surprise appearance and got major love. In October in Miami, he got booed at The Source Awards ...
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Ashanti, Irv Gotti and Ja Rule
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Gotti: I liked The Source Awards performance though because when we came out, everybody stood up. So we was like, "Wow." I know award shows. When people perform, usually the audience sits down. But for them to stand up, they're interested, they're intrigued by us. A lot of hip-hop talk is about us and I like that. It's just we gotta make some music that the people respond to and we all good. But it's been a whirlwind year, yo.
MTV: That's an understatement.
Gotti: It's kinda been a year that two plus two equals three. Nothing is perceived right, nothing seems right. January 3 is when I got raided, so the year started out crazy and it's been nothing but crazy. That's why with the name changing of the Inc., I'm hoping 2004 will be better. But hip-hop is a funny animal. In hip-hop the people, they bring you up and they put you up there like, "Yo, these are my guys." And when they put you up there they get a stone and they say, "Now that he's up there, bah!!" And they stone you.
MTV: Yeah, I've heard that before from some of your peers who've been through it.
Gotti: It's almost like they stone you to see what you gonna do. And everybody has gone through this, really. Some people have gotten stoned and come back, some people have gotten stoned and fallen to the wayside. But it's like after you get stoned and come back, [you're OK]. Diddy went through his hard times, he's back on his feet. They give you a full test. "You pass, you're good now." I'm no different.
MTV: It doesn't seem like much else can happen to you guys. Do you think the stoning is over now?
Gotti: I don't know. I don't know. If I gotta go through some more stoning, I'mma go through it. It's nothing.
— Shaheem Reid
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Photo: The Inc.
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