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A few years later, I.G. got to implement his honed skills with Q-Boro MC Mic Geronimo. Gotti produced his single "Sh--'s Real." The independent release led to Gotti holding down his first position as an A&R rep at Blunt/TVT, which put out Geronimo's debut in 1995.
After Geronimo and Gotti had a falling-out, Chris Black, a "hustler n---a" from around Gotti's way, introduced him to his crew, the Cash Money Clique (CMC are due to put out an album on Murder Inc./TVT this fall).
"He was like, 'I got two n---as, O-1 and Ja Rule," Gotti recalled. "As soon as I met Ja, our chemistry clicked. If I was doing something with DMX, if I was doing something with Jay-Z, I would take Ja with me. He had that star quality from the door. The voice, the presence, the persona. Everybody loved Ja."
Especially Def Jam head honcho Lyor Cohen, who caught CMC's 1995 grimefest "Get the Fortune" on video station the Box, and immediately wanted to sign Rule. Perfect timing: Blunt records was folding and Gotti needed another gig.
"When I first met with Lyor, he asked me what my five-year goal was," I.G. explained. "I said, 'My five-year goal is to become you and to f---ing destroy you, because you can't do this music better than me.' He hired me that day. He loved that sh--.
"I breathe this sh--. I am this sh--," Gotti continued. "Clive Davis can't know this better than me. Tommy Mottola can't know this better than me. While you're following me, I'm gonna find a new way."
Gotti subsequently helped carve out new icons for hip-hop. While soaking up everything he could from Cohen, I.G. saw the opportunity to put his longtime friends on.
"He told Lyor he knew where the next illest n---a was," Waah said. "We happened to have him right up in the cage, in the kennel."
The carnivorous MC was DMX, of course, and Gotti helped broker deals that saw X and the Double R as well as Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella become partners with Def Jam. Gotti kept Ja Rule for himself as the catalyst for Inc.'s big jump-off in 1999.
"The early hurdle of Murder Inc. was just getting over the name and respecting us for our talent," Gotti remembered of people misconstruing his early visions, especially the much- protested LP Irv Gotti Presents the Murderers. "That's why I didn't call this [new] album Irv Gotti Presents the Murderers 2, 'cause it's still sort of a hurdle that I'm dealing with. I wanna give my product the best chance of selling the most records."
Getting his product off the shelves hasn't been a problem the last couple of years. Ja Rule and Ashanti have been radio staples with offerings off of their multimillion-selling LPs, and Irv Gotti Presents the Inc. recently made a #3 debut on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Now Gotti can boast that Nas and Bobby Brown may even become team members.
By declaring that Murder Inc. is the "World's Most Talented Record Label," obviously the Murderers think they're the tightest on the mic, and they've also led us to believe that they're the tightest-knit unit out there. That is, until the past couple of weeks.
Vita, one of the first rappers down with the Inc., has bounced, and Seven Aurelius, co-producer of "Always on Time," "Down Ass Chick" and most of Ashanti's album, has one foot out the door.
"Murder Inc. is my family," Seven insisted. "But like any family, you gonna have conflict. With me, it's just like an NBA holdout. When you have a player that's a star and doesn't feel like he's getting what he deserves, he'll sit out 'til the owners come to him with a contract that's fair.
"Ja Rule is a genius and Irv Gotti is a genius," Seven continued. "Without me they'll be fine. But together, we're an unstoppable force."
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Photo: Murder Inc./Def Jam
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