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As for Vita, the rumors are that she's upset with her lack of playing time. She's not doing any interviews about her departure, but a month ago the New Jersey native was very chatty.
"I respect where I am in my growth," Vita said in June about any qualms with her position in the Inc. fam. "I'm patient and I'm waiting and I'm keeping my buzz going so people are still feelin' me. Murder Inc. is definitely a family-oriented unit."
Speculation aside, Ashanti and Charli Baltimore — who's scheduled to finally release her long-awaited official debut, The Diary (You Think You Know ...), later this year — did come along after Vita and have had their projects take precedence over what would have been the Murder Mommy's debut, La Dolce Vita. Charli, however, said she too had to do her share of sitting on her hands.
"Oh man, it was like the never-ending demo," Chuck said. "I'd known Gotti for two years before he signed me, and he just constantly made me work. Every song would lead to another song. And finally I did this one song and he was like, 'Oh my God, that's the song! You know what? You've just earned a spot on [Ja Rule's] Pain Is Love.' It made me so hungry."
The view from the bench isn't too bad for Caddilac Tah, who was indoctrinated into the family around the same time as Vita.
"Everybody is like, 'Man, what's up?' " the Queens native admitted about his three years in the cut. His first album, Pov City Hustla, was supposed to drop last December, but still hasn't seen release. "That's another thing I learned from Gotti — timing. You don't ever wanna rush into nothing. That's all I keep putting in my head is 'My time is soon,' which it is."
Tah, who's heavily featured on the Irv Gotti Presents the Inc. album and DVD, has been slowly building his buzz via the occasional solo streetsweeper, like last year's "Pov City Anthem." He also popped up with a high-profile appearance on J. Lo's "Ain't It Funny," and is eating good by ghostwriting for Gotti. Yes, Irv is following in the footsteps of P. Diddy and Jermaine Dupri as a rapping CEO.
"It's like I go out there and I'm Ja's hype man and I ain't gonna lie to you, I feel the people got love for me and I feel the people," I.G. said about taking his turn on the mic, most recently on "No More Love," the first single from Toni Braxton's upcoming album. "It's almost like they're calling me to say eight bars or they're calling me to make a record. I'm serious."
Gotti himself will be the first act off Ja Rule's newly formed MI2 (Murder Inc. 2) label. And while he helps (or hinders, depending how seriously you take him as an MC) get Ja's label off the ground, Rule's own rapping will happen on a much more limited basis in the next few years. The raspy-voiced rapper has said he has a couple of more LPs left in him, then he'll be heading for Hollywood.
"After I do them two albums I'll retire and concentrate on becoming the best actor that I could be," Rule insisted. "I'll probably make songs here and there, soundtracks and Inc. albums and stuff like that, but no more Ja Rule solo albums."
Gotti hinted that the hanging up of Ja's jersey may be premature. "He's so passionate about this music thing, I don't know," he said. "I'm sure he'll be making music in some way. He could write songs for other artists all day."
But as the Incsters converged on the In and Out Club in London, nobody was thinking about leaving, especially Gotti. He's learned to keep the fam close.
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Photo: Murder Inc./Def Jam
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