Irv Gotti knows re-establishing the Inc. as "the world's most talented record label" isn't going to be easy. He hit his latest bump in the road recently while trying to clear R. Kelly's appearance on Ja Rule's new R.U.L.E.

Months ago the Inc. leaked a Kelly/Ja collaboration called "I Wonder" to radio, and plans were in the works for a video to help launch Ja's project. However, according to Gotti, a lot of red tape needed to be cut through before Jive would clear the R&B star. In fact, Kelly himself had to intervene before things were cleared up, but now the R.U.L.E. LP is back on track with a new due date of November 9, one week prior to release of Ashanti's third LP.

All three artists appear on a remix of "I Wonder" called "Wonderful," which Gotti said will drop in the next few weeks and serve as the official first single for R.U.L.E.

"The joint R. and Ja did is them wondering if everyone would be down with them if they wasn't who they were," Gotti explained last week. "It's a hot party joint that hopefully all of y'all are going to get into.

"This is Ja's best album," he added about R.U.L.E. "With the combination of big records like the R. Kelly record, street records, feeling records ... even the skits are bananas. I really want n---as to put the album in and really soak it up. Everything about it is crazy."

Obviously Ja's record is just one cog in the Inc.'s machine. Lloyd's debut is in stores (see "Irv Gotti Rebuilding The Inc. With A Little Help From Lloyd"), and Ashanti's first video from her still-untitled album is also coming down the pike (see "Ashanti Shows Lloyd The Inc. Ropes, Picks Up The Pace On New LP").

"The Inc. is steady grinding, steady on the move, steady on the case," Gotti said. "You've got Lloyd out there, we just finished his new video, 'Hey Young Girl.' The video is bananas. My little n---a is a star. He's a 10-year plan, I'm riding with that n---a for the next 10 years. He's a superstar. The dancing in the video, he's like a young Usher, a young Mike [Jackson], he's the total package. Ashanti's [album] is great.

"I don't like to talk about it," he added, "but when I hear what's out there and I hear our music, I know we make right music. We gotta get through this little hatred, but I think people are seeing the light a little more."