After bringing top artists to Def Jam like DMX, Ja Rule and Jay-Z, Russell Simmons gave Irv Gotti his own label under Def Jam; Murder Inc.
After selling millions of records and several No. 1 albums and songs, Irv, Ja Rule and the label of Murder Inc. were the subject of a beef with the newcomer 50 Cent, G-Unit Records, Aftermath Records and Shady Records in 2003, which eventually brought an end to Murder Inc’s global dominance.
With Murder Inc.’s heyday long gone, Irv Gotti’s catalogue continues to be successful year after year and he found a buyer to offload some of his interest in return for multiples. On Tuesday (June 28), the former DJ and A&R announced a $300 million deal in exchange for a 50 percent ownership stake of his masters to Iconoclast while receiving funding for various film and television projects.
Founded by French-born music industry power player Oliver Chastan, Iconoclast entered the music rights acquisition arena in February by purchasing the rights to rock legend Robbie Robertson’s music publishing and NIL (name, image & likeness), plus his recorded music interests.
Ahead of the deal Irv Gotti spoke with WorldStarHipHop at the 2022 BET Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday (June 26).
“I had a conversation with a billionaire friend of mine, my man Marc Lasry, he owns the Milwaukee Bucks, I’ve known him for like 20 years,” he said. “He drilled in my head, ‘You can’t sell what you don’t own,’ and it resonated with me.
“I’m signing a deal worth $300 million. I’ma tell you what it is: $100 million of the deal is me selling my masters. What my billionaire n-gga was saying, he’s absolutely right. 20 years later, my masters — and I only own half, I own 50-50 with Universal Music Group — half my masters is worth $100 million. That’s fucking insane!”
He added, “Not only is the company buying my masters, but they’re giving me like a $200 million line of credit for me to not just produce and create, but now own my television [properties].”
First on the agenda for Irv Gotti is a TV competition series called Double Threat, which aims to discover the next rapping/acting superstar. He’s also working on a movie adaption of his Tales BET series titled Tales Presents: We Made it in America, whose theme song will be the JAY-Z, Kanye West and Frank Ocean track of the same name.
“Shout out to my n-gga Hov, he gave me the record for free,” Gotti told WorldStarHipHop. “He saved me half a mil, off top! He was like, ‘Go head, kill it.’”
The 52-year-old celebrated the $300 million partnership with an emotional Instagram video on Tuesday, showing him holding back tears as he digested the staggering sum of the deal while remembering his late father.
“This is a big day for me,” he said as he finalized the paperwork. “I’m signing a deal that’s basically gonna change the lives of my family… my sons, my daughter… and I can’t help but think of Poppi, man.”
In the caption, he wrote, “I FUCKING DID IT!! Signed my deal. Can’t lie. I got a lil emotional. Thinking about Poppi. And also thinking about how me and my family grew up. No money. To this. Also thinking about my beautiful kids. I looked At them and I said YOU GUYS ARE GOOD. LOL. Just feeling very Surreal.
“And very Thankful to GOD. GOD has been holding my hand walking me too a lot of gold. I know Poppi and Vee is up there like BLESS MY BOY!! All my people. @visionaryideas is about to deliver some great content. I sold my Past. To ignite my FUTURE. Watch your boy go.”
In 2017 Irv told Ebro of Hot 97 that he always wanted to do Tv and FIlm, ” I always wanted to do the triple threat in entertainment, music, TV and Film.”
Irv Gotti is set to take over TV screens this summer with a docu-series on Murder Inc. Records and the long-awaited return of his aforementioned Tales series, airing back-to-back on BET on August 9.
Titled MURDER INC., the five-part docu-series details “the untold tale of the rise, sudden fall and redemption” of Gotti’s label, which pumped out hits from Ja Rule and Ashanti in the late ’90s and early ’00s.
The third season of Tales, meanwhile, promises a fresh round of 60-minute scripted anthologies inspired by rap records such as Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” and City Girls’ “Act Up.”
