Record executive Irv Gotti once nurtured the careers of R&B stars Ashanti and Lloyd, but after the two singers left his former Murder Inc. label, things went south between Gotti and his former protégés. During a recent visit to MTV’s “RapFix Live,” Gotti explained that although things are now fine between him and Ashanti, there is “no love” or respect between he and Lloyd, after the singer bashed him following the amicable split.
“Ashanti’ s cool. Ashanti’s one thing. Me and her had our little thing and it is what it is. She’s not as bad as Lloyd,” Gotti explained to host Sway Calloway. “Lloyd, I have no love for. Because here’s a person that I helped out. The minute he left, I let you go. You wanted to leave, I let you go. And you gon’ say, ‘Well Gotti did this and Gotti did that.’
“N—a, you went platinum with Gotti. You went gold with Gotti, you went platinum with Gotti. What you doing now with Interscope? What’d you sell, like 15 units?” said Gotti. I’m not saying to pay homage to me. But don’t s–t on me. I let you go! You wanted to be your own man or whatever, get outta here. He could walk past me, he get hit by a car. I’d be like, ‘Oh word? He got hit by a car? Yo BJ, let’s go get something to eat.’ ”
During the interview, Gotti also spoke of the legendary feud between rap icons Jay-Z and Nas and said that, looking back, he regrets siding with Nas instead of Jay, whom he had a close friendship with.
“I shouldn’t have did that with Nas. It was a mistake. Because above and beyond the music, Hov is my man. In front of MTV, I would shed blood for Hov. If I see Hov, I will get right in the mix of things,” he continued. “I should never have done that. But he knew it. He’s one of the smartest dudes, and he knew it. He said, ‘that’s ambition.’ I said, ‘yeah. If it means me going in them history books, I don’t care. I’m weird like that. That’s how bad I want it.’ ” – nicholas robinson
