The passing of Irv Gotti has many people reflecting on the legacy he left behind and the people he had relationships with. Since we already covered his longtime feud with 50 Cent, it’s only right that we revisit his complicated relationship with Ashanti.
Early working relationship
Ashanti’s professional history with Gotti is well documented. She signed to Murder Inc. Records in 2002 after being featured on several hit songs, including Fat Joe’s “What’s Luv?” and Ja Rules’ “Always on Time.”
Her debut studio album under Murder Inc., “Foolish,” was a smash hit that sold millions of records and took home the Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album in 2003.
She released four more studio albums under Murder Inc. before she was dropped from the label in 2009. During an interview with MTV News, he said, “The relationship has run its course. The chemistry of what’s needed — we’re in two totally different places.”
While it was rumored that her relationship with Gotti was more than just professional, it was kept under wraps for the most part until 2022, when Gotti revealed all.
Gotti spills the tea
During an August 2022 appearance on “Drink Champs,” Gotti shared that after the duo finished recording the song “Happy,” they had sex and continued having a romantic relationship. He even admitted that when he first saw Ashanti together with Nelly on TV in 2005, it frustrated him.
Mind you, this is all while he was married to his then-wife, Debbie Lorenzo.
Gotti went into even deeper detail about his relationship with Ashanti during the BET docuseries, “The Murder Inc. Story.”
In one episode, he said, “I’m separated from [my wife] Deb, I’m on my own. And Ashanti’s coming to the studio every day, and our friendship and bond is naturally growing. She used to wear these juicy sweats, and her a** was looking fat. Her a** was looking great.”
He continued, “One day, I was like, ‘Yo, I’ll take you home.’ She said, ‘Bet, cool.’ We are walking to her front door of her crib. She turns and says goodbye, and I just kiss her and grab her a** and just, ‘Mwah.’ It was like, ‘What took you so long?’”
Ashanti fires back
Ashanti later responded to Gotti’s media masquerade, during an October 2022 appearance on Angie Martinez’s “IRL Podcast,” saying, “Let’s clear this up. We’re not gonna say relationship. We dealt with each other, but was Irv my boyfriend? Was I his girlfriend? Never … Irv had several girlfriends, so I’m a little confused by the label and the description.”
She later added, “I definitely feel like manipulation played a heavy part into me and Irv’s situation. He would say stuff like, ‘No one wants to record with you, nobody f*cks with you like that.’ On one hand, he would make it feel like family-family-family, and on the other hand, he would tell me, ‘Nobody even likes you.’”
Ashanti claimed that Gotti would constantly tell her that he made her “f**kable.”
Ashanti speaks on Gotti’s death
The two haven’t said much about each other in the years since. But after Gotti’s death, Ashanti paid tribute to the music exec in an Instagram post on Friday.
The caption read, “I can’t believe things ended like this….and it makes me so sad…We weren’t on the best terms the past few years but as I’ve always said, through our ups and downs I will forever be grateful for everything that you’ve done for me. We made history and that will remain infinite..’