Speaking on Drink Champs with host N.O.R.E., the music producer, executive, and founder of Murder Inc., Irv Gotti, revealed he still eats off her music because he owns the publishing.
“Ashanti, I’m not falling for the banana in the tailpipe, I still eat off of it because I own the publishing.”
Irv Gotti said to Ashanti on the air during the interview.
He continued:
“This is exactly where we’re going. She’s been performing for 20 years; she’s never asked for her stems. She’s asking for stems because here’s what I suggest happened. She went to the studio, tried to redo Baby, Baby, Baby—you could do that, that’s where we took you from, right? But she needed the stems.”
Irv Gotti and Ashanti’s issues developed from the fact that she announced plans to re-record her self-titled debut album (2002) to gain ownership of her music, following a similar strategy to Taylor Swift. This move upset Irv Gotti, but it allows her to profit from her work instead of Murder Inc.
Ashanti wanted to re-record her old music, which she made under Murder Inc., which came off as a financial threat and betrayal to Irv Gotti, who has been earning off the stems because he owns the masters and publishing rights to all the songs recorded under Murder Inc.
He earned from streaming, sales, and licensing. If she re-recorded the old songs she did in the 2000s with Irv Gotti, fans might stream these new songs, subsequently cutting into his earnings. He explained that he perceived Ashanti was trying to play smart, given that he invested a lot in building her career.
“So she probably went to the studio and tried to recreate this and fell drastically short, with people saying, ‘That don’t sound like what they did; I need my stems.’ So you want me to give you the stems of your whole album now, after 20 years, saying you need it for shows? You wanna take my stems, crop me out of it, then remake your whole album?”
Irv Gotti lashed out at N.O.R.E.
For clarification, Ashanti left Murder Inc. in the mid-2000s due to several factors, Irv Gotti, after learning about Ashanti and Nelly’s relationship on TV and not directly from her, hurt his ego, especially since he had revealed multiple times in the media that he was having a romantic relationship with the singer while married, though Ashanti had never confirmed these allegations.
During an interview with N.O.R.E. on Drink Champs sometime back, Irv Gotti admitted he still felt hurt till that moment over his failed “romantic relationship” with Ashanti in a manner that suggested he owned her. He has spoken about Ashanti over the years in a disdainful tone on TV and in interviews, which further justifies the singer’s decision to quit.
Also, Ashanti wanted more control over her music and career, adapting to changing times and styles, which Irv Gotti was adamant about adopting. She wanted everything to work as per his desires, which further strained their working relationship.
More to that, in the early 2000s, Murder Inc. was under strict law enforcement scrutiny over money laundering ties to drug kingpin Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff. The label faced serious reputation problems, and subsequently, its relevance and credibility began fading, even though Irv Gotti and his brother were acquitted in 2005. Ashanti wasn’t ready to roll anymore under such circumstances, which contributed to one of her reasons for quitting.
Since then, she has moved on as an independent artist. She created her label, Written Entertainment, and has embraced collaborations with other artists while performing at music festivals, partaking in Verzuz battles, and building a loyal fan base who have walked with her through motherhood, the changes it has had on her, and her adventures into fashion, writing, and business.
