Christ Gotta Blasts Ashanti For Denying Relationship With Irv Gotti

Chris Gotti, elder brother of the late music mogul Irv Gotti, recently addressed comments made by Ashanti regarding her relationship with Irv during her time at Murder Inc. Records. He called her recollection “disrespectful” and dismissive of the deep personal and professional history they shared.

Speaking candidly on the Let’s Keep it 100 podcast, Chris expressed frustration over Ashanti’s portrayal of her past with Irv, particularly her assertion that their involvement never amounted to a real relationship.

“She says they wasn’t in a relationship. They was in a relationship,” Chris stated. He went on to describe himself as a frequent mediator during their private conflicts, saying, “I was they therapist. Like come on now, don’t do that. But at the end of the day that’s what makes what went on with them so real.”

Chris also took issue with Ashanti’s downplaying of Irv Gotti and Murder Inc.’s contributions to her success, suggesting her rise in the music industry wouldn’t have happened the same way without Irv’s influence.

“For her to act like it ain’t Murder Inc. that made her is f**king bullsh*t or Irv made her. She had three deals before him. Like, something with y’all chemistry worked out! Respect it! That’s all. Not saying you have to talk about the ni**a, but respect the magic that was made. That’s all I said.”

“I’m not gonna let no one talk about my brother, [we’re] gonna have a problem, simple and plain. Especially someone who he made their career. Like, I was there. He made you sing records the way you sang them cause you would’ve never sang it that way if it was up to you,” he continued.

Chris’s comments were made in response to remarks Ashanti gave during her 2022 appearance on Angie Martinez’s IRL podcast, in which she addressed Irv Gotti’s earlier statements on Drink Champs. “Let’s clear this up,” Ashanti said.

“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 continued, “I think that Irv definitely has his side and his version… you may think that it’s something and the other person knows that it’s not… Irv has flat-out lied about a lot of things.”

Ashanti added that manipulation played a role in their dynamic, sharing, “He would say stuff like, ‘No one wants to record with you, nobody f**ks with you like that.’”

Despite their complicated history, Ashanti insisted she had no interest in exposing Irv’s secrets, stating, “I’m happy, I’m in a different space… I don’t play in the mud.”

The heated back-and-forth between the two camps has simmered in the wake of Gotti’s death, with Ashanti paying tribute to the Queens, N.Y., native in a public statement on social media.

Ashanti and Irv Gotti were at the heart of Murder Inc.’s meteoric rise in the early 2000s, creating hits like “Foolish” and “Happy” — tracks that dominated the charts and cemented the label’s place in Hip-Hop and R&B history.

Tragically, Irv Gotti passed away in February 2025 after reportedly suffering from a “major hemorrhagic stroke” stemming from his longstanding bout with diabetes. Gotti was 54 at the time of his death.