Following an interview in which Irv Gotti, founder of The Inc, may have alluded to former the Inc artist Ashanti being disloyal, the Long Island songstress has come forward to share her side of the story.
Before sharing her thoughts on the matter during an interview with Hot 97 this week, Ashanti first revealed that there is no beef between herself and Irv Gotti and she only wants to “set the record straight.”
“Me and Irv we are—there’s no beef,” said Ashanti. “There’s definitely no beef. But for me again, just me talking about my movement and being brave and Braveheart and kinda just revealing a little bit more of myself at this point in my career. I feel like Irv kinda paints a picture of what happened with me and Murder Inc, very one-sided. You know, I hear him a lot talk about ‘Oh, she’s disloyal. Oh, she didn’t throw up the M’s. Oh, she didn’t do this and that.’ And I feel like it’s time to kinda set the record straight on what it really is.”
The singer went on to explain that she stayed silent when Irv Gotti spoke out against her because of all the ill occurrences surrounding both Gotti and The Inc, including an investigation by the Feds and a feud with Queens rapper 50 Cent.
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“Regardless, I’mma always have love for Irv, regardless. We’ve made history together,” she said. “Our chemistry together in the studio is amazing, but I’m not gonna sit here and let the picture be painted one-side anymore. You know what I mean? Cause I feel like, I’m like ‘Alright, I’m cool.’ Irv was hurt through a lot of the situations because there was a lot of things that happened and a lot of things that went on, so I kinda just stayed silent. But now I just feel like when I hear the interviews and he’s going on about being disloyal. I gotta just make it duly noted that’s not what it was.”
Ashanti recalled one particular incident where Gotti informed her to not come to the studio and instead record with Nelly, a rapper the singer has dated on and off for nearly a decade.
“I remember specifically him being like ‘Well, maybe you shouldn’t come to the studio. You over there with Nelly…Go record over there,’” said Ashanti. “You know what I mean? So, for him to put out there like ‘Oh, I’m just so disloyal and I didn’t throw up the M’s and I didn’t hold it down.’ That’s not what happened at all…It was just tough after that dialogue. It was like ‘What do you mean? So, what am I supposed to do?’ It’s causing friction and it all comes out of we were in a great space. Everyone was making records and making money and traveling and then the Feds and 50 and this whole black cloud. And everyone—it just made it really complicated for everyone.”
In a recent interview with Hot 97, both Ja Rule and Gotti spoke on their relationship with Ashanti. Gotti revealed that he still has love for the former The Inc chanteuse, but was unsure if Ashanti is dedicated enough to work with them again.
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“The bottom line with Ashanti is I love Ashanti,” said Irv Gotti during his interview in September. “You know what I’m saying? And so, when you love somebody when they do things that you may not agree with, you react differently. But it’s only because I love that girl. We did something…We over here throwing those M’s up til we die. You know what I’m saying? I don’t know if she wants to do that.”
