JAY-Z is said to have aligned with 50 Cent to spite Irv Gotti after he attempted to sign Nas to Murda Inc. at the height of Jay and Esco’s infamous beef, according to Chris Gotti.
Speaking on an episode of Trappin Anonymous, Irv’s older brother recalled the time Murder Inc. made a play for Nas and how it affected their standing with Hov.
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“We call Jay and go to Baseline Studios and Irv say, ‘It’s good business. We gon’ make a lot of money.’ Jay looking at the n-gga like, ‘You my n-gga and you want to fuck with my enemy?’ And I’m looking at Irv like, ‘What, are you crazy? You crazy.’
“Irv is only thinking business. [Irv] said, ‘Y’all don’t really got no beef.’ Jay said, ‘You right.’ Irv turned to me and said, ‘I told you.’ I’m looking at Irv like, ‘He’s just saying that!'”
The Roc-A-Fella mogul then went on to stand next to 50 Cent — who to this day has been embroiled in a longstanding feud with Ja Rule, Irv Gotti and Murder Inc. for years — as they joined forces for a 2003 Roc The Mic Tour and starred alongside each other in a Reebok commercial promoting their new sneaker lines.
Chris Gotti alleged that Jay used one of Irv’s lines against him in a slick, cold-blooded fashion. “What did Jay do? He went on tour with 50 Cent, he did a sneaker with 50 Cent, they doing commercials with 50 Cent. Then [JAY-Z] came back to Irv and said, ‘It’s good business,'” Gotti recalled.
For a short period of time in 2002, Nas did in fact align with Murder Inc. The Queensbridge legend performed with Ja Rule and Ashanti at the MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. Nas also hopped on Ja Rule and Ashanti’s “The Pledge” remix.
“2003, Nas and Murder Inc., y’all. It’s going down in 2003 baby. It’s Murder, Ill Will,” Nas told the crowd, according to Andrew Barber writing for VICE at the time.
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Looking back on crossing Jay to try to sign Nas, Irv Gotti recently admitted it was one of the two biggest regrets of his career. “You know, Nas, I got love for Nas, but I should’ve never fucked with him because me and JAY-Z was brothers,” Gotti told HipHopDX last year.
