Rap Producer Ready To Try Again With Old Partner

[bigted]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/arts/mus...JicZIac/uDaVHvw

Producer Ready to Try Again With Old Partner

Irving Lorenzo, a k a Irv Gotti, is expected to sign a deal with Universal.

By JEFF LEEDS

Published: August 22, 2006

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 21 — In December, Irving Lorenzo had reason to think that the tumult that had sidetracked his wildly successful career as a rap entrepreneur had finally passed.

Robert Stolarik for The New York Times

“It’s like a rebirth,” said Irving Lorenzo, right, about his expected deal with Universal. Mr. Lorenzo’s cigar buddy is the rapper Ja Rule.

After a three-year federal inquiry, a jury acquitted Mr. Lorenzo of charges that he used his rap label, Murder Inc., to launder money for a convicted drug kingpin. Now Mr. Lorenzo, known professionally as Irv Gotti, was free to produce hits for any company in the business.

Almost nine months later, however, Mr. Lorenzo, 36, has found the road back full of twists, none more unexpected than his choice of partners: the same record conglomerate that severed its ties with him during the investigation and, as Mr. Lorenzo said at the time, “made a decision to destroy me.”

He was expected to sign a deal early this week that would put him back in business with Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest record corporation, which had financed Murder Inc. and distributed its recordings. The deal would make him the chief of a new profit-sharing venture with the company’s Universal/Motown label.

“It feels exhilarating,” Mr. Lorenzo said in an interview. “It’s like a rebirth. It feels like God put me through hell, showed me a lot of things, showed me who the good people and bad people are around me, and lined me up to do what I’m put here to do.”

Under the three-year deal Universal will commit roughly $10 million to Mr. Lorenzo in an advance against future profits and payments to cover overhead, said people briefed on the arrangement, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The deal also includes a provision that could allow Mr. Lorenzo to buy ownership of Murder Inc.’s master recordings, these people said.

Mr. Lorenzo returns with a roster that includes Murder Inc.’s signature acts: the rapper Ja Rule and the R&B singer Ashanti. He has also been working to resolve a contract dispute with another R&B vocalist, Lloyd. Mr. Lorenzo has been eyeing artists in other genres, and has been in talks to sign the pop-oriented singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton, who had a hit in 2002 on another Universal label.

Even with the new pact, it may prove difficult for Mr. Lorenzo to return to the platinum-selling pinnacles he reached a few years ago. Ja Rule and Ashanti have had lackluster sales with their last few albums, although Mr. Lorenzo said that was largely because of an overall decline in the music market.

While unaccustomed to the role of underdog, he said he was not concerned about competition.

“I embrace competition, because I get busy,” he said. “Certain of my peers in the business, I know that they don’t want me to succeed. They prayed for me to go to jail.”

In the early days of 2003 that seemed a distinct possibility. Federal agents raided Murder Inc.’s offices and seized bank accounts connected to the label. Investigators alleged that Mr. Lorenzo had used the label to launder drug money for a convicted dealer, Kenneth McGriff, whose gang dominated the crack trade in Jamaica, Queens, in the 1980’s.

Mr. Lorenzo denied that he had laundered money for Mr. McGriff. Instead, he said, he had legally negotiated a deal for Def Jam to put up $500,000 to co-produce a soundtrack for “Crime Partners,” a McGriff-produced film.

But even as Mr. Lorenzo proclaimed his innocence, Universal began turning a cold shoulder, he said. Universal pressed Murder Inc. to vacate its Manhattan offices, citing complaints from other tenants in the building, and certain high-ranking executives would no longer take his calls, Mr. Lorenzo said.

After Mr. Lorenzo and his brother, Christopher, were indicted in early 2005, the relationship with Universal foundered. Universal tightened its purse strings, and within months it moved to end its partnership with Mr. Lorenzo.

But then, he had his day in court — and won.

Within days of his acquittal, he was meeting with prospective partners that could help finance his label’s revival. Many expected him to sign with Warner Music Group, whose executive ranks are filled with Mr. Lorenzo’s former associates from Def Jam, the Universal label that marketed and promoted Murder Inc. releases.

[Turntable]

Now that The Inc cleared the legal problems, this might be not bad. Its not like they go back to Def Jam. I think it could be nice, caus the signed some new guys, including a R&B singer called Boxie and a New Yorker Talent called "The Gift". He has big potencial. He`s like those other guys, Papoose and Maino and them. I recently heard a Track on his MySapce, called "Junies Song". On that song he is the voice of a deaf kid, called Junie. Very deep stuff. You can check it out here, if you want http://myspace.com/giftmusic

Edited August 22, 2006 by Turntable

[Turntable]

The deal would make him the chief of a new profit-sharing venture with the company’s Universal/Motown label.

So than Irv Gotti doesnt only co-own The Inc, but he`s also the new president of Mowtown? That means guys like Nick Cannon will be artists of Irv "Murda" Gotti? :rofl: