‘Absolutely legendary': New Yorkers reflect on Irv Gotti's local roots

Yahoo

07-02-2025

HOLLIS, Queens (PIX11) — Such well-known figures as Jennifer Lopez, JayZ, DMX, and Ashanti are not only household names because they were catapulted to fame by hip-hop mogul Irv Gotti.
They were also local, New York talents that Gotti found close to home, intentionally, and then developed them as worldwide brands.
More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State
Gotti's strategy of recruiting from a geographic radius centered around his home neighborhood in Queens was being lauded by his many admirers both at home and abroad, following his passing.
One example of Irv Gotti's reach was evident at a local sound recording institution near the neighborhood where he grew up, at VP Records, in Jamaica, Queens.
The store's manager, Ramon Jones, said that he was born and raised in rural Jamaica — the Caribbean country. Still, he said, as he grew up, he knew and listened to artists produced by Gotti and his record label, Murder, Inc., which Gotti founded with his brother, Chris.
'Love the music, and the production, and the work ethic,' said Jones.
The store he manages is half a mile from Hollis, Queens, where Irv Gotti grew up. As a DJ there, starting in his teens, Gotti sought out artists who'd come into his social and cultural orbit, and over time, he figured out how to make them big.
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Tarsha Jones, the radio and television personality known as Miss Jones, summed up Gotti's approach.
'One concept,' she said, in an interview, 'and he believed in it — local, homegrown talent.'
Miss Jones knew Irv Gotti, and still interacts with artists he had produced. His impact, Jones said, is enduring.
'The truth is that the talent and the songs were right for that time,' she said. 'It's timeless music. We're still playing it today.'
That was the case at an insurance office in Hollis on Thursday, near the corner of Jamaica Avenue and Francis Lewis Boulevard.
There, office staffers Yaneke Arrington and Shana Heath Prophete were busy at work, but on Thursday they curated their background music to serve as a tribute to the fallen impresario from their neighborhood.
'We were playing the 90s R&B hits, and hip hop records and stuff,' Heath Prophete said. They were well aware that many of the songs that they'd chosen to pipe into their office were produced by Irv Gotti, who they said is gone, but by no means forgotten.
'Too young, yes, too young,.' said Arrington. Gotti was 54 years old.
It's a loss that the women, who said that neighbors and friends tell stories about many encounters with Gotti over the years in the community, felt personally.
'Absolutely legendary,' Heath Prophete said about her hero. 'It cannot be denied the impact he had on music.'
Gotti's family has not provided a cause of death. He had been open about having cardiac issues in relation to diabetes. The family is now planning his memorial service and funeral.
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