Wednesday 27 September 2017

"Whenever it's Tha Row & Murder Inc, it's a deal when we link!"

Before G-Unit came pwnin' and the cops came runnin', there was a brief alliance between Irv Gotti's Murder Inc Records and Suge Knight's Tha Row Records where both labels planned to form like Voltron with Rap-A-Lot's J. Prince and create hip hop's first black-owned distribution network. 'Twas a grand vision doomed to fail, but there were a few random cross-label Inc/Row collaborations before shit fell apart, the most notable being the Baby remix where Crooked I played a Bit of Rough to Ashanti's Hot Stuff.

Ashanti ft. Crooked I - Baby (Remix)
(From Irv Gotti Presents The Remixes compilation; 2002)



Not a patch on the O.G Ashanti solo version, but still the only R&B video to feature a cameo from Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff - yet another reason why Ashanti is more important to The Culture™ than Beyonce.

7 comments:

Ruben said...

Irv's muggy brother haha

Anonymous said...

You got any Murder Inc gems? I couldn't name a Ja Rule song to safe my life. But as big as they were, you'd think there would have been a coupla tunes worth notice

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Thug Luvin' with Bobby Brown was the best song Ja ever did. Far better than his early hardcore shit or any of his huge pop singles like Livin' It Up.

Murder Inc was all about Ashanti for me. First album is a bonafide classic.

step one said...

Agree on Thug Lovin. Would also add New York but that's mostly down to Jadakiss and Fat Joe being on it.

Andrew Barber said...

Cadillac Tah feat. Althea - I Got'cha Ma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htQlabWOces

Cadillac Tah - Pov City Anthem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVj_nsoQo4I

The Murderers - When Shit Get Ugly (first time Ja dissed 50 on record)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1u1Hko-5AE

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Of course Drew knows the Murder Inc deep cuts 👏

Andrew Barber said...

also can't forget about "ride with us," a BET Uncut fixture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIYNqeDWtBc