Chris Gotti shares Unheard Stories of Murder Inc., What Makes Someone an Outlier & More

It's pot on the five point one. Baby, Chris Gott he's in the building today. You know, it's so crazy. As I know Chris for many many years. Yes, yes, you have many many time.

You've had many titles and endeavors, a lot of endeavors.

It's like, so I would they gave me this shit? I was like, this is not even half of it. And then I was like, I looked.

At your because you know, when you know people, sometimes you don't look at their.

Yeah you're just yet or I'm sure you've never bruggled me.

No, I never did.

And you know what's crazy, that's part of my like something that me personally I'm fifty seven now, Like I don't never google anyone and everyone.

Googles each other.

Yeah, that's part of me being an old school Like I just never I just take people for who they they are, and if they, you know, show me something or someone tells me, then I'm like, oh, let me go take a look.

But I never look at someone's uh google. I never google them and see what they've done.

You always had the same demeanor, You've always been, like, I hope that's a good thing.

You always around, I know, but you've always been like thorough and the same.

I've never I've never coming come across you, and you've been a different person like you always.

I only know one way.

Yeah, but you know that's not a small thing.

No, it's a big thing.

It's not a small thing because we don't come across that a lot in this industry, just people in general. You don't see that a lot of emotions and ups and downs. I try to say, what's.

The word.

That's good?

By the way, I always thought that you and your brother were Spanish when I first met you first of all, dot and you you could pass Puerto Rican, you could pass.

Put me everywhere on my Wikipedia. I think they have me as Dominican. No way put it up there. Yeah, you know again, people could add things in your Wikipedia.

I leave they have me as a Dominican, and.

Here it says nationality American.

Okay, what is an American? I don't know.

I guess black American? Right are you mixed?

Your mixed with? It's black?

And my dad was a Filipino in Trinidadian. He's a training boy.

Got I gotta got it.

So then when you look it up, it's, uh, why did I go to Earth right away. Higher they have you as a renowned American record producer and co founder of Murder Inc.

If they say, so, where you a co founder again? You know this is funny. Yeah, with everything going on, me and Earth had a disagreement about it one time.

Let's say he got my mom involved.

Sucker shit.

Yeah, it was waiting like, wait a minute, man, Mom is calling me, Like, Chris, why'd you say that?

Dad?

Twine was doing an interview with me when I started Adventure Music, and he wrote co founder of my n But I didn't tell him that. He googled it just like you just read it. Yeah, and that's where it is everywhere. If we went to the history of how Murder Ink started, you could not help but put me inside it because I ran Top Dog Productions.

IRV didn't tell me, Hey, I'm going to start a record label. Now. I give her all.

Credit for being the founder of it, but the reality is he never tells the story of how he became. IRV just wanted to be the biggest producer in the game.

I started.

There was one producer, a little Rob what up Rob? And he was the one that was our main producer. But he made quality not quantity. So if he did four beats, I sold three for sure. But I couldn't get it, you know, And I was like, IRV, I need more beats. And all I told IRV was I'm gonna go get more producers. He was like, I'm not taking less than five thousand a beat, no problem. And

It was selling his beats.

I was bringing the producers, that was making the co producing with EARV. I'm selling it to all the artists, cashing the price up.

IRV wasn't. That was me. That was my job.

And because we sold so many beats and so many hit records, Tom had told the officer of a record deal.

Got it.

So that's how it wasn't like he went to Sony said hey, give me a record deal.

So when you go through it in there, of course, but.

I never said listen, I know I'm standing here and I will sit there and say IRV was a founder, Yeah, right, and that was it. I never went out and ever said I'm the co founder of murder Ring. I never did that. I'm not an eagle guy like you said. My energy is the same. I never went and tried to tell you all my accomplishments of what I did or didn't do inside of that.

Whole How are you and your brothers so different?

And I raised them and I raised them, but I'm gonna tell you the difference to me was we was basically identical. And then success, money, the industry, he loves that, he loves the industry has a way.

Of affecting you. How did you stay grounded?

It was probably a moment in time you caught that, Angie, my team is like you know what I'm saying, and it's that everyone running to you when probably thought at one time he might have been the alpha and Omega right, and you know him very well so, but that's part of a combination of success power, money, street power like that that that energy and not being able to say hear no from someone he thought he could control everything at one point, and you know, there's nothing wrong with that,

You start believing it.

You know, you know, as human beings, as we evolved, I'm fifty seven, we evolved with different Now I understand life totally different, and it's all good.

It's a blessing. Like I never thought i'd make twenty five.

So here I'm in fifty seven with grandkids and come on, I never think new ventures, new ventures. Yeah, blessed, just blessed. Like again, people always ask me about old energy or beefs. I said, I don't even have beats because anything I did back then, I was gonna say.

That about you.

I don't even remember you.

I just feel like it was.

Even through even well I wasn't, but that's.

Great from the outside. It was from the outside.

My whole thing was really I did it as for my man or my family, which was a really job.

It wasn't about nothing else.

So it was like, I have no energy or negative vibes about it, and I wish everybody the most success. I'm very different from let's say, you might hear from an earth like I'm different from that because I don't think it means anything. And uh, you know, I did a lot of work. I put a lot of work in, but it means not. I did it for Jah. Joh, shout out, y'all rule. That's my that's my brother, just like IRV is my brother. Jah is my brother. So in that moment, it is what it is. Right, it

But it's a lot of funny stuff going on today.

It's so weird.

It's fascinating to it's you know what, it's weird because a lot of people and I didn't even plan to talk to you about this, but because you've been here so long, it's like, I don't know.

There is so much.

That it's happened to the culture, and if you love it, some of it is like, Okay, I get it. Because times are different and people are paying prices for things. Maybe they did or didn't do, or just the temperament of things, but also when you look at the overall culture, like, to me, it's just sad.

You should do a documentary. It's you.

By the way, this is the second time somebody said this.

And you know, I do movies. I got a movie coming up.

Stevenson's already done.

But at the end of the day, you you interviewed, you're the voice of all of this, like you're the post like you cannot that's funny.

What did IRV used to say? He had a name for me for that.

You're the fabric of it, right, because we all had to go inside and talk to Angie about what we was doing and like, not me personally, I'm not the artist, but behind the scenes, like we have to get an Angie mar teams, That's what I'm telling them.

Like, so I understand that. And then it just happened. I don't know how it happened, but you became.

That and that's something that every artist had to pass through in that era, even to this day, like you're still here and they have to come in.

It's a little different. It's not the it's a little different.

There's just so many places to do it now, so I don't you know, it's different.

I'm totally okay with that, but I don't want to do them all. But I don't want to do it. We have a big platform, so a platform.

I still very much value my voice, my platform, I you know whatever.

Respect like you're respected and that meant everything.

Thank you.

But in no means am I trying to am my ever trying to be in that space.

You know what I'm saying, like own the everybody got to come here to see me. Yeah, I'm not. I have no interest in and I did. I did that. I had that at that moment. I had that moment that I said, and that comes with that.

And probably if you asked me, like what am I most proud of it myself? Is that I didn't lose it in that moment.

Yes.

When I say lose it I mean myself.

I know exactly what you mean, because.

It's almost like the reality of that, that that ego that we all have or not. Like I always tell people I don't have an ego, so it doesn't matter, But.

Is that true?

Yeah? Very true?

How do you not have an ego?

You know?

I'm coming from very humble beginnings, and I never looked at anyone. I'm the guy that always helped everybody around me. I built a instruction company, took my whole hood and had him working for me, did millions of dollars with that, and I mean so many different businesses. I look at myself as just a serial entrepreneur. I just chase the dream and I feel that energy when I do it. Like just like I'm twenty five again, So.

You're doing that at twenty five. Then your brother does this massive thing or murder Inc.

There was no like and I know you're a part of it too, but like I built murder Inc.

Like again, I have no problem with whatever you want to talk about it because people may not have ever heard me speak about it.

But the reality is I built murder Inc.

Earth couldn't do what he did without me because I took care of that infrastructure. He's out making the records, and then I'm supplying all of the artists right and the music with the producers. So how do you take that away?

Does it get so mad when you say that?

I don't think so. I don't think how could you be mad at reality? And it's my brother? Like someone like I say. When I say I raised him, I don't say that in a respect way. I used to fight two guys to make Earth watch me.

That's me. I wouldn't let my.

Little brother following my footsteps, if that makes sense. I was doing things in the street I didn't want her to know about. You know, he doesn't know how I did a lot of things or how things was there. But I never told him. I didn't want them to see me in that light. Like I am my brother's keeper in every sense of the word. And you know, one of the crazy things is because I did that. As we got older, I said, man, you would never called me to say, hey, we going to the club,

It was like, damn, man, you called me, I got to deal with something, right.

He's and after the years build up, it's like, because we're from a big family, you.

Know that you have a great family.

Thank you.

Eight of us, and irbe the last of the eight. I'm number seven. So me and him were the closest out of everybody.

Are you still close now?

Yeah, of course, that's my brother.

Some people are brothers are not close.

You know what I did? Do you know?

I just as far as business, he went and started doing movies and stuff.

And I just told you I do movies too. I have that.

And it's because for some reason, whatever he did, everyone will call me. So when he announces he's doing TV and movies, I'm getting all these investors, these scripts. And I didn't ask for that, but when I see it and I tell herv Hey, but when you start something, you have your own vision of what you're doing. It's very hard to put other people in front of your own vision. So he's working doing what he's doing, and I'm like, you don't want it, and then I said, all right, I'll do it.

And then that's how everything kind of went.

It's really weird because I didn't plan on it, but it's just how it works.

How do you manage when things are not so positive?

I've always been the cooler head. If you ever watched The Godfather, they always say there was a lawyer Tom. Yeah, Tom, you're out Tom, because he was an a war time can'tist the aary because when you're in war or any turbulence and that's not just street. I'm talking about even relationship and things of that nature.

Business. I looked at it as war.

You walked in my office, it was signs of raping pillage on the wall. But it wasn't for me. It was what I felt deaf jam or universe was trying to do to us.

And I had to be mindful of it.

So mentally, I was always preparing to keep everything that even keel. So when a job comes in with that energy, you know, those guys are balls and energy, like ah, I'm kind of giving them the reality of rationale to kind of keep it even killed. And I think it worked for the most part.

You're still here, man, I'm still here. You're still here and doing incredible things, doing incredible things. You always got a new venture. You always got a new something going on, really fascinating. I mean I've seen it too, you would do. I remember when you were managing Phil.

Still that's my gut, Come on, three years, I feel you know, Phil just had a baby girl. Yeah, poker champion, he's the best in the poker icon, best poker player in the world. Anyone disagrees, bring at least a half a million or better and we can sit and figure it out.

Almost beating him in cards one time.

Yeah, you know that's funny because my mother beat him and she did. We played like a little house tournament.

Do you know how how good it fields of saying I beat phil Ivy and she tells him, don't worry Phil, I'm not going to tell nobody.

I was.

I was there.

We were playing spades, were playing the way we were playing spades, and I was like, I was there.

I was like, I was like eight books up. I was eight books up. We was on the last hand. I was like, oh ship, I'm.

About to tell everybody I beat phil Ivy cards. Phil Ivy says blind ten. I was like, oh, phil why does phil Ivy pulls off of blind ten and.

Beats in spade? It's funny. I think he has a deal with somebody.

I don't know what I said, somebody right with you. That's not possible. But so he took it. He took that moment away from me in their career.

Let me ask you questions that you bring Philip, because I always look at him as different. Do you notice from an artist's standpoint, their artist street, the way they move around that they're just not no, more or different in a great standpoint, like what do you mean better

A different.

So you've been.

Around it, see and I seen it and I identified and I always look. I always tell people I could identify outliers. He's an outlier, outliers of people that stand apart from everybody else. Phil Ivey's absolutely an outlier.

Who else man.

Irv Gotti outlier?

No, No, in THEA people say that's your brother. I know he's one of one. He's different, And until you see or have enough people to judge, you can't judge.

How about that?

That's why I'm asking you, because you had enough body of people to say, No, he was different. Kanye West different, outlier, like unbelievable even if for real, different, absolutely absolutely different outliers. You know what I'm saying, it's in a I mean, it's not compared to the amount of people. It's not like I can name everyone because there I look at a lot of them and say, regular regular, you know, but.

Did well, did great, over achieved, hard.

Work, hard workers, talented, right opportunity, right space, even talented something talented because to do what they do. But at the end of the day, regularly, they're normal.

They're normal. I do, I do.

I do judge everyone in that space, well, even myself.

I'm not.

I'm a different type. I'm not an outliering the sense of a celebrity. I'm an outlier and sense of ideas and building, creating. I mean, I don't see anyone when I get next to these executives.

That's the other thing.

I'm gonna shout out every music exec in the industry because when I changed professions and left that and went into corporate America, hedge funds, insurance, those executives are far less aggressive, flexible to change and make a decision on the fly.

The speed of what they do.

I just went through a whole issue before I got on here, and I'm looking at these guys like, what are you making a decisions so long?

Takes so long for push the button. J That's what I told them.

And jay Z made a record and he said impossible to difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week.

And that's how I felt.

All of the best music execs operated, we will figure it out quick quick and really do a great job at it.

And I don't see that in many of these exacts. So to me, that's my advantage.

I know, But what is the grooming like execs? Where where are execs coming from?

And music was.

Always under pressure on the budgets and timing and dates, where these corporations have different pressure and the money is usually a lot more so they don't have that pressure of that.

We was pressure like if you don't you won't eat. You want to we want to eat, you want to eat better? Get this right?

So it was from under a different stress or scope. And there's nothing I feel I can't do. I say, I mean, I didn't go to but high school and it took me five years of that because.

I didn't go to one year, I didn't go a whole year.

But how did you learn all this?

I'm a student. I'm a student of people.

Who have you learned the most from of all the artists?

Wow, it's really a culmination of everybody. So it depends which one from the lower levels. I can say I learned from like murder Mook from a rapper and what they needs are. Then you go all the way up from anywhere in between. Again, a Jaar Rule, who changed his entire career, was a student. Just think he didn't start off how he started, I mean where he ended making those records. Who has his fingerprint on the entire industry.

They're playing a Jaru record on Z one hundred. We're like, that's great.

We're very ignorant, right, we didn't pay for it, we didn't call to get it played. So Leo comes in next, we have to hire a whole staff, So just put it in business. Since now that we are way more educated than back then, they hired a whole pop division for a rap label that never was done before.

What is that worth today?

Because that's what changed the entire game. And that guy that was hired is Ken Lane. Shout out Ken Lane. See I know all of this. You can't deny me the truth, right, you can't hide from it. Even if you want to write the books differently, you can't.

We lived it. What's that worth? Though?

For deaf jam or Universal? There's a guy, Edgar Brofman Jr. Who bought Universal. I love these stories because people don't know them, even yourself, Like Edgar Brofren bought Universal. He's the reason we got a deal for Murder Inc. Because Tommy TOLDA had the biggest deal on the table, and Lee was like, my job is to keep talent at the lowest cost. I can't match their deal, which is complete bs. Right, But you know, shout out Lee or you know he's running his ship. And again I understand

They don't beat it.

They so Edgar Brofford Jr.

Credits the saving of his family empire at the time because I forget the number exactly. It was two points something. He bought it for two point something billion. It was going down to nothing. And Murder Inc enters the building brings in Rockefeller Rough Fridays, Murder Inc.

And everything under.

Those brands, because that's how executives get credited, right, All of that's underneath hers and myself's name as executives.

Takes off Murder Inc.

Started getting radio everywhere because of the record that I talked with Ken Lane played everywhere. Those favors, as you would know, radio, we used to do favors for those plays to do their shows and things of that nature. Okay, great, but who got the favor Nelly Ludacris.

They're taking Ja Rule's favors.

We were supposed to break Black Child, Caddy Ivida Charlie, but those favors were being used for radio in airsplay, which is the absolute way artists was broken at that time. So imagine that that's what happened. And then they cooperated with the government against the government, against me and my brother in Universal Death Jam all of them. See in hindsight, it's twenty twenty, right, we noticed this isn't a secret anymore.

They stopped paying us everything. All of this was part of what.

We was going through. And as men, we didn't go out yelling and screaming. We was like, we didn't understand it.

We find out later that they had problems.

Is that on the record that they cooperated, is that like known? Of course, of course it feels like so long ago, and I was not planning to talk.

About Well.

It's I know, but it's so interesting it is, and it's never really been told that way because it's never been told according to my way of how I see it from the business standpoint.

Yeah, for sure.

See when you're when you're.

Inside of it, like an herb or Ja rule, it's a different you're in the fire, it's different for you. And that's what I keep telling Nerve, like it was different the things I went through an experience. I'm watching how people treated you and you didn't see it, but I seen it all from the side, and it's just what it is. It's almost like a bodyguard, right, they see something transpiring before you actually get to you, and

You tell me, are you gonna do like a book or a vibe like a like a doctor.

You know, I'm gonna keep it all the way one hundred and you asked me that I would do a book. I don't want to offend some people. Because I would offend some people and I really don't care, but I do. I don't care, and I do care, if that makes sense, because that's not of my that's not that's not me. I could have told stories. I've been offers six figure deals for books and I turned them all down because I didn't feel like putting people's business on the street.

The Murder Inc.

Documentary, as much as I liked it, it's so many things missing, for sure, and no one could tell that story because I'm the one that did it or was experienced, that had the absolute one to one knowledge of it, and it was never told. And when when I seen it, I was a little disappointed, if that makes sense, because there's no way I shouldn't have been executive producer or consultant minimum on the dock of Murder Inc.

It's like impossible.

When you talk about the trial, I did the trial or did not do the trial.

When I say that he showed up to.

Court, he did not go to the motion hearings and all the meetings I went to everyone.

Why, Because I want to know what's going on. How can I help my lawyer know what's going on.

I'm the one that's involved and he doesn't have a clue.

So I had to be there and I tell anyone in the trial.

I hope everyone's listening. I promise you, especially a federal trial, they're very calculated in how they move. You better be the one if it's your trial against you to talk to your lawyer and really trust that lawyer you have for complete transparency. That's the only way they could protect you to the letter of the law. If you leave out anything, you'll get blindsided by it.

I think you have to do a movie or something something I would watch. I would go see a guy.

Yeah, Chris Gott Chris Gotti's version, Chris Spooky.

I would love that.

All Right, we're gonna run out of time, and we didn't get to talk about the important thing.

We cannot talk about the important thing TV. It's important, man, this is a new venture that we have again. I've got street bawl.

Yes, I've been in street ball culture for well over man forty plus years.

Wow.

Dealing with Rucker Park to Dykeman, I helped Ruck and Greg God bless the dead. Greg passed away and I used to help him. Fat Joe my commissioner for Clash TV. He's part of this with me. Baron Davis Ambassador is part of it. Kendrick Perkins Ambassador. So I went and got some really good names that are part of this streetball culture and I started live streaming across the you know the country, put it on an app on YouTube.

You could go see everything.

And what it does is now give a place for all these street balls that don't have an opportunity, a way to actually now be part of something and make money. So we're starting a pro league. It's called CPL Clash Pro League. It'll be live streamed on Clash TV and on our network. And basically what that is is, for the first time ever, I'm giving money to all.

The players in streetball. We have a combine.

I mean, I'm so excited about This is a passion project because this is something that I loved and helped for over forty years and did it for no money and helped parks make millions of dollars over the court of the years. Dykeman Park Ken Stevens again.

The number one park in the country.

I been part of that for well over fifteen years, helping them develop that and now Clash we live stream all the best parks across throughout the city and over into Miami. We do the Miami Pro League, We do the Drew League, the Crossover League in Seattle. We have leagues in Houston and then Dallas, Atlanta, Philadelphia. Like it's bigger than New York. But what I'm doing is I'm starting a pro league in New York where I'm teaking

UCIT colleges are crazy.

So every year there's a pool of players, and there's a pool of players that have nowhere to go and talented and super talented, and now they have a place to go.

So we're having a combine on the thirteenth.

You can go right thirteenth October thirteenth, You can.

Go right to Clash TV sign up, fill out the form and put in your application to be in this combine and then there's eight coaches that I have selected for this already, and then we'll be We're gonna build this league up and have it in every city or that I just mentioned and more from LA because there's a pool of plays. It's simply supplying demand in business, right. There is a supply of all of these players in

And that's always a challenge.

But that's the fun part because I'm building it from scratch, never been done, and that's what.

Clash Pro League is about. Clash TV is the network that you'll see it.

On and it's just starting now, just starting this summer.

Fresh the press all right, so go to clashtv dot com. No, just go to clash dot tv, dot TV, Clash dot TV, clash Instagram.

All the social media's is clash TV one. That's it.

You go in there and you'll see exactly what we're doing. The link is in the bio for the pro league and you can get everything you need.

Right.

Yeah, I'm telling you got to come out. I would love I would love if Angie Martinez showed up seeing what's going on and interviewed some of the players like a sports now it's like, you know.

An interview.

We can figure something.

I would love it.

On the thirteenth and so on a Sunday. We play every Sunday, every Sunday, every Sunday. The gym is located in Harlem. It's four forty one Manhattan Avenue on one hundred and nineteenth Street, and again every Sunday until December fifteenth. Amazing, right, well you know where to go. Clash TV one time, but the amazing Chris Gotti

Man and Angie thank you for having me anytime.