Irv Gotti, Famous Hip-Hop Music Operation, Die

Irv Gotti, a music director who co-founded Murder Inc. posts and built a hip-hop empire that produced some of the biggest rap and R&B albums around the early 21st century has died.

His death was confirmed late Wednesday in a declaration by Murder Inc.’s parent company, Def Jam Recordings, where he also worked as a performer. The statement did not give a cause of death or said when or where he was dead.

His record label, which he created with his brother Christopher Gotti in New York City, became prominent in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It started careers for several commercially successful actions, including the rapper yes -rule and the R&B singer Ashanti.

Mr. Gotti was born Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. In Queens. He fought for legal challenges that shook the hip-hop industry in the early 2000s. In 2005, he was found not guilty of federal charges of money laundering for a convicted drug leader, Kenneth McGriff.

A list of survivors was not immediately available.

A full obituary follows.