Irv Gotti, a music producer and founder of an influential rap label, has died, Def Jam Recordings said. Gotti was best known as the head of Murder Inc. Records, an imprint of Def Jam that signed chart-topping artists like Ja Rule and Ashanti in the 90s and 2000s.

Irv Gotti, the producer and music industry mogul who launched the careers of Ja Rule and Ashanti, has died at the age of 54, according to the Hollywood Reporter and sources close to the situation. A cause of death has not been confirmed,