Irv Gotti quoted Jay-Z while discussing the infamous 2003 FBI raid on the office of Murder Inc. during a recent interview with HipHopDX. The comments come after the premiere of the new BET docu-series The Murder Inc. Story.
When asked about how he recovered from the impact of the money laundering charges, of which he was later exonerated, Gotti explained: “You got to be smart. And the other thing, to anyone who’s listening, is you got to have an unwavering belief in yourself. My goddaughter Ricky, she’s like, ‘You always win, you always winning,’ and I’m like, ‘Ricky, you don’t see the thousand no’s because I don’t wear it.’ I don’t show it. You just see the one yes and think, ‘Wow.’ I got told ‘fuck you’ a thousand times before I got to the one yes."
Gotti continued: “So that’s what people don’t see. But that’s what you got to have — the resilience and the belief in oneself. I don’t care who says they don’t like what I got or they don’t believe in this, I don’t care. They interviewed Jay one time and they asked Hov, ‘What’s the smartest thing you ever done?’ And he sat there, he thought about it for a second and he said, ‘We didn’t give up.’ So it’s basically the same thing. But you have to have tough skin and a belief in yourself.”
The charges were originally brought against Gotti for his association with Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff. He and his brother Christopher, who was also arrested, were acquitted on all charges in 2005.
Appearing on a recent episode of Drink Champs, Gotti also addressed the incident and the impact it had on his career. During the interview, he remarked that Ashanti "ran like a cockroach" afterward.
The next episode of The Murder Inc. Story is scheduled to air on BET, Tuesday, August 16.
Check out a trailer for the docu-series below.
[Via]