The company behind the multi-platinum rapper and singer Ashanti announced Wednesday it had changed its name to The Inc., moving away from its previous incarnation as Murder Inc.
"Over the course of the years, it seems as though no one is really looking at the talent ... more so than that damn word 'murder,'" label founder Irv Gotti told a midtown Manhattan news conference.
"All of these big records, and people would still come back and focus on the negative word 'murder.'"
Gotti, flanked by Ja Rule and Ashanti, announced the label's name change at a crowded event attended by hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons and Hip-Hop Summit Action Network head Benjamin Chavis.
Simmons offered a blunter explanation for the label's new banner: "Just to get you all off his ass, he's changed its name..."
