Songoftheday 7/3/23 - This is no intention of bein' offensive to women, by calling y'all b!tches, my down-ass b!tches...
"Down 4 U" - Irv Gotti presents the Inc. featuring Ja Rule, Ashanti, Vita, & Charli Baltimore
from the album Irv Gotti Presents The Inc. (2002)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15
Today's song was a collaborative work of the record label Murder Inc., run by Irving Lorenzo Jr., who went by the nefarious alias Irv Gotti, and his brother Chris. Irv, a producer and record executive, worked for Def Jam in the late 1990's, producing for Jay-Z and signing DMX to the label. With that experience, Gotti was given has own imprint on the label, Murder Inc., where rapper Ja Rule was signed to. Rule had brought the fledgling group big rewards, with his third album Pain Is Love scoring three top-40 crossover hits including one, "Always On Time", which went all the way to #1. In 2000, a compilation called The Murderers was released, which included a remix of Ja Rule's breakthrough single "Holla Holla". The record went to #2 on Billboard magazine's R&B Albums chart, and #15 on the all-genre Billboard 200.
In 2002, Gotti and the Murder Inc. team put together a second album featuring most of the acts on the label, Irv Gotti Presents The Inc.. This time out, Gotti had Ja Rule feature on a new single released from the compilation, "Down 4 U". It was meant to be a follow-up to his previous top-40 pop hit "Down Ass Chick", which featured rapper Charli Baltimore, who also appears on this song, as well as Vita, who was on Rule's top ten hit "Put It On Me". Singing the single's chorus "hook" was Ashanti, who was on Rule's "Always On Time", then had a double-digit #1 hit with her own debut "Foolish", as well as being featured in the #2 song "What's Luv" with Fat Joe. The result was a ride-or-die proposal to the ladies, with him offering a weird non-apology (see post title) before Vita, Ashanti, and Charli chime in with a verse each that has them totally fine with it. The production ties in previous hits from the collective, including a prominent run from the DeBarge sample used on Ashanti's "Foolish". The music video was a part two of the "Down Ass Chick" video, and it's clear that if Billboard didn't change their chart rules on "remixes" after the Jennifer Lopez/Ja Rule hits fiasco, this was meant to cash in in the same way...
"Down 4 U", riding the Murder Inc. success wave, made it to the top ten on Billboard's Hot 100 in August of 2002, while spending a week at #3 on their R&B Singles chart as well as the Rap Singles list. On the radio, the song went to #22 on the Mainstream top-40 chart, and #3 on the dance-R&B oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single peaked at #4 in the United Kingdom, and made the top-40 in The Netherlands (#22), Ireland (#22), and New Zealand (#23). The Irv Gotti Presents The Inc. album, released in July of that year, took a week at #3 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #2 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a half-million copies.
A second single from the record, "The Pledge", featured Ashanti and rapper Cadillac Tah on the album, with a "remix" that added verses from Ja Rule as well as non-label icon Nas and the late 2Pac. Despite all that star power the song stalled at #65 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, and missed the Hot 100 completely.
Ja Rule and Ashanti will be back to the series.
As for Gotti, he spent the next few years feuding professionally with rappers Eminem and 50 Cent, as well as with the law, which had brought him up on charges of using the label for money laundering. During that time, he removed the "Murder" from "Murder Inc.", and continued the label for awhile, after being acquitted at trial. However by the end of the decade, after all the main acts had left the label, the Inc. has pretty much faded into the background of hip-hop music.
(4/10)
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Here's a partial clip of the foursome performing on BET...
Next up, Ja Rule and Ashanti get together with Nas for MTV's Video Music Awards in 2002..
and lastly, Ja Rule, Ashanti, Vita, and Charli Baltimore in concert..
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