| abstract | - The Inc. Records was founded in 1999 by Irving "Irv Gotti" Lorenzo and his brother. At the time Irv was a DJ and went under the moniker DJ Irv. He knew a young Jay-Z and produced for him he also knew Earl "DMX" Simmons, both young New York rappers. While at a friend's house, he heard a recording from the Cash Money Click. Irv was impressed by a recording from one vocalist, Ja Rule, who like DMX was known for his deep voice. Around this time, Irv landed a job as an exec at Def Jam Recordings, he lured Jay-Z and his Roc-A-Fella Records to sign to Def Jam. He was also able to land DMX a gig along with his Ruff Ryders. He said that he was saving Ja for something more special than Jay and X. In early 1997, Lorenzo went to Def Jam president Lyor Cohen with the idea of granting him his own vanity label to reward him for his big signings. Cohen would agree to this and during the summer of 1997, Murder Inc. Records was born. Gotti's first act was signing Ja Rule away from TVT Records, and also signing Black Child and Caddillac Tah on solo deals. Then shortly thereafter, Russell Simmons had the idea that Jay-Z, DMX, and Ja Rule form a rap group. The group was also named Murder Inc. and they released a few songs on their respective albums and recorded with other artists under this moniker. This helped promote the label, but their first glimpse of success and popularity came in 1998, when Jay-Z featured main artist Ja Rule on his hit single Can I Get A..., which catapulted Ja Rule into a long and successful career.
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