50 Cent Trolls Irv Gotti Following Rap Mogul’s Death

Rapper and hip-hop world troll Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson took a moment to acknowledge the death of producer Irv Gotti this week by throwing one last bit of shade at the Murder Inc founder on Instagram, where he posted a photo suggesting he was smoking the late mogul’s ashes.

50 Cent, whose legal name is Curtis Jackson, posted an image of himself on Thursday seated in front of a hookah and beside a tomb reading RIP. Exhaling smoke in the image, the rapper known for taking low shots at his rivals on social media captioned the image: “I’m smoking on dat Gotti pack, nah God bless him 🕊️LOL.” A second image in the post shows Irv Gotti flashing his huge smile during a photo opportunity.

Irving “Irv Gotti” Lorenzo was a longtime player in the world of rap and hip hop. After years as a talent scout, during which time he brought Jay-Z to Def Jam, he founded Murder, Inc. after earning an executive producer credit on DMX’s debut album. The label launched the careers of And rule and Ashanti.

Jackson and Lorenzo reportedly had a longstanding feud by association — namely, because of Lorenzo’s close relationship with Ja Rule. That beef dates back to the late 1990s when the then-fledgling rapper’s friend stole a chain from Ja Rule. The two rappers had subsequent, violent run-ins over the years, as Jackson recalled in his autobiography From Pieces To Weightat nightclubs and once at the Hit Factory recording studio.

The bad blood between them has not ended, it seems. Their beef remains one of hip hop’s most notorious rivalries.

Lorenzo died on Wednesday in his hometown of New York City, according to a statement from his family. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has not yet released his cause of death as of Friday. The rap mogul had a stroke in 2024 and had been using a cane since; according to Page Sixhe’s also been open about his struggles with diabetes, admitting to neglecting to take insulin as needed. Lorenzo was 54 years old at the time of his death.

Reaction to Jackson’s post was strong on both sides, with some tut-tutting his troll, while others claiming it is justified.

“Death is nothing to play with be careful, God watching you !! 🙏🏽,” one user wrote; another said, “Mocking someone that passed away is evil work.”

One commenter defended Jackson, writing: “I have no dog in this fight, but Yall [sic] forget they tried to blackball this man in the industry… How do yall want this man to react.”