Daymond John Believes Irv Gotti Would Laugh Off 50 Cent 'RIP' Post

TMZ

Daymond John is mourning the loss of his childhood friend Irv Gotti, like countless others in the music industry -- and believes his late friend would have had a hearty LOL at 50 Cent's "tribute."

Transcript

00:00I talked to her about a month ago.

00:03I was sending him a box, checking on his address.

00:05And then he was telling me he was living in Jersey.

00:07The last time I had seen him, we had, you know,

00:10dinner out where it was absolutely destroyed in L.A.

00:15Now it doesn't even exist.

00:17And then I remember calling him saying,

00:19why are you living back in Jersey?

00:20He said, you know, I kind of had a stroke

00:23and I needed to start taking care of more things

00:26and I'm taking care of myself.

00:27And he didn't sound as, he didn't have as much vinegar

00:33and as much in him as he normally did.

00:37And I didn't attribute it to anything

00:39about maybe potentially having a stroke.

00:42I didn't see him.

00:43And a lot of times, you know, when you have a stroke,

00:45you know, it creates so many different other aspects

00:48of how you react.

00:49So I thought maybe he was tired.

00:51I thought maybe I caught him doing something else.

00:53And I did say to him, I was like, hey man, I got you.

00:56I have been on this crazy health journey

00:58the last five years of my life.

00:59It's about longevity.

01:00No matter how much money we all have,

01:02how are we going to stay around for our kids?

01:04I know he was celebrating, of course,

01:05the engagement of his daughter.

01:09His daddy just passed.

01:10So he was just like all of us.

01:12There was so many moments of celebration for him to have.

01:14And there was so many moments of reflection

01:16for him to have that I felt that me offering him this help,

01:20that, you know, that it would do something.

01:22And he was game.

01:23He was like, yeah, man, let's do it.

01:24What are we going to do?

01:26And that was an unfortunate last time I spoke to him.

01:29Was the cause of death, like diabetes,

01:31just taking its course?

01:33I only know what the cause.

01:35I only know what I've read about the cause that I do know.

01:38He confirmed he had a stroke.

01:40I have talked to the family, but I've only

01:42shared with the family one way, you know,

01:44communication about how heartbroken I am

01:46and how heartbroken the world is and how

01:49I could be there for them.

01:50But, you know, in these times, I know

01:52they have a lot to take care of.

01:53And I don't have any other knowledge

01:55about what exactly happened.

01:57You came up in Queens, so you know the layered history,

01:59you know, from the hip-hop industry to the streets.

02:03Knowing Irv for so long, do you think

02:05he would have been offended by 50 Cent's,

02:08you know, quote unquote, tribute?

02:11Irv did not have thin skin.

02:13He would have laughed at it.

02:15You know, Irv grew up just like I did, and 50, and all of us.

02:21We grew up in a very rough town, a town of, you know,

02:25people that didn't have thin skin.

02:27And, you know, think about it like this.

02:30The FBI has a 90-something conviction rate.

02:34They targeted Irv because we all grew up around Supreme

02:38team and all these guys.

02:39And most of these guys on these drug dealers,

02:42they always told us, don't do what we do.

02:46You become better than us.

02:47And just because Irv had become friends with Supreme

02:51and Supreme was working, the FBI targeted Irv

02:56to either be snitched or to take down his whole company.

02:59He took on the FBI and out of taking

03:03on a federal organization with all the resources in the world

03:05and they know how to do their homework, he was acquitted.

03:10The only homework the FBI didn't do

03:12is their homework on how much Irv will fight and take it

03:17all the way to the end.

03:19And if you ever see that shot of him coming out

03:21of the courthouse with his legs up in the air,

03:23they drain him of all his assets,

03:26but he will never and has never backed down.

03:30So a comment like that, the 50, he took on the feds.

03:33There is nothing that can hurt his feelings.

03:37And I say it like he's still here

03:38because as far as I'm concerned, he's here with me now.

03:41Yeah, I mean, the impact that he, you know,

03:45put on just culture as a whole, you know,

03:47we can frame it under hip hop pop, but it was just culture.

03:50You know, it's the way people dress, talk,

03:52and listen to music, even go into the studio,

03:55probably will never, you know, die.

03:58So yeah, he's still here.

03:59He's still here with us.

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