Irv Gotti, the prominent music producer who founded Murder Inc., has died at the age of 54, leaving behind a lasting mark on the hip-hop world and a lavish property portfolio in California.

The famed longtime industry exec shaped the careers of Ja Rule and Ashanti and was pivotal in Def Jam’s late-Nineties revival

Gotti, born Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. on June 26, 1970, was a key figure in the sound of ‘90s and 2000s hip-hop, when brash lyricism and outsized personalities blended seamlessly with pop hooks and R&B tenderness.