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Screamfest 2007 in New York City - August 22, 2007

Source: Gary Gershoff / Getty / JAY-Z

JAY-Z is always playing chess when others are playing checkers. This latest story proves that.

Not many of you may know this, but there was a time when JAY-Z and 50 Cent actually were cool with each other, but that could have been a cold, calculative move on his part.

Spotted on HipHopDX, Chris Gotti, brother of Ashanti’s stalker, Irv Gotti, spoke about Jigga’s union with 50 Cent in an episode of Trappin Anonymous, the podcast hosted by Chris Stylezz, the guy who was fired from Hennypalooza after he was accused of coercive sexual misconduct by numerous women.

Chris Gotti claims that Roc Nation’s boss worked with 50 Cent to spite his brother after Murder Inc. decided to link with Nas, with whom we all know the Brooklyn MC at one point had a historical beef.

Here Is the Breakdown per HipHopDX:

“We call Jay and go to Baseline Studios and Irv say, ‘It’s good business. We gon’ make a lot of money.’ Jay looking at the n-gga like, ‘You my n-gga and you want to fuck with my enemy?’ And I’m looking at Irv like, ‘What, are you crazy? You crazy.’

“Irv is only thinking business. [Irv] said, ‘Y’all don’t really got no beef.’ Jay said, ‘You right.’ Irv turned to me and said, ‘I told you.’ I’m looking at Irv like, ‘He’s just saying that!’”

Irv Gotti quickly learned HOV was not playing when he stood next to 50 Cent during their 2003 Roc The Mic tour and starring in a Reebok commercial to promote their sneakers. At the time, the Queens rapper and his G-Unit imprint were at war with Ja Rule and Murder Inc. for years, pretty much leading to the label’s demise.

Gotti claims that JAY-Z even used one of his brother’s lines stating, “What did Jay do? He went on tour with 50 Cent, he did a sneaker with 50 Cent, they doing commercials with 50 Cent. Then [JAY-Z] came back to Irv and said, ‘It’s good business.”

Yup, that sounds like JAY-Z.

As for the Nas and Murder Inc. union, not much came of it. The “Ether” crafter did join Ja Rule and Ashanti on a song called “The Pledge Remix” and performed with them at the MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in NYC in 2002.

Do you think 50 Cent will take kindly to being a pawn if Chris Gotti’s story is true? Probably not.

Photo: Gary Gershoff / Getty

Chris Gotti Claims JAY-Z Linked Up With 50 Cent To Spite His Brother Irv  was originally published on hiphopwired.com