Rap Label Eliminates ‘Murder’ From Its Name

Murder Inc. has killed off the Murder.

The rap label said Wednesday that it changed its name to The Inc., aiming to distance itself from violent imagery at a time when federal agents are investigating its alleged financial ties with a New York drug kingpin.

“It seems as though no one is really looking at the talent,” label chief Irv “Gotti” Lorenzo said at a news conference in New York, where he was joined by label stars Ja Rule and Ashanti. “All of these big records, and people would still come back and focus on the negative word ‘murder.’ ”

A federal task force is looking into the alleged ties between the label, a joint venture financed by Vivendi Universal, and Kenneth “Preme” McGriff, whose Supreme Team drug gang dominated the crack cocaine trade in a Queens housing project during the 1980s.

Lorenzo, a producer credited with discovering such acts as DMX and Jay-Z, and Universal executives have denied wrongdoing.

The moniker shift suggests a retreat from the rebellious public-relations tactics Lorenzo employed earlier this year, when, for example, he made a music video mocking a real-life government raid on Murder Inc.’s New York offices.

Lorenzo started the firm, which he once called the “world’s most dangerous music company,” in 1997. Universal two years ago agreed to extend the joint venture deal until 2007, paying the producer a $5-million advance.

According to Lorenzo, he came up with the Murder Inc. name after seeing a TV program about mob assassins and being struck by the double meaning of the word “hit” -- as in hit records.