Ashanti Mourns Irv Gotti While Reflecting on Complicated Relationship

Ashanti has broken her silence on the death of Irv Gotti ... and her heartfelt message made it clear she cared for him deeply ... but it certainly wasn't always great between the duo.

In her IG message Friday night, Ashanti called the late cofounder of Murder Inc. a "musical genius" who had the "ability to push me to be my best."

The music mega-producer -- who worked with big acts like DMX, Ja Rule and Ashanti -- died Wednesday in New York City. It's currently unclear exactly how he died.

And it's true ... Irv after all played a major role in launching her career ... and via her post, Ashanti seems heartbroken they didn't reconcile before his death.

The singer wrote in part ... "I can’t believe things ended like this….and it makes me so sad…We weren’t on the best terms the past few years but as I’ve always said, through our ups and downs I will forever be grateful for everything that you’ve done for me."

Noting they "made history" and that will "remain infinite," she added ... "All the greatness and positive things that came, far outweigh the dark and negative times."

Irv and Ashanti had a war of words a couple years ago, when he opened up -- on a now legendary "Drink Champs" episode -- about what he described as their "relationship." She fired back, saying it was never that serious to her, and accused Gotti of being salty he no longer had control of her career.

The rise of Irv's label was the subject of the 2022 BET documentary, "The Murder Inc Story" ... and Ashanti felt that was also part of why they beefed, because she chose not to participate in the 3-part series.