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.

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.

News spreads fast in the Big Easy … ’cause Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce grabbed dinner together Friday night — and their way in was devoid of commotion … but their exit was insane!

The super-high profile couple was spotted walking into a New Orleans uptown restaurant … where a few people were clearly tipped off they would be there … and they made sure to tell TS how much they loved her.

Sure hope that meal was relaxing … ’cause the duo’s exit was anything but … as word clearly got out they were there — and a huge hoard showed up, screaming and snapping pics as they left.

The date is a big deal for a few reasons … the biggest being, this is the first time TS has been spotted since TMZ broke the news that her relationship with Blake Lively is pretty much toast after TS was dragged into the Justin Baldoni war.

Of course … it was also the first time Taylor and Travis had been spotted together in NOLA, where TK and his Chiefs hope to make history with a Super Bowl three-peat on Sunday.

Lines are being drawn and a family fight is brewing over a potential conservatorship for former MTV host Matt Pinfield.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Matt’s girlfriend, Kara Brown, and his brother, Glenn, claims Matt’s daughter Jessica is isolating Matt from the rest of the family and trying to cut them out from his life.

Matt, as we first reported, is hospitalized after suffering a medical emergency. Jessica claims he’s incompetent and unable to make decisions on health and finances. She filed for a conservatorship and voiced fears his GF would drain his bank account if left unchecked.

Kara says she took Matt to the hospital after a nasty fall and stayed by his side … until Jessica showed up one day and accused her of being on drugs and blamed her for Matt’s stroke.

Matt’s GF claims Jessica was trying to destroy her credibility with hospital staff and she says the next time she went to visit Matt she learned her visitation rights had been stripped. She claims she was escorted out of the hospital. Kara says she’s since been completely cut off from what’s going on with Matt.

Meanwhile, Matt’s brother claims Jessica blindsided the rest of the family — including Matt’s mother and sister — when she filed for the conservatorship. He says Jessica’s is gatekeeping medical information on Matt and is excluding the rest of his loved ones.

Glenn goes to bat for Kara too and says he’s troubled by Jessica’s actions.

Jessica’s already been appointed temporary conservator, but Kara and Glenn are opposed to this and want the court to reconsider before things move forward.