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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 2003)
TIME’S RUNNING OUT Buy now. Save $ 10. Texas A&M's Aggieland yearbook has been chronicling campus life for 101 years. It's the single best way to preserve your A&M experiences for years to come. If you did not order the '03 Aggieland as a fee option when you registered for Fall '02 classes, you may order one in the Student Media business office, 015 Reed McDonald Building. $30 plus tax. (Cash, Check, Aggie Bucks, VISA, MasterCard, Discover, American Express) Aggieland 2003 Calling all Greeks!!! Calling all Greeks!!! Tired of the same scene around Bryan/College Station? E and J Entertainment Presents (From the VlOS's Power Mix and the 420 Crew| Saturday Night Latin Fever at Lone Star Saloon (On South College Avenue) On March 1, 2003 From 8pm to ???am Spinning the best in: Hip Hop Salsa/Merengue Booty Music All Ladies Free All Night!!! Guys $5.00 at the door!! nioxin joico hurt's bees rusk tigi Crabtree & evelyn Sebastian matrix amplify redken nexxus kms nail one curatives bain de terre american crew graham webb goldwell paul mitchell urban essentials back to basics creative nail and morel now only $9 .99 regular $1 3.95 While supplies last. Good now thru February 28th, 2003. College Station 2050 Texas Ave S. Suite A between Old Navy & HEB 979.694.2683 hfbeautyfirst Beauty Store & Color Salon Beauty www.beautyfirst.com Satchel's NORTHGATE Ya’ll Come See Us All Day Happy Hour $1 QO domestic longnecks with order ‘til we can’t stand it! 303 Boyett • College Station, Texas 77840 • 260-8850 Across from Tradition’s Dorm AGGIELIFE Friday, February 28, 2003 A Dream By Annette John-Hall KRT CAMPUS NEW YORK—Dreams are overrated. No matter how delicious and realistic they seem, they vaporize as soon as you open your eyes. You can’t will yourself back to sleep. You’re up. And reality is a sorry substitute. That is, unless you’re Ashanti Douglas, whose life is a wak ing dream. . Little more than a year ago, Ashanti was knocking on record pro ducers’ doors, soliciting music to showcase the lyrics she’d put on paper. Today, she’s the princess of hip-hop on Def Jam’s Murder Inc. roster. And her self-titled solo album and duets with rappers Fat Joe and Ja Rule earned her five nominations at Sunday’s 45th annual Grammy Awards. (She won the contemporary R&B album trophy for “Ashanti.”) “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that many nominations,” says the 22-year-old rhythm-and-blues soprano, who shot directly to first- name-only celebrity. “This whole, entire year lias been like a dream come true. If nothing else happens, this will be over the top.” Since April, when her debut CD “Ashanti” became the fastest- selling record of all time by a female artist, the native of Glen Cove, N.Y, has appeared on TV’s "Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “American Dreams.” She’s competed for a passel of music awards, and written “Foolish/Unfoolish: Reflections on Love,” a collection of romantic poetry and cusp-of-adulthood musings lavishly illustrated with publicity stills. Yet despite selling 4 million copies of “Ashanti,” which contains the hits “Foolish” and “Happy,” the girl from the not-so-mean streets of Long Island is absorbing her share of shots. Yeah, she was up for best new artist on Sunday. But, say her detractors, it’s all because she rode in on other people’s talent, as “the hook girl” on at Joe’s “What’s Luv?” and Ja Rule’s “Always on Time,” both of which competed in the “rap/sung collaboration” category. With her generic singsong vocals, she’s been the sweet melodic foil to a string of tough-guy rappers. Without them, many argue, she’d be just another “American Idol” contestant in low-riders and a belly shirt. The Ashanti “hatas” came out in force when the rookie was named entertainer of the year at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards in August. It was too soon, they complained; her debut’s self-penned tunes were derivative and shallow. More than 30,000 people signed an online petition to persuade the Soul Train organizers, who announced the winner in advance , to rethink their decision to honor a young woman who lacked “singing ability and stage presence.” As she waited for lunch to arrive in her Manhattan hotel suite on a recent winter day, the object of so much consternation flicked back her long hair and laughed. Self-deprecation is one of her strong suits. “I definitely understand where it came from,” said Ashanti, who accepted the Lady of Soul accolade anyway and will compete in three categories on March 1 at the higher-profile 17th annual Soul Train Music Awards. “People say, ‘She can’t sing, she can’t do this, she can’t do that.’ When I didn’t have my deal, I’d be the one sitting up there looking at somebody else, saying 'Wow, she can’t sing.’ “But I can’t please everyone. And the positive far outweighs the negative. That shows in the records sold.” The thing that can’t be argued is Ashanti’s beauty. She is gor geous. Her flawless mocha skin needs no touching up, though her hair and makeup person stands at the ready. With cat eyes peering under naturally arched brows, the petite songstress exudes a sultry innocence. Though she sang in her church choir. Ashanti was discovered at 13 by, of all people, her nagging mother. THE BATTALION Come True KRT CAMPOS Ashanti poses with the Grammy she won at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday. was downstairs vacuuming and my mom said, 'No television or radio until your chores are done. Turn the radio off!’ “ Ashanti recalls.“1 said. 'Ma, that’s not the radio. That's me.’ “ “She was singing Reminisce' by Mary J. Blige,” Tina says. Tina summoned her husband, the singer, for a second opin ion. “Oh. my god,” said Ken-Kaide Douglas of Ashanti’s vacu uming performance. “That's when 1 started shopping for record deals,” Tina says. Ashanti got a manager who hooked her up first with Jive, then with Sony. But neither label knew quite what to do with the high schooler, and the deals fell apart. Ashanti was 19 when she finally landed at Irv Gotti’s door. Ashanti says of the Murder. Inc. CEO, “He told me he didn’t do R&B.” She asked him just to produce a few demo songs for her to record, “so 1 could say I have these blazing tracks by Irv Gotti.” But Gotti had a different idea. He asked her to pen hooks forhis rap artists and to perform with them in duets. Ashanti providing the melodic response to their streetwise call. “Pretty soon," Ashanti says, “I was writing hooks for everybody’s records.” She wrote one for the late Big Pun’s “How We Roll,” which rolled to No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot KX), and she sang backup and cowrote Jennifer Lopez’s “Ain’t It Funny” remix, which reached No. l.She did all of that before Gotti signed her. Top 10 duets with Ja Rule and Fat Joe followed. Then, finally, came “Foolish,” a No. 1 hit from her own album that got a second life, with a from-the-grave assist by Notorious B.I.G., as the remix “Unfoolish.” “Her music is hot. She’s like Mary J. Blige — she has a nice blend of R&B and hip-hop to her music,” says Kim Osorio, editorof the Source magazine. “She’s been able to succeed on a rap labelwi music that appeals to an R&B audience.” Student Car loan Specialists in LAWRENCE MAASHAU GET YOU INTO A CAR OR TRUCK TOOflYI Bad Credit... No Credit... Foreign Students If you’ve been told you don’t qualify for a car loan, call the student loan specialists at Lawrence Marshall. We’ve been putting students on the road for more than 30 years. Let us get you into a car, truck or SUV with no hype and no hassle. Call Bob Griffey, Toll Free 1-866-540-3600 Even if you’ve been turned down by another “Special Finance” Lender. Hwy 290 at Bryan/Hwy 6 Exit Buy in Hempstead Pay in Hempstead Ag* No. 16 By Troy THE BAIT The Texas A team is off to a ho nation is taking Aggies have clim No. 16 in som beginning the sea Helping the climb the nationa the performances of newcomers. Ai faces is junior I Patton, the 200? 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