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Aggieland 2003
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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.”
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Ag*
No. 16
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