Ashanti went into the studio to record the album during the summer of 2003. While playing a game with Stevie Wonder, he began playing Christmas medleys on the piano and Ashanti began singing them, giving her label head the idea to push for a Christmas Album. While on BET's 106 & Park, Ashanti said the concept of the Christmas Album came from a guest spot she did on Steve Harvey's radio show. To coincide with the release Ashanti premiered a Christmas Medley video for the album.
The album containing 10 Christmas songs, six classic covers and four she wrote herself.
Chapter II was nominated for a 2004 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album, and Rock wit U (AIn November 2003, Ashanti's Christmas album, Ashanti's Christmas was released. The second single, Rain on Me, reached the number-seven spot on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot 100 R&B Songs chart.
Chapter II's first single, Rock wit U (AA remix of the song contains interpolations of Michael Jackson's Rock with You. camp at the time (i.e., the FBI investigation and the G-Unit feuding). The album's success was somewhat eclipsed, however, by all the negative drama surrounding the Murder Inc. The album went Platinum, selling 1.5 million copies in U.S. In July 2003, Ashanti released her second album, Chapter II, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 326,000 copies in the U.S. Ashanti's debut album earned her many awards including eight Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards, a Lady of Soul Award for "Aretha Franklin Entertainer of the Year," and a Grammy Award. compilation titled Irv Gotti Presents The Inc. During the summer of 2002, Ashanti appeared on Ja Rule's Down 4 U with labelmates, female rappers Vita and Charli Baltimore. Ashanti penned all 12 songs on the album, most written on-the-spot in the studio.Īshanti's follow-up singles, Happy and Baby, were not as successful as her debut single but did peak in the top ten and top twenty in the U.S. The album has sold over 6.5 million copies worldwide. The album has been certified 3x platinum in the U.S and platinum (300,000 copies) in the UK. Billboard 200 albums chart, selling over 503,000 copies in its first week (the most successful first week sales for a debut R&B female artist up through that point–record later broken by Mary J. Ashanti's self-titled debut album, Ashanti, was released on Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. She became the second artist (after the The Beatles) to have their first three chart entries in the top ten of the Hot 100 simultaneously. Billboard Hot 100 chart when Always on Time and What's Luv? were number-one and number-two respectively.įollowing the success of her collaborations with Ja Rule and Fat Joe, Ashanti released her debut single, Foolish, which contained a sample of the 1983 song Stay With Me by DeBarge (also utilized by Notorious B.I.G. Ashanti became the first female to occupy the top two positions on the U.S. What's Luv? and Always on Time were released simultaneously and became two of the biggest hit songs of 2002. She appeared as a background vocalist on I'm Real (Murder Remix), a collaboration by labelmate Ja Rule and Jennifer Lopez (she also appeared in the music video for Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix), the 2nd duet between Lopez & Rule), and was featured on Fat Joe's What's Luv? and Ja Rule's Always on Time. She also appeared on the 2001 The Fast and the Furious soundtrack as a featured artist on Vita's 2001 hip hop remake of Madonna's Justify My Love and on the solo track When a Man Does Wrong. In the same year, Ashanti was featured on fellow labelmate Caddillac Tah's singles Pov City Anthem and Just Like A Thug. In 2001, Ashanti was first featured as a background vocalist on rapper Big Pun's song How We Roll. Gotti noted her dancing and acting abilities in addition to her vocal skills. mastermind Irv Gotti that Ashanti began to blossom. It was when she was noticed by Murder Inc. She is currently an independent artist on her own record label entitled Written Entertainment.
Praised as a gifted songwriter by her peers and critics alike, Ashanti has written/co-written the bulk of all her music. Blige and Ella Fitzgerald as her musical influences. Later that year, she was acclaimed as the "Princess of Hip-Hop & R&B" by the media and capped off her successful debut by winning eight Billboard awards and two American Music Awards.Īshanti cites Mary J. The album set a Soundscan record as the most albums sold by any first-time female artist in the chart's history, outselling debuts by Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill. Ashanti (born Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas on Octoin Glen Cove, New York, United States), is a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model & fashion designer who has been performing since 2000.Īshanti is most famous for her eponymous Grammy Award-winning debut album Ashanti which featured the hit song Foolish.
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