Ashanti (album)

Ashanti
Studio album by Ashanti
Released	April 2, 2002
Recorded	2001–2002
Studio	Crackhouse Studios (New York City, New York) SoundCastle Studios (Los Angeles, California)
Genre	R&B hip hop hip hop soul
Length	61:08
Label	Murder Inc. Def Jam
Producer	Irv Gotti Chink Santana 7 Aurelius Jared Thomas Reggie Wright
Ashanti chronology
Ashanti (2002) 7 Series Sampler: Ashanti (2003)
Singles from Ashanti
"Foolish" Released: January 29, 2002 "Happy" Released: May 21, 2002 "Baby" Released: August 17, 2002

Ashanti is the eponymous debut studio album by American R&B recording artist Ashanti; it was released on April 2, 2002, by Murder Inc. Records and Def Jam Records. The album was recorded between 2001 and 2002 in Crackhouse Studios (New York) and SoundCastle Studios (Los Angeles), during the period of time where Ashanti was writing for other artists. Ashanti worked with a variety of producers including Irv Gotti, Chink Santana, 7 Aurelius, Jared Thomas, Reggie Wright as well as Ashanti co-writing all the songs on the album. Its music incorporates R&B, hip hop, hip hop soul and urban. The album features guest vocals from The Notorious B.I.G., Irv Gotti and Ja Rule.

Ashanti debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with first-week sales of an impressive 503,000 units, the biggest first-week sales for a debut female artist. The album was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 3,000,000 copies on December 17, 2002. It earned Ashanti three Grammy nominations for Best New Artist, Best Contemporary R&B Album, and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Ashanti also received two additional Grammy nominations in the same year for other projects, both in the category of Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.

Billboard magazine ranked Ashanti at number 100 on its Top 200 Albums of the Decade.^[1]

Background

When Ashanti was 14, she was discovered by P. Diddy's Bad Boy Records. Initially, she went to Bad Boy Records and sang one of Mary J. Blige's songs in front of P. Diddy and Biggie Smalls. After being impressed by her singing ability, Diddy had her sign to a development deal. In the end, due to a bad contract, Ashanti did not sign with Diddy. This ultimately led to a record deal with Jive Records in 1994. This relationship soured when Jive tried to make Ashanti into a pop singer.^[2] Ashanti subsequently involved herself in schoolwork, cheerleading, and running on her school's track team. She was an honor student in English and belonged to the English club where she began writing poetry. She was also in the Drama club and performed in a few plays. She put college pursuits aside when Epic Records approached her with a contract in 1998. However, the label's management changes quickly made Ashanti a low priority. She continued to perform at local New York clubs and began hanging out at the Murder Inc. recording studio, hoping for another big break.^[3]

Ashanti was first noticed by Irv Gotti because of her vocal skills.^[4] Ashanti initially asked him to produce a few demo songs for her to record so she could say she had some strong tracks by the big time producer but Gotti had a different idea. He asked her to pen hooks for his rap artists and to perform with them in duets. Ashanti provided the melodic response to their call. Ashanti was first featured as a background vocalist on rapper Big Pun's song "How We Roll". In the same year, Ashanti was featured on fellow labelmate Cadillac Tah's singles "Pov City Anthem" and "Just Like a Thug". She also appeared on the 2001 The Fast and the Furious soundtrack as a featured artist on rapper Vita's 2001 hip hop remake of Madonna's "Justify My Love" and on the solo track "When a Man Does Wrong". 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 "Aint It Funny (Murder Remix)", the second duet between Lopez and Rule, for which she wrote and also sang background vocals on), and was featured on Fat Joe's "What's Luv?" and Ja Rule's "Always on Time". "What's Luv?" and "Always on Time" were released simultaneously and became two of the biggest hit songs of 2002. Ashanti became the first female artist to occupy the top two positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously when "Always on Time" and "What's Luv?" were at numbers one and two, respectively.

A song from the album "Thank You" was included on the album "Barbie Mix" which was released to promote the My Scene dolls.

Reception

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[6]
Los Angeles Times	[7]
Q	[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
Slant Magazine	[10]
Robert Christgau	[11]

AllMusic gave the album a positive review and praised the "modern, post-hip-hop soul" sound, stating the album has "fairly fresh beats and lightly insistent hooks, and is just naughty enough". However, the site felt it lacked "distinctive material".^[12] Entertainment Weekly commended the album's "coy hooks" and "jagged-edged rappers", continuing to say "her voice is supple and pretty but rarely rises above a whisper, making it a background instrument even when it's Ashanti's turn to shine".^[13] The Los Angeles Times had a mixed view of the album, writing "Ashanti's breathy, cooing vocals are well suited to the mellow mood of this collection", however was unimpressed because it was not "substantial".^[14]

Accolades

The Ashanti album earning her a three Grammy nominations for Best New Artist, Best Contemporary R&B Album and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. On the same year, Ashanti also received two additional Grammy nominations for other projects, both in the category of Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Ashanti took home a record 8 billboard awards, winning all the categories she was nominated for. Billboard magazine ranked Ashanti at number 100 on magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade.^[1] In April 2002, Ashanti sold 503,000 copies in its first week of release in the United States, becoming a record-breaking feat. It was the highest first week sales for a female artist's debut ever. The album stayed atop the Billboard 200 for three consecutive weeks. In the same week, she became the first female performer to simultaneously hold the top two places on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with "Foolish" and "What's Luv" (with Fat Joe).

She broke records again by having three top ten songs (Foolish, What's Luv, and Always on Time (with Ja Rule)) on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the same week. Otherwise, only The Beatles have achieved this. In 2009, Billboard.com reported that Ashanti has had the most top 10 songs (16 to date) on the R&B/Hip-hop charts by a female for that respective decade. The album's lead single was named the 19th most successful song of the 2000s (decade) on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade.^[15] As of June 2012, it is the third best selling physical single of the 21st century. It sold over 8.2 million copies to date.^[16]

Commercial performance

On April 20, 2002, Ashanti debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, and Billboards Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart at number one with first-week sales of 503,000 copies in the United States. On December 17, 2002, the album was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and remained on Billboard 200 chart for 55 weeks. Ashanti has sold 3.6 million copies in the United States alone,^[17] according to Nielsen SoundScan. Worldwide, the album's sales stand at over six million copies.^[18]

In Canada, the album peaked at number 15 on the chart and was certified two times platinum for shipments of 200,000 copies.

Singles

	"Foolish" A sample of "Foolish"
Problems playing this file? See media help.

The album's lead single, titled "Foolish", was released on January 29, 2002. The song became Ashanti's biggest solo successes to date, spending ten consecutive weeks on top of the US Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. It was eventually first ranked on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles 2002 year-end charts for eleven straight weeks (Tying with Nelly's "Dilemma", but not for eleven straights weeks). It was a breakthrough hit internationally entering the top five in the United Kingdom, the top ten in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany and Japan and the top twenty in Switzerland and the Netherlands.

The album's second single, "Happy" was released on May 21, 2002. The song peaked at number 8 on US Billboard Hot 100 and number 6 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The single became Ashanti's second top ten hit as a solo artist. It was a moderate success internationally, it reached the top ten in the Netherlands, the top twenty in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the top forty in Australia, Ireland, Switzerland and France.

The album's third single, "Baby" was released on August 17, 2002. The song peaked at number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 7 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The single became Ashanti's third top-twenty hit as a solo artist.

The remix version of the song "Foolish", titled "Unfoolish" featuring The Notorious B.I.G., was released as the album's fourth single. It was released only for radio ads. No music video for this song, although a video was already planned, as a conclusion to the "Foolish" music video.

Promotional singles

"Dreams" was released as the album's promotional single, with a live-performance music video with clips of Ashanti's career at this point.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro"	Ashanti Douglas Jeffrey Atkins Marcus Vest Taheem "Caddillac Tah" Crocker Irving Lorenzo Joseph Cartagena Andre Parker Christopher Rios Takwon Green Ramel "Black Child" Gill	7 Aurelius Chink Santana Irv Gotti	1:25
2.	"Foolish"	Douglas Vest Lorenzo Etterlene Jordan Mark DeBarge	7 Aurelius Irv Gotti	3:47
3.	"Happy"	Douglas Raymond Calhouh Parker Lorenzo	Chink Santana Irv Gotti	4:22
4.	"Leaving (Always on Time Part II)" (featuring Ja Rule)	Douglas Vest Lorenzo Atkins	7 Aurelius Irv Gotti	3:55
5.	"Narrative Call (Skit)"			0:36
6.	"Call"	Douglas Vest Lorenzo	7 Aurelius Irv Gotti	5:05
7.	"Scared" (featuring Irv Gotti)	Douglas Parker Lorenzo	Chink Santana Irv Gotti	4:43
8.	"Rescue"	Douglas Vest Lorenzo	7 Aurelius Irv Gotti	7:25
9.	"Baby"	Douglas Vest Lorenzo Michael Dean Brad Jordan	Chink Santana Irv Gotti 7 Aurelius*	4:25
10.	"VooDoo"	Douglas Vest Lorenzo	7 Aurelius Irv Gotti	4:42
11.	"Movies"	Douglas Vest Lorenzo Reggie Wright Jared Thomas	7 Aurelius Irv Gotti Wright* Thomas*	4:09
12.	"Fight (Over Skit)"			1:18
13.	"Over"	Douglas Parker Lorenzo	Chink Santana Irv Gotti	5:34
14.	"Unfoolish" (featuring The Notorious B.I.G.)	Douglas Vest Lorenzo Jordan DeBarge Sean Combs Daron Jones Robert Kelly Christopher Wallace	7 Aurelius Irv Gotti	3:14
15.	"Shi Shi (Skit)"			0:14
16.	"Dreams"	Douglas Vest Lorenzo DeBarge	7 Aurelius Irv Gotti	4:18
17.	"Thank You"	Douglas	Douglas	1:47

Notes

• (*) denotes co-producer.

Sample credits

• "Foolish" and "Unfoolish" contains a sample of DeBarge's 1983 "Stay with Me".
• "Happy" contains a sample of Gap Band's 1983 "Outstanding".
• "Baby" contains a sample of Scarface's 1997 "Mary Jane".
• "Unfoolish" contains the entire first verse of The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1997 "Fuck You Tonight" and an interpolation of the chorus.
• "Rescue" contains a sample from Michael Jackson's 1988 "Smooth Criminal"

Credits

Asif Ali – engineer Robert Bacon – acoustic guitar, guitar, bass guitar Kenneth Crouch – piano Chris DeLaPena – assistant Tony Duran – photography Brian "Big Bass" Gardener – mastering Chris G.O.T.T.I. – A&R Irv Gotti – producer, mixing Deidre Graham – marketing Charles "Chee" Heath – assistant Ja Rule – performer Darcell Lawrence – A&R

Trevor Lawrence – drums Rosie Michel – stylist Milwaukee Buck – engineer Erica Novich – A&R Chink Santana – drums, multiple instruments, producer 7 Aurelius – engineer Brian Springer – engineer, mixing David Tan – marketing Jared Thomas – producer Tony Vanias – recording coordinator Glen Williams – A&R Reggie Wright – producer

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Chart (2002) Peak position Austrian Albums Chart 36 Australian Albums Chart 10 Canadian Albums Chart 15 French Albums Chart 29 German Albums Chart 10 Japanese Albums Chart 4 New Zealand Albums Chart 17 Swiss Albums Chart 15 UK Albums Chart 3 US Billboard 200 1 US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 1

Year-end charts Year Chart Rank 2002 US Billboard 200[19] 12 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[20] 4 2003 US Billboard 200[21] 160 Certifications Region Certification(s) Australia (ARIA) Gold[22] Canada (CRIA) 2× Platinum[23] Japan (RIAJ) Platinum[24] Switzerland (Media Control) Gold United Kingdom (BPI) Platinum[25] United States (RIAA) 3× Platinum[26]

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominee/work	Award	Result
2002	BET Awards	Best New Artist	Nominated
	Lady of Soul	Best R&B/Soul New Artist	Won
		Aretha Franklin Entertainer of the Year	Won
		Best R&B/Soul Single - "Foolish"	Won
		R&B/Soul Album of the Year - Ashanti	Won
		R&B/Soul Song of the Year - "Foolish"	Nominated
		R&B/Soul Song of the Year - "Foolish"	Nominated
		Best R&B/Soul Music Video - "Foolish"	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Breakout Artist	Won
		Best New Artist	Won
		Choice R&B/Hip-Hop Single - "Foolish"	Nominated
	MOBO	Best R&B Act	Won
		Best Newcomer	Won
		Best Album - Ashanti	Nominated
	MTV Video Music Awards	Best Female Video - "Foolish"	Nominated
		Best R&B Video - "Foolish"	Nominated
		Best New Artist in a video - "Foolish"	Nominated
	Billboard Music Awards	Female Artist of the Year	Won
		Top New Pop Artist of the Year	Won
		Hot 100 Singles Artist of the Year	Won
		R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year	Won
		R&B/Hip-Hop Female Artist of the Year	Won
		New R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year	Won
		R&B/Hip-Hop Single of the Year - "Foolish"	Won
		R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Artist of the Year	Won
2003	ASCAP Pop Music Awards	Award-Winning Pop Songs - Foolish	Won
	ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards	Top R&B/Hip-hop Song - "Foolish"	Won
		Award-Winning R&B/Hip-Hop Songs - "Baby"	Won
	American Music Awards	Favorite New Artist in Pop/Rock	Won
		Favorite New Artist in Hip-Hop/R&B	Won
		Best Duo or Group - Ashanti	Won
		Fans Choice Award	Nominated
		Favorite Female Artist in Hip-Hop/R&B	Won
		Favorite Album - Pop or Rock 'n Roll Music - Ashanti	Nominated
		Favorite Album - Hip-Hop / Rhythm & Blues Music - Ashanti	Nominated
	Grammy Awards	Best New Artist	Nominated
		Best Contemporary R&B Album R&B - Ashanti	Won
		Best Female R&B Vocal Performance R&B - "Foolish"	Nominated
	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding New Artist	Won
		Outstanding Female Artist	Won
	Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards	Best New Artist	Won

Release history

Country	Date
United States	April 2, 2002
United Kingdom	April 8, 2002

References

1. "Best of the 2000s - Billboard 200 Albums". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
2. Daniels, Mark. "Nobody's Fool" Archived February 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.. Amazon.com. Retrieved April 12, 2007.
3. OnTV Shows | myLifetime.com Archived July 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-01-14. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
5. "Allmusic review". Retrieved August 2011
6. Caramanica, Jon (2002-04-26). "Ashanti Review". Entertainment Weekly: 148. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
7. Hilburn, Robert (2002-04-21). "Many Happy Returns to Form - Page 2 - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
8. "Music: Ashanti (CD) by Ashanti (Artist)". Tower.com. 2002-04-02. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
9. Ex, Kris (2002-04-10). "Ashanti: Ashanti : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
10. Ashanti, slantmagazine.com. Retrieved August 2011
11. Robert Christgau: Album: Ashanti: Ashanti
12. Ashanti - Ashanti | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic
13. "Music Review: Ashanti, by Ashanti". Entertainment Weekly. April 26, 2002.
14. Hilburn, Robert (April 21, 2002). "Many Happy Returns to Form". Los Angeles Times.
15. Hot 100 Decade Songs
16. Ashanti This Is Me » BIOGRAPHY
17. http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1043619/ask-billboard-ashanti-nelly-chate-moore-donna-summer-aretha-franklin-blackgirl
18. https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBTBt33l_BEC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=Ashanti+answers+critics+and+doubters+ebony&source=bl&ots=dvTHqkPxFm&sig=50aUuTuo4ceJn1uRieHlflkatuU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiD1KPSuuTLAhVH2BoKHQRYBv4Q6AEIIzAC#v=onepage&q=Ashanti%20answers%20critics%20and%20doubters%20ebony&f=false
19. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=412&cfgn=Year-end+Albums&cfn=The+Billboard+200&ci=3068360&cdi=8700540&cid=12%2F31%2F2002. Retrieved June 27, 2009. Missing or empty |title= (help)
20. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=415&cfgn=Year-end+Albums&cfn=Top+R%26amp%3BB%2FHip-Hop+Albums&ci=3068496&cdi=8709640&cid=12%2F31%2F2002. Retrieved June 27, 2009. Missing or empty |title= (help)
21. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=412&cfgn=Year-end+Albums&cfn=The+Billboard+200&ci=3068361&cdi=8700888&cid=12%2F31%2F2003. Retrieved June 27, 2009. Missing or empty |title= (help)
22. "Australian Certifications on self-titled album Ashanti". ARIA. Archived from the original on 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
23. "Gold & Platinum Certifications: July 2002". CRIA. Retrieved 2011-04-16.
24. "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 2003年2月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. February 2003 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese). Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan. 521: 13. April 10, 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 3, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
25. "BPI certifications". BPI. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17.
26. "The USA Certifications of Ashanti". RIAA. Retrieved 2009-07-07.

External links