Before we seen her face, we heard her singing hooks on joints for Big Pun, Fat Joe, and later on, her label mate Ja Rule. Ashanti Douglas has proved herself to be one of R&B’s most greatest artists of her time. She blew up in the early 2000’s for being the girl who was singing on hooks only. Ashanti’s voice is almost similar to Aaliyah’s, she’s got that soft, sweet, sultry Soprano thing going on but her style musically was similar to Mary J. Blige’s, it is Hip hop soul. Ashanti reminds you of that nice girl in the hood who was a hip hop fan but she could sing her ass off. You’ll see her walking down the street in a fresh pair of Air Force Ones, tight jeans, chewing gum, rocking a varsity jacket and big hoop earrings just without the “ratchet”, not calling those kinds girls ratchet though. LOL! She’s the one all the hardcore guys call to sing hooks on their songs and she does it well with the songwriting as well which is why she was nicknamed “The Princess of Hip Hop and R&B.” A lot of artists both male and female have been on the “hip hop soul” movement since “What’s the 411?” but what makes Ashanti a little more different than the rest is her being a fan of hip hop. She’s not just a singer on hip hop tracks, she embraces hip hop in her attitude and her little bop in her videos. I’ve always been a fan of Ashanti since 2002 when she dropped her debut single “Foolish”, singing over The Notorious B.I.G.’s 1995 remix single “One More Chance” and DeBarge’s 1983 single “Stay With Me.” I remember when she first came out like it was yesterday because I was in the second grade, I was 8 years old and “Foolish” was on BET every five minutes and I remember when the video came out with Terrance Howard and it made number 1 on BET’s 106 & Park Top 10 Live list. I do miss those days. The days of a 90’s born-00’s raised kid. Her next joint “Happy”, turned out to be my all time favorite joint by her. The chorus and hook is the best part of the song. The beat is hard with this happy and catchy whistling sound and the chorus and hook has this beautiful harmony that’s very mesmerizing and gets you lost into the sound, that’s an effect I usually get from Brandy. Ashanti’s entire self titled debut was banger from beginning to end and then she released “Chapter II”, my favorite album from her. Another smash album under her belt. She put out “Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)”, “Rain On Me” and “Breakup 2 Makeup” and the remixes were bangers too. The hip hop in Ashanti’s music were mostly on the remixes. She had everyone and their momma on those joints. When “Chapter II” came out in the summer of 2003, I was in Virginia at my auntie’s house singing those songs. My cousins and one of their friends didn’t wanna hear me though but I was feeling that album. LMAO! That was around the same time Beyoncé dropped “Dangerously In Love” and “Baby Boy” was everywhere too; that and “Rock Wit U.” The joint “Feel So Good” was the best one to me because it came from Black Moon’s “I Gotcha Opin (Remix)”, a certified banger. That one should’ve been a hit from the album to me. Her next joint “Concrete Rose” was another banger. Ashanti was no joke in her prime. She kept coming back to back with albums and bangers but this album had a couple of joints I skipped more than the first two. She blew me away with “Don’t Let Them.” That joint came straight from Raekwon’s “Heaven & Hell.” Another banger from that album is “Love Again” but after that she came out with “The Declaration” but her shit wasn’t the same. She went full R&B now, which is cool but that spark she used to give me with her first three was gone because she wasn’t down with Irv Gotti and the Inc. anymore. She still as beautiful as usual but she’s one gem that people don’t appreciate enough to me. She’s no Mary J., no Brandy, no Aaliyah, Monica, Janet Jackson but she was dope in her own right. I’ll always appreciate Ashanti aka The Princess of Hip Hop and R&B.
The Princess of Hip Hop & R&B: The Wonderful World of Ashanti
