For urban R&B singer Ashanti it has been a case of third time lucky. Her honey-toned voice and striking looks landed her a recording contract with Jive Records at the age of 14, then again with Epic Records at 17, but neither of those deals came to fruition. It was when she was noticed by Murder Inc. mastermind Irv Gotti that Ashanti began to blossom. Gotti noted her dancing and acting abilities in addition to her vocal skills (she had previously appeared in the Walt Disney television musical Polly). Ashanti's first musical outing under Gotti was a guest vocal on the track "How We Roll" by Big Punisher. She then appeared in a series of duets that made her a stateside star in March 2002. She was Ja Rule's counterpart on the hypnotic "Always On Time", provided the chorus to Fat Joe's "What's Luv?", and married her vocals with the late Notorious B.I.G. for "Unfoolish". During this month Ashanti held three of the Top 10 positions in the Billboard chart, including numbers 1 and 2 with Ja Rule and Fat Joe, while her own "Foolish" climbed to the top of the charts in April and remained at the top until the end of June. As if that was not enough her self-titled debut album sold 500,000 copies in the USA in its first week of release. Mostly written by Ashanti herself, the album was unusually soulful for a Murder Inc. act, while retaining a street sensibility that helped it to worldwide popularity.

Courtesy of Def Jam