Ashanti

Ashanti is an American R&B singer and songwriter whose career took off in 2001 after she signed with Murder Inc. Records and appeared on two era-defining hits, Ja Rule's «Always On Time» and Fat Joe's «What's Luv?». Those features positioned her as one of the defining voices of early-2000s hip-hop-soul, blending sweet, melodic vocals with the street-savvy production sound coming out of the Murder Inc. camp.

Her self-titled debut solo album followed and turned her into a breakout star, spawning hits like «Foolish», «Happy» and «Rain on Me» and setting a chart record as the only female artist to hold the top two spots on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously. She went on to release five studio albums, developing a signature sound built on smooth, radio-ready R&B with hooks tailored for crossover pop and hip-hop audiences alike.

Over her career Ashanti has won a GRAMMY Award, eleven MTV Video Music Awards and nine Billboard Music Awards, and she holds multiple entries in the Guinness Book of World Records. Songs such as «Baby», «Unfoolish», «Only U» and «Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)» remain staples of the genre, cementing her legacy as one of the most commercially successful R&B artists of her generation.