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Ashanti: Singer Ashanti
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Singer Ashanti won a 2003 Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album for her solo debut, Ashanti. By the time the album was released, Ashanti was already an up-and-coming star on the urban and hip-hop music scene, thanks to collaborations with Jennifer Lopez and Big Punisher. Her own hit single, "Foolish," joined her duets with Ja Rule ("Always On Time") and Fat Joe ("What's Luv") at the top of the charts. Savvy marketing, which included magazine covers, music videos and public appearances, pushed her into the limelight alongside other R&B "divas" such as Beyoncé, Alicia Keys and Mary J. Blige. In 2003 she published a book, Foolish/Unfoolish: Reflections on Love, and released her second album, Chapter II, featuring the hit singles "Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)" and "Southside." In 2004 she released two albums, Can't Stop and Concrete Rose, and tried her hand at acting, landing a role in the Samuel L. Jackson feature, Coach Carter (2005).
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Grammy-winning singer Ashanti hit a sour note with a federal jury, which concluded Thursday she owes $630,000 to her first producer for breaking her contract with him. The singer was not in court when the jury returned its verdict after finding she was liable for a breach of contract with Genard Parker, who worked with her in 1996 and 1997 when she was 16 years old. Ashanti testified during the four-day trial that Parker did not live up to the terms of their deal as he helped her create music in a home studio that was so crude she sang in the bathroom while the sound was mixed elsewhere in the apartment. Ashanti lawyer Harry Stokes said the singer was disappointed and the verdict will be appealed. "We think the jury got confused somewhat, particularly on the damages," he said. "We feel confident when this is said and done we won't have to pay out anything."
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Multi-platinum and Grammy-winning star Ashanti initially built her reputation as a famous singer in duets. She appeared with rapper Ja Rule on his smash "Always On Time," (2001) which rocketed to the top of Billboard's Hot 100 chart. She then was featured on Fat Joe's "What's Luv?," a duet that reached No. 2 in the US and No. 4 on the UK charts.
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When Ashanti hit the scene in 2002, she didn't do it quietly. The single "Foolish" topped the Billboard charts almost upon its release, her face was plastered across magazine covers and her videos were in constant rotation. The smooth R&B singer has ... added her talents to a handful of singles for other artists such as Ja Rule and Big Pun.
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Young, pretty, sexy, stylish, and hip, Ashanti is everything a modern, post-hip-hop soul crooner should be. She looks the part, trucks with hitmakers -- at the time her eponymous debut was released, she was featured on a hit single by Fat Joe -- and even approximates Alicia Keys' visuals on the back cover. She can sing, but she's not showy; she never hyperventilates, she croons. Her first album sounds modern, with fairly fresh beats and lightly insistent hooks, and is just naughty enough to warrant a parental advisory sticker (though if you're just listening to this record, it's nigh on impossible to figure out where the objectionable lines are). So why doesn't Ashanti play as greater than the sum of its parts? Largely because it lacks distinctive material, in either terms of the actual songs or the production -- and when that's combined with a singer who is good, yet not distinctive herself, the entire production sounds as if its treading water or providing nifty aural wallpaper.
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Parker filed his civil suit against Ashanti last year for breaching the contract she'd signed with him in 1996, when she was 16. The suit claims Ashanti and her mother approached him for help in securing a label deal for the then-unknown singer; Parker worked on some of Ashanti's first professional recordings.
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Singer Ashanti