Throughout her decades-long career, Ashanti has scored chart-topping singles,a Grammy Award and her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — but notwithout enduring quite a bit of music industry drama along the way.
“Honestly, I’m not sure if another artist would be able to deal with what I’vedealt with,” the R&B icon tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue, opening up aboutthe highs and lows she’s endured since hitting the scene more than 20 yearsago.
Growing up in Long Island, New York, the daughter of mom Tina Douglas (herlongtime manager) and dad Ken-Kaide Douglas, Ashanti discovered her voice atage 12 by singing Mary J. Blige’s “Reminisce” for her parents, who startedtaking her to local singing competitions — which she often won. After twounsuccessful record deals as a teenager, she signed to music executive IrvGotti’s record label Murder Inc. in 2002 and quickly shot to fame with No. 1hits like “Always on Time” and “Foolish.”
“It was a little bit of a shock from just having a regular life to tree butit was a blessing,” says the 42-year-old singer-songwriter, whose self-titleddebut album sold nearly 505,000 copies in one week upon its release in 2002.”When it did pop off for me, it really popped off.”
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Murder Inc.’s only female R&B artist at the time, Ashanti often found herselfworking in rooms as the only woman among male rappers and hip-hop artists. “Iwas always a tomboy, so I felt right at home with a bunch of big brothers,”she recalls, noting that the landscape came with its challenges, which shewelcomed. “If there was a beat I wanted, and another rapper on the labelwanted, we would have to battle it out, and whoever wrote the best record gotthe beat. So, it made me stronger.”
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Throughout the early 2000s, she would also find herself compared to otherwomen in R&B by fans and media outlets alike. While certain headlines stillstick out today — “The Solo Beyoncé: She’s No Ashanti,” wrote The New YorkTimes in 2003 — Ashanti says there were never any issues between the genre’swomen behind the scenes.
“Reading [that headline], I was just like, ‘What’s going on? We’re cool,'” shesays. “Both of us, being young females that are following our dreams and doingwhat we loved, we were both happy for each other. It was never beef ortension.”
Ashanti during WBLI Summer Jam 2002 – Show at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh,New York, United States. (Photo by KMazur/WireImage)
KMazur/WireImage Ashanti
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Having her mom and close-knit collaborators like Fat Joe, Ja Rule and Gotti inher corner helped protect Ashanti from the dark sides of the music industryfor a while. After a couple more albums and hit songs, however, the recordlabel was accused of laundering drug money by federal agents in 2003 and wentto trial over the matter through 2005. (Gotti, 52, and Murder Inc. co-founder,his brother Chris, were eventually acquitted of all counts.)
Throughout the trial, Ashanti looked to remain “loyal” to her “family” ofcolleagues and accompanied them to court — all while losing business due toher affiliation with the group. “A lot of things got pulled from under meright when I was continuing to soar,” she says.
Around the same time, Ashanti began dating rapper Nelly and ventured intoacting with films including 2006’s John Tucker Must Die. Her connection toGotti soured, which he’s since claimed was partially the result of a romanticrelationship between them abruptly ending — allegations she denies, statingthere was no relationship. “I had love for Irv,” she explains. “We had oursituation, but I think he blew it out of proportion.”
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Murder Inc. was in flux around the release of Ashanti’s fifth album TheDeclaration in 2008, and she soon exited the collective. Then, she took abreak from music and focused on acting, starring as Dorothy in _The Wiz_onstage in NYC in 2009. “It wasn’t a choice,” she says. “It was something thatneeded to happen because of everything that was going on.”
She then returned to music on her own terms, launched an independent labelcalled Written Entertainment and released her sixth album, 2014’s_Braveheart_. Removing herself from Gotti’s “control,” she speculates, led himto continue speaking negatively about her in public — through today. “I thinkhe began to get really bitter,” says Ashanti. “As a man, sometimes you gethurt. Usually you move on, but some guys aren’t able to.”
Braveheart debuted in the Billboard 200’s top 10 — an impressive feat foran independent artist. But behind the scenes, she faced other difficulties.Recently, she spoke in-depth about experiencing sexual harassment at the handsof a close-knit male music producer, with whom she created two songs.Initially, he offered her the tracks for free, before walking back on his wordand giving her an ultimatum: shower with him or pay $40,000 for each song.
Ashanti at the United Nations, New York City, New York, April 30, 2019
EuropaNewswire/Gado/Getty Ashanti
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“I really, sincerely thought he was joking. You can feel like someone’s cool,and in the back of their mind, they have an ulterior motive,” she says, hopingthat sharing the story inspires other women in the music industry to remaincareful before trusting collaborators. “Things like that can happen toAshanti, so it can happen to anyone — and I’ve heard worse stories.”
Despite the hardships, Ashanti has prevailed. In recent years, she’sconsistently released music (with a brand-new album in the works), actedonscreen in projects including VH1’s _A New Diva ‘s Christmas Carol _andperformed her catalog to global audiences of thousands. “I just played showsin Australia, New Zealand and Dubai,” she says. “I held out the mic, and thecrowd screamed ‘Foolish’ at the top of their lungs. That’s an incrediblefeeling after 20 years.”
She’s also working on taking her career further into her own hands with aforthcoming documentary about her life and artistry as well as a re-recordedversion of her debut album — which she, rather than Murder Inc., will fullyown upon its release. “Hopefully, this inspires artists to know, at the end ofthe day, it’s so important to own your creativity,” she says.