Ashanti

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So, what's the current verdict on Ashanti, the Queen of ALL the charts in 2002 (on the American side of the Atlantic anyway - has her album even been released in the UK?) ?

Talented or Vapid ? Deserves credit for penning her own songs unlike Britney, or deserves blame for duetting *multiple* times with that personification of all that is wrong the world, Ja Rule? And do you think there's something just a little malefic about her herself...I don't know, but some sort of hidden malfeasance I seem to sense about her. Those eyes!! Is Ashanti evil?

[regardless, I make an early plea for "Happy" being kept on a future "search & destroy"]

― V, Monday, 15 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm trying to work out what is to like about this woman. Not only is she not especially pretty, not only does her voice peak at 'middling', but she's nicked that bloody piano loop off QVC, I swear it... "my days are long without you, and I can time them to the very millisecond with this diver's watch, using genuine Russian military technology..."

I'm pretty sure this has come up a bundle of times, actually, but I can't remember where...

― Mr Swygart, Monday, 15 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

VAPID.

So unspeakably bland, it baffles me how she got a record contract. Sure, she's passable as an anonymous backround singer chick for Ja Rule or Fat Joe, but she is just too slight to carry a song on her own.

― Nicole, Monday, 15 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'll be interested to see how she does in the focus group! ;)

― jel --, Thursday, 18 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Slight voice. Precisely. The Gotti production on her tunes, however, is uniformly excellent. Happy especially and I don't think she's on "I wanna be your chick" but damn if that doesn't feel like Windowlicker come to r&b life.

― Sterling Clover, Thursday, 18 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Having heard the whole album which I yes, bought at regular price ::pausing for rude laughter:: I have to say that while the songs may not sound substantial outside of headphones, inside of them the production really comes alive. And her voice, while we can't get that good a peek at it since it's dubbed over/layered so much, can sound strong when she wants it to. On "Baby" especially she sounds like an alternate Nelly Furtado, no joke. (Not that that's necessarily a good thing.) Almost all the songs are good, except for Foolish which at this point I hate.

I'd still take her over Alicia "I'm so talented!!whoo!" Keys anyday..

― V, Thursday, 18 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh and that "Down for You" Murder Inc. "sampling" track, is killer

― V, Thursday, 18 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't really like Ashanti as a personality (I haven't really witnessed one so far, so it could actually go either way based on subsequent evidence) but anyone who can make something as lovely and unexpected as "Rescue" and "Voodoo" cannot be all bad. In terms of critical reception she seems to suffer from falling between two stools, possessing neither the glitz of Destiny's Child or dark oddness of Aaliyah on the one hand, nor the traditionalism and singer-songwriter overtones that people love about Alicia Keys. On one level there's a genuine criticism there - the combined safeness and insistence of something like "Foolish" is not the sort of thing that makes the top 40 exciting, and by being so indistinct and corporate-urban Ashanti is an even greater potential weapon for pop conservatism than Alicia - but there's also the suspicion that she's merely being punished for being too R&B, neither flashy enough nor worthy enough to endear her to outsiders. Which is maybe more unfair on R&B than it is on Ashanti; in spite of - or perhaps because of - the increased attention of the past few years, R&B still seems to be liked more for its allusions to other styles of music than for itself (I'm guilty of doing this myself).

As for Ashanti, she's best when she's actually using her weak voice to advantage, making less tuneful and more atmospheric, almost mystical slow jams. On "Rescue" and especially "Voodoo" she seems to aim for the sort of "One In A Million"-style astral romantacism that Aaliyah was too wilfully perverse to really stick with. "Voodoo" makes me think of both "Love To Love You Baby" and LTJ Bukem's "Atlantis (I Need You)" - what did I say about allusions?

― Tim, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bukem? *thinks*...I must not recall that song so well, as I'm not seeing that at all.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

what annoys me is the 'Foolish' track uses the same piano loop that Notorious BIG used for 'One More chance' - which may also have been a number one hit in the States back in '94 or whenever it was.

why are hip hop producers suddenly using samples from hip hop records from eight years ago? J Lo has done it on her last 2 records as well (ripping Craig Mack's 'Flava In Ya Ear' for 'Aint It Funny (Remix)' and then Da Luniz 'I Got 5 On It' for the latest 'I'm Gonna Be Alright').

It annoys me cos the 'original' hip hop tracks were all far better and it just seems very lazy to do this.

Ashanti - sweet voice (if a bit flat) - I think she could be filling the gap vacated by Aaliyah. Neither of them could hold a candle to Brandy though as far as I'm concerned ;)

― blueski, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, I think "Rescue" is fantastic, it starts out that 3-song highlight of the album, "Rescue," "Baby" and "Voodoo." I also believe that she is getting critically slightened, and if she was the equivalent of a young rock-band who "write their own lyrics" etc. - not paticularly original or distinctive, but catchy nonetheless - she would get more acclaim. See: Phantom Planet.

Not everyone can be Alicia Keys, thank god. For someone's who 20-21 this album is promise enough, I definitely think she has potential to grow, but whether or not she'll choose more adventurous producers or stick with Murder Inc. will appear to be the issue. She can always settle to continue being the "hook girl," singing on more empty, populist hip-hop anthems. Maybe she's just a flavor-of-the-year, I don't know, but I doubt her name is going to help her much, as the vibrations will interfere with her hopes for success..."Ashanti" means "unpeaceful" in Sanskrit, it's a very unauspicious name. She should change it.

― V, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"I don't really like Ashanti as a personality (I haven't really witnessed one so far"

I'm not sure I get where she's coming from either, but that "Foolish" video was being shown every five minutes on MTV here in States. I think people are connecting with her personality in the video. I think it must be the part where she straddles her man and tells him off. I personally like the part where she gets fed up and puts her face in her hands (drama!). Also, I think she looks like Natalie Cole's Mini-Me.

― Spencer Chow, Saturday, 20 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the point is that she's not putting any effort into creating a persona - she's a bit like Monica I guess, whose good singles never sounded as good as they would have otherwise, because the person singing them seemed so run-of-the-mill.

― Tim, Saturday, 20 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

haha aka a normal person

― Josh, Sunday, 21 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You're absolutely right Josh, but in terms of "DO YOU SEE????" content this is a no-brainer, surely?

(Josh could you please release a sexy R&B single sampling a B.I.G. hit, with some guy whispering "Kortbein..." in the intro? And could you base the video clip on Gravity's Rainbow? That would make me v. happy)

― Tim, Sunday, 21 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I understand why people say she has a slight voice, but not why people say she has no persona. Putting aside the marketing, which seems to promote her as a blank screen for both genders to project whatever they want on to, in her voice on "Foolish" I hear undertones which to me suggest she's hungrier than she's getting credit for. Note I may be biased by my adoration of DeBarge.

Sidenote: Ja Rule is only about 10 percent of all that's wrong with the world. Fat Joe is at least half.

― B-Rad, Sunday, 21 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Not only is she not especially pretty,

yeah fuck that shit, i don't wanna fuck her how dare she be famous????!!!

― di, Sunday, 21 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like that "it should be about us, it's about trust baby" bit.

― Marc, Sunday, 21 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

tim I may have some trouble finding a v-2 to ride

― Josh, Sunday, 21 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

she's best when she's actually using her weak voice to advantage

Yes, because I would argue that actually is her 'persona'. She's even more fluttery and vapid than Monica was... she embodies her voice's threat to evaporate before our ears. It's sort of like Kahimi Karie's voice without the self-conscious girliness (which subjects her to being a lot less fun). Ashanti's weakest moment is ironically where she attempts to be at her strongest, belting out that uncomfortable acapella interlude. She's sweet, humble, and harmless, which is not nearly ostentatious enough for chart-pop stardom but it's still a persona that I get from her.

― Honda, Sunday, 21 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

embodies her voice's threat to evaporate before our ears
summed up so nicely.

― di, Sunday, 21 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The three song sequence on the album starting with "Rescue" is indeed quite nice, but not for Ashanti who is almost drowning in the rich production. Baby especially has those sweet bounce-ish drums and an airy touch which she just clods all over. She can evaporate in the high range but when she moves low, it's painfully stunted, like tupac trying to sing.

Gotti is unique in that while the general production trend is away from technoid, his own joints have gotten increasingly synthetic and stuttery (cf. the backwards thang on Rescue). Like he's always been doing such a different thing that his advancement is in the form of trying to catch up. Ashanti might be tolerable over starker production, more traditional, except then she would probably need actual lyrics as she can't pull off the diva repitition required by the stuff she's doing now.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 22 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

five years pass...

I GOT THAT GOOD GOOD
I GOT THAT GOOD GOOD

― The Brainwasher, Thursday, 17 July 2008 23:28 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffrtdLR1B7Q

Melina is killing them with the videos this year... "I Decided" "Closer" "Energy" "Good Good"... she should win director of the year at the VMAs

― The Brainwasher, Thursday, 17 July 2008 23:29 (seventeen years ago)

lol @ still giving a fuck about Ashanti

― The Reverend, Friday, 18 July 2008 01:25 (seventeen years ago)

I don't really but "Good Good" is my shit right now and the vid is awesome

― The Brainwasher, Friday, 18 July 2008 01:26 (seventeen years ago)

my apologies, homeboy, that's kinda dope

― The Reverend, Friday, 18 July 2008 05:37 (seventeen years ago)

Ashanti was so crappish

― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Friday, 18 July 2008 23:58 (seventeen years ago)

Back when she first came out she was really vapid (still is) only she was really good at giving it that raw emotion that one requires for your average R&B songstress. I think, bless her she does try but she's just...not good there's some potential she just needs to move on from Murder Inc. Plus she has a penchant for bad trousers. Once high waisted white hot pant crotch huggers *shudder* and that vid with Ja.
OTM V.
Ashanti - sweet voice (if a bit flat) - I think she could be filling the gap vacated by Aaliyah. Neither of them could hold a candle to Brandy though as far as I'm concerned ;)
Are you on crack?

― VeronaInTheClub, Saturday, 19 July 2008 00:10 (seventeen years ago)

noobs will ask the same about you 6 years from now

― blueski, Saturday, 19 July 2008 00:20 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah probably.

― VeronaInTheClub, Saturday, 19 July 2008 00:25 (seventeen years ago)

LOL that video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VyLafVQDz4

― daria-g, Saturday, 19 July 2008 01:51 (seventeen years ago)

twelve years pass...

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/verzuz-ashanti-keyshia-cole-postponed-covid19-1234852473/

― good karma, my aesthetic (morrisp), Sunday, 13 December 2020 01:04 (five years ago)

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