Warrior princess

There’s a tendency among the public to think that, if they’ve never heard of you on a Tuesday, but by Wednesday afternoon you’re all over the radio, the billboards, the shops and the TV, you must have been an Overnight Success. This presumption is not appreciated by Ashanti S. Douglas who, at 22, already has a nine-year history in the music business.

In other words, while 2002 may have been the annus mirabilis of the “Princess of Hip-Hop Soul” (Ja Rule’s appellation), 1994-2001 inclusive are not to be discounted.

“It was a lot of hard work,” she recalls, “and you would be amazed at how many people ask, like, ‘Wow! How did you get so big so fast?’ It was not fast! It was nothing near an overnight success!” The singer is too polite and generous-hearted to betray any rancour, but there is a hint of exasperation in her tone. And given her bittersweet musical biography, this is to be understood.

At 13 Ashanti signed to Jive Records, but the deal was off a year later. She claims creative straitjacketing was the problem. “It was a really pop-pop label,” she says. “I wasn’t really allowed to be hands on with my own project.”

Four years later Epic came on board with another ill-starred compact. “[At first] it seemed like the exact opposite [of the Jive deal]. They had hot producers, the music was right, but internally the label started to fail. They started pushing the wrong artists, plus the person who originally signed me to the label, I don’t know whether he quit or got fired, but he was out of the picture. And when the guy who signs you is suddenly nowhere to be seen, you start getting worried!”

Remember that at this time, two failed signings on, the singer is all of 17 years old. She’s getting pretty disillusioned too. But her parents - sometimes overbearing, always encouraging - have always been convinced that she was destined for greatness, and refuse to give up on her.

More abortive signings ensue, and she is genuinely on the point of packing it all in when her co-manager Linda Burke introduces her to Mario Baeza, who just happens to be a good friend of Irv Gotti, head of the legendary Murder Inc. imprint. One problem: Murder Inc. is a gangsta rap label, and Ashanti is singing R’n’B.

“We took a while as people to get along,” Ashanti remembers. “I mean, we were definitely on different pages at the start, but then [Irv would] start inviting me up to the studio, and I told him that I write music too, and eventually we all just clicked. I used to ask him, ‘How are you gonna sign me to a rap label?’ He’d just say, ‘Leave it to me.’”

Good advice: the producer, captivated by Ashanti’s distinctive voice and now sharing her parents’ belief in her, put her on Big Pun’s ‘How We Roll’ single. While only a minor success in itself, it cemented the chanteuse’s position not only as a highly talented vocalist, but also an eclectic collaborator with interests far outside run-of-the-mill r’n’b. Next came Jennifer Lopez’ ‘Ain’t It Funny’ remix, which Ashanti co-wrote and backed, and Ja Rule’s heavily-rotated ‘Always On Time,’ to which she brought stunning chorus vox.

By this stage, with Ashanti’s name well-known among hip-hop and R&B cognoscenti, Gotti felt the time was right for her to cut a solo album. He would personally oversee production, help with the writing and generally do the guru thing. The eponymous album, released in the US on April 2, 2002, had the highest first week sales of any female R’n’B debut in recent history.

Its singles, ‘Foolish’, ‘Happy’ and ‘Rescue’ are superglued to FM playlists the world over, and the Goodfellas-themed video to ‘Foolish’ is an MTV favourite. Ashanti has arrived.

And despite Ja Rule’s forebodings, she seems barely fazed by success and its etceteras. She works hard, collaborates with Charlie Baltimore and Toni Braxton on her “days off” and generally defies all imperious-diva expectations. Could this be due to a pragmatism/cynicism earned during her early label failings? “You know what? I took that as a character builder and a learning experience. I wouldn’t call myself cynical, but [those years] sure taught me how to deal with things better.”

As if she still had something to prove about her work ethic, she’s just released a poetry anthology, Foolish/Unfoolish: Reflections On Love (Hyperion). Her hope is that those who are not necessarily hip-hop or r’n’b fans can still enjoy her lyrical work “in a different form.”

So what’s next? Movies? She laughs at the idea. “Maybe, maybe later on. I’m just way too busy now. We plan on doing a huge world tour soon, then go back into the lab for the second album.” She’s not even sure if she’ll make it home to Long Island for Christmas. “Well, I’m gonna be in Tokyo on Christmas Eve. I’m gonna try flying out after the show, but you never know. I really want to be back there, opening presents. Jetlagged and happy.”