Ashanti Shequoya Douglas (born October 13, 1980), professionally known as Ashanti, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, poet, actress, and fashion designer who rose to fame in the early 2000s.

Ashanti was born in Glen Cove, New York to an Asian-American father (Ken-kaide) and an African-American mother (Tina). Her name is derived from the former African nation, Ashanti Confederacy.

Upon graduation from high school, Ashanti was accepted into Hampton University and Princeton University but turned down a track and field scholarship to pursue a singing career (see [1],[2]).

During her search for fame, she trained as a dancer at the Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center, learning a number of dance styles. She danced most notably in Disney's Polly, which starred Phylicia Rashad, and also appeared in several music videos and in Spike Lee's film, Malcolm X

Ashanti was first featured as a background vocalist on rapper Big Pun's song "How We Roll". She also appeared on the 2001 The Fast and the Furious soundtrack as a featured artist on Vita's 2001 hip hop remake of Madonna's "Justify My Love" and on the solo track "When a Man Does Wrong". She appeared as a background vocalist on "I'm Real (Murder Remix)", a collaboration by labelmate Ja Rule and Jennifer Lopez and was featured on Fat Joe's "What's Luv?" and Ja Rule's "Always on Time". "What's Luv" and "Always on Time" were released simultaneously and became two of the biggest hit songs of 2002. Ashanti became the first female to occupy the top two positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart when "Always on Time" and "What's Luv?" were number-one and number-two respectively.

Ashanti (2002)Following the success of her collaborations with Ja Rule and Fat Joe, Ashanti released her debut single, "Foolish", which contained a sample of the 1983 song "Stay With Me" by DeBarge (also utilized by The Notorious B.I.G. in his 1995 hit "One More Chance"). She became the second artist (after the The Beatles) to have their first three chart entries in the top ten of the Hot 100 simultaneously. Ashanti's self-titled debut album, Ashanti, was released on Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. record label in April 2002. It debuted at number-one on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart, selling Over - 500,000 copies in its first week (the most successful first week sales for a debut R&B female artist). The album has been certified 3x platinum in the U.S.

Ashanti's follow-up singles, "Happy" and "Baby", were not as successful as her debut single but did peak in the top ten and top twenty in the U.S. respectively. During the summer of 2002, Ashanti appeared on Ja Rule's "Down 4 U" with labelmates, female rappers Vita and Charli Baltimore. The song appeared on a Murder Inc. compilation titled Irv Gotti Presents The Inc. Ashanti's debut album earned her many awards including eight Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards, a Lady of Soul Award for "Aretha Franklin Entertainer of the Year", and a Grammy Award.

In 2003, Ja Rule and Ashanti collaborated on another hit song, "Mesmerize". Its music video was a parody of a scene from the film Grease.

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