Happy Birthday Ashanti! 5 Essential Ashanti Songs

Ashanti is known by many as "The Princess of Hip Hop & R&B" and in the early 2000s she was the "First Lady" of The Murder Inc. juggernaut featuring a ton of hits by herself and Ja Rule. Her debut album "Ashanti" earned her a Grammy and its considered one of R&B's new "classics". Today (October 13th), Ashanti celebrates her 35th birthday and we look back at her historic career!

1
"Foolish"
Yes, that's Terrance Howard at the start of this one and yes, Irv Gotti and crew made sure Ashanti's first single out of the gate was a sure shot. Riding Biggie's "One More Chance" which sampled DeBarge's "Stay With Me", "Foolish" shot to the top of the charts.
2
"Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)"
We skip forward to her second album "Chapter II" and its lead single "Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)" which features Ashanti cooing an infectious "Aww baby" all over the track making in an instant jam for the ladies.
3
"Happy"
The Murder Inc. model was just like that of Bad Boy Records in the 90's, sample from the classics. Throughout Ashanti's first album this is very prevalent as Irv hooks her up with The Gap Band's "Outstanding" to create a cheery, and very upbeat track!
4
"Always On Time" featuring Ja Rule
Ashanti and Ja Rule was considered the musical "Beyonce and Jay-Z" of their era even though the duo never dated. Musically, the duo was a hit making machine and it wasn't hard to tell that if it works, keep it going. "Always On Time" would help propel Ashanti into the record books as the first female artist to hold the #1 and #2 spots on The Billboard Hot 100 charts with this song and her collaboration with another hip hop artist Fat Joe "What's Luv?".
5
"Rain On Me"
Sticking to the script, Ashanti sampled Isaac Hayes' "The Look Of Love" and flipped it into this sexy, slow jam.

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