Nearly 20 years after the release of her self-titled debut album, R&B singer Ashanti has announced plans to re-record the project now that she owns the masters to 2002’s Ashanti and will be re-recording and releasing it independently.
During her appearance on “Tamron Hall,” the singer said “It’s so surreal,” while reflecting on owning her masters. “I have an amazing legal team, and I got my first record deal when I was 14 years old, so understanding and seeing how things have changed so much from then to now and conceptually understanding what you’re signing is so imperative, it’s so important nowadays. The fact that I’ll be able to re-record my first album, and put everything together.”
Ashanti also opened up about her unexpected reunion with ex Nelly during Fat Joe and Ja Rule’s Verzuz. “I really didn’t expect it, I didn’t know he was gonna be there, honestly. So when I saw him kind of coming across the stage, I was just like, ‘Oh…’ and it was so weird because we haven’t seen or spoken to each other for over six years so that was the first time in six years, so it was a weird feeling.”
Ashanti’s grammy award winning debut album was released on April 2, 2002 and spawned hits including “Happy,” “Baby,” and the chart-topping smash “Foolish.”