There’s a video circulating across social media, showing Ashanti speaking on her past relationship with record executive Irv Gotti. In the recording, as heard by Media Take Out, Ashanti flat out denies any romantic involvement with Irv.
Well before you go believing her – we did a bit of research.
Media Take Out learned that the recording took place nearly a decade ago, before Irv spilled the beans, and told the world that the two were dating. So at the time that Ashanti made the statements, she was not contradicting Irv – she may just have been telling a little white lie trying to reduce her body count (which all women are entitled to do).
Listen to the recording:
The audio is currently being peddled as “new” across social media, in an attempt to stir up more drama with the extremely chatty Irv Gotti.
But we have to ask – do you think Irv and Ashanti really DID have a relationship?
In 2002, Ashanti released her eponymous debut album, which sold over 505,000 copies throughout the U.S. in its first week of release. The album earned her many awards, including eight Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards, and a Grammy Award in 2003 for Best Contemporary R&B Album. The album has since been certified triple platinum in the United States and sold six million copies worldwide by the end of 2003.
The lead single for the album, “Foolish”, was a critical and commercial success; it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. With “Foolish”, she became the second artist (after The Beatles) to have their first three chart entries in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously. Ashanti wrote and sang for Jennifer Lopez’s “Ain’t It Funny (Murder Remix)”, which also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2003, Ashanti released her second album, Chapter II, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 326,000 copies in the U.S. The album went platinum, selling over 1.5 million copies in U.S. since its release.
The album’s singles, “Rock wit U (Awww Baby)” and “Rain on Me”, were both commercial successes, peaking at number two and number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, respectively. Chapter II was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album, and “Rock wit U (Awww Baby)” and “Rain on Me” were each nominated in the categories of Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. In November 2003, Ashanti released a Christmas album titled Ashanti’s Christmas, which was a modest commercial success.
