Undercover sister

A COUPLE OF years ago, the name Ashanti was mostly associated with all things ethnic relating to the African continent and, in particular, a race of people from southern Ghana. Today, it's the moniker of a successful young R&B singer who has taken the world by storm. Before her eponymous debut album had even hit the shelves, the New York native had already racked up a string of hits; she featured on Ja Rule's Always On Time, as well as two other tracks from his album Pain Is Love. She has also worked with Cadillac Tah on his singles Thug City and POV City Anthem and she's cameoed on Bronx rapper Fat Joe's What's Luv? and rapper Vita's cover of Madonna's Justify My Love. But it wasn't piggy-backing on other singers' tracks that earned Ashanti the title 'Princess of hip-hop soul' - she's also penned songs for the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Christina Milian and Toni Braxton.

The 21-year-old says her climb to fame has been a hard one - and she never envisaged herself touring the world with gangsta rappers and surrounded by an entourage of heavy hip-hop minders. Her parents both worked in entertainment - her mother was a choreographer and dancer, her father a singer - and from the age of six, Ashanti sang in a gospel choir and studied dance.

Her singing career began in 1994, when she performed at a local talent show where her soulful voice caught the attention of industry insiders and she immediately signed on with a management team. She began performing at venues in New York. She had also been a keen dancer throughout high school, and had performed with the Senior Pro Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Apollo Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Black Spectrum Theatre. Her dance credits include the Disney TV musical Polly. 'It hasn't been an overnight success at all,' Ashanti says. 'I started chasing a deal when I was 13 and I'm 21 now, so it's a long time in the making.' She may have been performing in Disney musicals, but her musical inspirations were Ella Fitzgerald and Mary J Blige, and her musical aspirations decidedly more streetwise. 'I didn't want to only sing slow songs, but I didn't want to be spittin' rhymes,' she says. 'But Mary put those concepts together. She cleared the way and now I'm following my own path.'

Her music is best described as R&B hip-hop soul, and her first single How We Roll (a hit for the late Latin rapper Big Pun last year) caught the attention of Irv Gotti, producer for Murder Inc records. Part of the Def Jam label, the label's artists include LL Cool J, Ja Rule, Vita and Wu Tang Clan - a long way from Disney.

'They're definitely hardcore,' says Ashanti. 'When I hooked up with Irv at the beginning our intent was not to sign with the label, but just to get some up-tempo, hot beats for the album. We knew Ja Rule and Tah Murder - it's a thugged out label! But working with them, we kind of built and created chemistry - I fit in and I was cool with everybody. The chemistry was just there and the records were coming out really hot, so it seemed like the smart thing to do was to sign with Murder Inc.'

Ashanti's mother and co-manager, Tina Y Douglas, was reportedly nervous about her young daughter joining a gangsta rap label. She called Gotti and asked him, 'Why do you guys call yourselves Murder?' Gotti replied, 'Cause we're killing them with our music.''

And so the demure-looking singer joined the gangstas, filling a void in the record label's stable. 'The intent was not to sign with them, because they're so hip-hop, there was no room for R&B,' Ashanti recalls. 'But now it's cool, now that I'm in the Inc, there's no turning back we definitely have something special as far as being a unique label and being so family-oriented. We all support each other and I believe that's why everything is so successful.'

Not to mention Gotti's marriage of smooth R&B and hip-hop. He describes Ashanti as 'Murder Inc's princess - with a gangsta feel'. After her Murder Inc collaborations, most notably Always, which has become Def Jam's biggest-selling single, there was such a buzz around Ashanti that her debut album was released early, in April this year.

'I'm not really gangsta,' Ashanti says. 'I definitely feel that the gangsta side of it comes from the music - we have the hard beats and different strings and different snares in the music that definitely brings out the gangsta side of it, but the lyrics are like, universal, stuff that everyone can relate to.'

Including hip-hop and rap fans. Ashanti strikes a neat balance between streetwise and sophisticated. On her album notes, she thanks everyone from her parents to her parish reverend, yet the album could conceivably have a parental warning sticker on the front - there's a lot of swearing between the soulful hooks.

'But you know what, it's not me singing it, you know what I'm saying? It's Irv singing that, or other people on the record,' Ashanti asserts. 'And that's real life - regardless if you're a reverend, you hear it. Regardless of whether you're five years old and you're at daycare, someone's gonna curse, you're gonna hear it.'

Cursing or not, Ashanti's album is making her a household name around the world and her songwriting skills in hot demand. In between, she finds the time to work with Toni Braxton, and soon she hopes, Mariah Carey, who has also just signed to Murder Inc.

'Everyone had a lot of confidence that the first album would be a success and be really positive, but no one knew, by any means, that the numbers were going to just be phenomenal, and all around the world - just so successful,' she says, beaming. 'I'm definitely thankful for all the fans and the support, because everyone's still kinda in shock.

'I feel like right now I'm kind of living out my dreams. It's definitely a wonderful feeling.'