Ashanti CD

ASHANTI won the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album.

Ashanti was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. "Foolish" was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

The young R&B thrush Ashanti makes an impressive showing on her self-titled debut album. Unlike many of her peers, Ashanti doesn't resort to vocal histrionics; this siren is more concerned with communicating the emotion of a song than showing off her chops. In fact, the reigning mood on this disc is a gauzy, slow-burn feel that makes the most of Ashanti's sensual, low-key style. Often she seems to be whispering right into your ear. Though there's an undercurrent of hip-hop-influenced production, that simmering, late-night feel remains consistent through the torch ballad "Foolish" (when will these spurned lovers learn?), the considerably less tortured "Happy," and the irresistible come-on of "Movies." Perhaps most telling of all, however, is the closing track "Thank You," which affords us the opportunity to hear Ashanti sing unaccompanied, revealing in plain sight the considerable pipes whose strength she tastefully downplays to fine effect throughout ASHANTI.

Young, pretty, sexy, stylish, and hip, Ashanti is everything a modern, post-hip-hop soul crooner should be. She looks the part, trucks with hitmakers -- at the time her eponymous debut was released, she was featured on a hit single by Fat Joe -- and even approximates Alicia Keys' visuals on the back cover. She can sing, but she's not showy; she never hyperventilates, she croons. Her first album sounds modern, with fairly fresh beats and lightly insistent hooks, and is just naughty enough to warrant a parental advisory sticker (though if you're just listening to this record, it's nigh on impossible to figure out where the objectionable lines are). So why doesn't Ashanti play as greater than the sum of its parts? Largely because it lacks distinctive material, in either terms of the actual songs or the production -- and when that's combined with a singer who is good, yet not distinctive herself, the entire production sounds as if its treading water or providing nifty aural wallpaper. It's not bad by any means, and it has its moments, but at 17 tracks, including skits, it all becomes a blur. A pleasing blur, one that shows promise, but a blur all the same. [The clean edition edits any profanity or questionable language from the album.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Personnel: Ashanti (vocals); Robert Bacon (guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar); Kenneth Crouch (grand piano).

Audio Mixers: Irv Gotti; Duro; Brian Springer.

Recording information: Crackhouse Studios, New York, NY; Soundcastle Studios, LA.

Photographer: Tony Duran.

Personnel includes: Ashanti (vocals); Ja Rule, Irv Gotti (rap vocals); 7, Chink Santana (various instruments); Rob Bacon (guitar); Butch Smalls (percussion).

Producers: 7, Chink Santana, Irv Gotti.

Rolling Stone (12/26/02, p.102) - Included in Rolling Stone's "The 50 Best Albums of 2002" - "...Overflows with dimmed-lighting delights..."
Rolling Stone (12/26/02, p.102) - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2002" - "...Overflows with dimmed-lighting delights..."
Q (p.132) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[H]er midtempo love, with its satin-y mid-'80s sheen, is phenomenally slick and intelligent."