Ashanti opens up about not wanting a “baby” on her debut album

Ashanti looks back on a decade-long hit career. In 2002, Princess Murder Inc. Records released her eponymous debut album. Her third single was the melodically intriguing “Baby.”

While she sings “Baby, Baby, Baby” in the chorus, Ashanti wasn’t exactly thrilled that the track ended up on her album. “I didn’t like ‘Baby.’ Yes, that was an argument. It was crazy,” she recently told Vibe. For weeks, the video topped the list on BET’s music video countdown show 106 & Park. The record also charted in the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, making it an easy hit.

“I don’t know. I felt like I liked what I wrote, but it was a different vibe because it’s such a low register, you know, slow,” Ashanti added. “But it was vibe and I was a little nervous. Being released as a single is different than an album cut, you know?” she said.

The “Foolish” singer went on to explain that when creating songs for the project, she wasn’t sure which of the 17 tracks featured on the album would get radio release. “So [when] When I was making the album I didn’t know which ones would be picked as a single but I remember fighting with everyone in the studio. They just said, ‘No, shut up! You do it.’ I’ll give you that!” she said.

After performing the song for 20 years, Ashanti said she no longer had a problem with the record. In fact, it actually brings her some luck. “I just love it conceptually, how I flipped it and went back and forth with the ad-libs, the verses and the metaphors. I love the record. But I was just nervous because it was different,” she said.

The “My Name is a Story” writer has released six studio albums under Murder Inc. Records. In 2009, record label owner Irv Gotti released the singer from the label. Two years later, Ashanti founded her own label, Written Entertainment, on which she released her album Brave Heart.