![\"Ashanti-Issue-No28\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Ashanti-Issue-No28.jpg\")
ASHANTI<\/h1>\nASHANTI<\/h1>\nThe R&B chart-topper faces down the labels and goes her own way\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>She stars on TV\u2019s Army Wives<\/i>, has her own fragrance, and contributed to Artists Stand Up to Cancer\u2019s \u201cJust Stand Up!\u201d single, but busy Ashanti still found time to write and record her fifth album, Braveheart<\/i>. The first release on her own label, Written Entertainment, pitted Ashanti the artist against Ashanti the businesswoman. \u201cAs much as I\u2019d love to be in the studio five days a week,\u201d she says, \u201cI now have to sign that invoice at the end.\u201d With guest turns including Dr. Dre, Meek Mill, Busta Rhymes and R. Kelly, Ashanti has found a way to make the numbers and the music work.<\/p>\n
When did you start work on Braveheart<\/i>?<\/b><\/p>\n
I went to L.A. to hang out for a bit, and just started recording randomly, bumping into people: \u201cHey, let\u2019s go to the studio!\u201d But it wasn\u2019t until 2011 that I started to focus and said, \u201cOK, I have to put an album together.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is your songwriting process?<\/b><\/p>\n
If I\u2019m going with a producer, they\u2019re going to play the beat, and I\u2019ll say, \u201cOh, I love it,\u201d or \u201cThat\u2019s not for me.\u201d If it\u2019s something I really love I\u2019ll probably start writing it right then and record it that night. I\u2019ll write the hook,<\/p>\n
and then the first verse, and record it to see if I like how it sounds. Sometimes if you write something on paper it\u2019s great, but when you hear it back, it\u2019s not. I like to write it, hear it, and then decide whether\u00a0to move on or not.<\/p>\n
How did you select your collaborators?<\/b><\/p>\n
Everything happened organically. For example, Busta Rhymes and I were working in the same studio at Platinum Sound in New York\u2014and he heard my song from across the studio, and he was like, \u201cOh, my God! I need to get on this record!\u201d He told me, \u201cAshanti, this will drastically change our relationship if I\u2019m not<\/i> on this record.\u201d He killed it\u2014I\u2019m really happy with that.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s behind the album title?<\/b><\/p>\n
The title is self-explanatory as far as being in the industry\u2014you have to be confident at what you\u2019re doing. Being an artist, my records deal with relationships. Those are some of my biggest records. The other metaphor, having my own record label versus being on a major, is how I saw the Scots versus the Brits in the movie Braveheart<\/i>. The Brits had armor, horses and swords.<\/p>\n
They were geared up, like the majors. The\u00a0Scots are like the indies\u2014barefoot, wearing rags and with homemade weapons. But the passion and the confidence they had, that was undeniable. I feel like that\u2019s the position I\u2019m in. Even with us being an indie, there\u2019s no denying the passion and the hunger\u00a0to go out and win.<\/p>\n
What motivated you to start an indie?<\/b><\/p>\n
The last album I released, The<\/i> Declaration<\/i>, was in 2008\u2014and between 2009 and 2011 I had seven offers from majors. I sat in everyone\u2019s office with the biggest CEOs of each company, and I just couldn\u2019t take the 360 deal. It was a hard decision to make, just fear of the unknown and being by yourself, because I\u2019d always been with a major label. Understanding how the industry has changed and how they were offering the 360, I just didn\u2019t want to partake in it. I opted to go the indie route. There\u2019s a lot of responsibility. You have to be visual, have a record, and most of all you have to have a budget. This is something I wanted to do, and we\u2019re really excited about it.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re making it pop.<\/p>\n
\u2013Amanda Farah<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ASHANTI The R&B chart-topper faces down the labels and goes her own way\u00a0 \u00a0She stars on TV\u2019s Army Wives, has her own fragrance, and contributed to Artists Stand Up to Cancer\u2019s \u201cJust Stand Up!\u201d single, but busy Ashanti still found time to write and record her fifth album, Braveheart. The first release on her own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[7083,6978],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10768"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10768"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10771,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10768\/revisions\/10771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}