Ashanti: heartbreaker, dream-maker, pop's new major mover and shaker

Almost as soon as she was making records, Ashanti was breaking them. When her self-titled debut for Murder Inc./Def Jam sold over 500,000 copies, entering the charts at #1 in April, it became the highest first week sales entry ever achieved by a debuting female artist (it's since sold over two million--and isn't stopping). That was Ashanti's second such record: she tied with the Beatles for most Top 10 singles at the same time, thanks to her smash collaborations with Fat Joe ("What's Luv") and her multiplatinum Murder Inc. mentor Ja Rule ("Always On Time"), and her own chart-topping anthem "Foolish."

What accounts for 21-year-old Ashanti's rapid ascension? Her charisma lies somewhere in the balance between singularity and universal appeal: She's your best girlfriend, singing songs that could come out of anybody's romantic turmoil, but she's also smoky and mysterious, the musical soul child of Sade and Mary J. Blige. Fans and industry heads alike have anointed her the new "princess of hip-hop soul"--but that's just marketing buzz. The truth? Ashanti's an old soul with a spot-on knack for a killer pop hook.

MATT DIEHL: How many times have you been foolish in love?

ASHANTI: Well, being that I'm only 21....Let me see. My relationship before the last one was good. My most recent relationship went, uh, dead because of all my success and the traveling. I was kind of foolish in that one.

MD: Why?

A: He's a good guy, but the problems we had were just ridiculous. I don't like to argue, but these arguments were so intense. His name is Geoff. G-e-o-f-f. I hate the way he spells his name--I thought it looked like it said Goofy!

MD: So "Foolish" is autobiographical.

A: Definitely; not to a T, but a lot of it was. We weren't throwing lamps at each other like in the video, but he did a lot of crazy things. And there was a whole trust issue because I'm around guys all the time. Murder Inc. is all guys.

MD: Did Geoff think Ja Rule was going to try to put it on you?

A: [laughs] Oh, my God--you are crazy! Geoff was just a typical guy. The trust factor was hard because I was around a lot of guys and I was gone all night--I'd be at the studio until six in the morning banging out hits. Coincidentally, making the album was like a group therapy session: Everyone in the studio was going through the same struggles in relationships, from the engineers to the guys that just hung out and rolled dice! The song "Over" is very personal. Geoff and I were always arguing in the car, and I'd get so mad I'd roll down the windows and blast "Over"! That's what made me foolish: as much as I played that song, if he called I still had to come to him--even if it was four A.M. and raining.

MD: That's a booty call where I come from.

A: No! Well, maybe it could be considered a booty call. I should've been like, "Do you know what time it is? I gotta get up in the morning!" But his voice made me run to him.

MD: So I hear you gave up a place at Princeton to try to make it in showbiz.

A: Princeton scouted me for track, and they offered me a spot if I was to run for them. I used to do the triple jump for girl's track; I made the Wall of Fame in my high school and broke a couple of records. I had good grades--my GPA was around 3.5--and I took a lot of honors classes. But I deferred because I was embarking on this music career thang!

MD: Were your parents disappointed that you didn't go to college?

A: Let me take you way back. I never really wanted to sing--when I found out I could, it was an accident. I was 12 years old, doing chores in my house. When we did chores, my mom was like, "No TV, no radio-just do what I told you to do." So one day I'm singing while I'm vacuuming, and all of a sudden she comes flying down the steps, screaming, "I thought I told you not to listen to the radio!" And I was like, "Mom, that wasn't the radio-that was me! I was singing!" I was actually singing Mary J. Blige's "Reminisce." She made me sing it over again, and then she got my dad, and I had to sing it for him, too. After that, they were like, 'OK, I think she has something here."

MD: Are these the opening scenes to Ashanti's version of Purple Rain?

A: Oh, that sounds like an idea! [laughs] So then I started doing local talent shows, representing Glen Cove, Long Island, where I grew up.

MD: What was Glen Cove like?

A: It's a small, close-knit town, so it's someplace that's quiet to come home to. I didn't live far from the beach. It's got like four or five beaches.

MD: Were you a surfer girl?

A: Never. But I love the beach, and I like to profile. If I have on a hot, little bathing suit, I like to ... stroll. [laughs]

MD: So I hear you're the princess of hip-hop soul. Is this correct?

A: That's what's going around--that's my title now. Maybe it's cause all my posters say that!

MD: [both laugh) So if Mary J. Blige is the queen, you're the princess ...