addition to the collection

I like this C.D. alright. With any c.d i like some songs better than others. Although she is one of my top ten female artist I felt that she was trying to prove she could sing with Thank you(I love the song though). This is a nice album to have in the collection or give to a teenager for a gift. Also to get over your cheating, and lying boyfriend

Don't Dis Hip-Hop...

...by saying that she's the "Princess of Hip-Hop and R & B." Ashanti's voice, in my opinion, is no better than Jennifer Lopez's. AND we ALL know she can't sing. I heard about her failed attempts before Murder Inc. picked her up. After getting dropped like twice, shouldn't that tell you something? With many young female singers these days, image is everything and talent is nothing. My rundown:



INTRO: The most useless thing on the album. Just a mix of songs she was a guest on. 1/10



FOOLISH: Why this song went NO. 1, I will never know. It took me a long minute to get used to, but it was in no way worthy of that position. Sampling a classic. 7/10



HAPPY: I kind of lile this song. Reminiscent of another song I can't quite put my finger on. Very pop-ish. 9/10



LEAVING (ALWAYS ON TIME PT. 2) F/JA RULE: This song is boring and blah to me. The chorus is annoying. Ja Rule does nothing to save it. 3/10



NARRATIVE CALL(SKIT): What is the point? 0/10



CALL: Empty song that seems to repeat the exact same thing over and over like a broken record. 4/10



SCARED: Irv Gotti's voice is in this song. This song sounds almost exactly like CALL, but is better in so many ways. I like how she sings (or attempts to) in it. 9/10



RESCUE: She doesn't like expounding on the titles of songs, does she? At first, this song was appealing. Then, after the first 3 minutes, all she does is moan. Keep in mind that there are 4 minutes left until the song ends. VERY ANNOYING 2/10



BABY: This song was ok until you've heard it about four times. After that, her saying the word baby gets straight annoying. Her vocals aren't strong at all. I found myself thinking: IF SHE SAYS BABY ONE MORE TIME... 5/10



VOODOO: My favorite song on this album. Lyrics are okay, but I like the song's melody. It has a really nice groove. 10/10



MOVIES: A song that sounds like it should've been a Britney Spears song, it's that mediocre. 3/10



FIGHT(SKIT): Now, this is an entrance into the next song, but I still think it's pretty pointless. Unnecessary cursing. 0/10



OVER: The aforementioned song about getting rid of a cheating, lying, snake of a boyfriend. I like it. She doesn't try to hard on this song. Makes her sound like she can actually sing. 10/10



UNFOOLISH F/NOTORIOUS B.I.G.: Now, I didn't really like FOOLISH, so you know I don't like this excuse for a remix. Biggy's verse doesn't seem to really go with the song. If you listen to what he says, he's not talking about splitting with her. 3/10



SHI SHI(SKIT): A skit with Ashanti's younger sister, Shia, talking about how she's happy for Ashanti and everything. Pointless, but is an entrance to the next track. 0/10



DREAMS: An attempt at an inspirational song. Was cool for the first two times, but gets annoying at the end. 3/10



THANK YOU: Ashanti singing a cappella to her grandfather who passed. It started off okay, but then she tries to go high and it comes off as her screaming very loudly. 4/10



So, Ashanti's debut album did little to change my opinion of her from the first time I heard her on ALWAYS ON TIME. I thought she couldn't sing then, and I stick to that conclusion now. It's amazing that both Tweet and Ashanti's albums both dropped on the same day and Ashanti came out on top. I have Tweet's album, and it's MUCH better than this crap. Save your money. Oh, and I didn't buy this. My sister begged for it and my mother got it for her. I just happened to listen to it to see what al the hype was about. If you must have it, burn it.

FABLOUS*****

May 18,2003
I have Got this album already but to all people SHOULD BUY THIS ALBUM!!!!! its so great with R&B soul and some hip hop its a GREAT MIXTURE the most thing i like with this album it has all kinds of Catorgeory of music in here!
so you should buy this album Ashanti does a great job on doing her First Debut with her album so i give it ***** five stars!

Naw Ashanti, you're not Foolish.

I like Ashanti's self-titled debut. The production is good, her vocals are really good and the tracklisting itself was good as well. My only problem with her debut is her elementary lyrics. Let's go through a couple of her choruses: "Baby, baby, baby, baby baby"...."If you were me, what would you do? Always a lie, and never the truth"..."I'm so happy baby"...OH MY GOD...Sweetie, you are not 11 years old, but who would be able to tell with THOSE lyrics? I mean damn! One thing I would like to point out is that I think it was really smart of Murder Inc. to have Ashanti to hooks for a few songs before releasing her first single. That made people wonder who she was and want to hear and see more of her. They had on their thinking caps for that idea!

"Foolish" was overplayed to say the least, but it was a good single. "Happy" is just plain corny. Everything about it from the song to the video. "Leaving" is a good song and it has a nice beat. It's one of the best songs on the album. One song in particular that people who own this album seem to be drawn to is "Movies". It's so cute. The lyrics are cute and so is the music. I love the song "Dreams". It's an inspirational song about dreams being able to come true, if you believe. This is one of the few songs where she shows her audience her vocal range. "Thank You" also shows the vast vocal range this young New York born artist possess.

To be honest, this album is probably more suited for a pre teen, teen, or young adult. Mommy and grandma probably wouldn't get anything from Ashanti. Nevertheless, it's a nice one to have in the collection, surely.



Mikeisha's Top 5

1.Leaving

2, Dreams

3. Call

4. Thank You

5. Unfoolish

Oh...My...God...

When I first heard about Ashanti, I thought she was just another soul sista jumping on the Rnb Bandwagon. Boy was I wrong!! This Cd is amazing. The songwriting is not the best, but good for am 23-year old!! I am sure Ashanti's gonna be around a lot longer than Missy Elliot and Lil Kim. She has a good voice, and she writes her own songs.

The Album That Began The Urban Music Scene...

In late 2001 to early 2002, Ashanti (as with Alicia Keys, Ja Rule, and sadly the death of Aaliyah) has definitely changed the direction of the music scene from the Teen Pop Phenonema (early 1997 - early 2002) to the Urban Scene of Hip-Hop & R&B. Though unlike Alicia Keys, Ashanti's R&B competitor, Ashanti has changed the direction of Top 40 music of soulful R&B (with Alicia Keys in late 2001) to an urban blend of hip-hop and R&B (with hits of late 2001-early 2002 of Always On Time [with Ja Rule], Foolish, and What's Luv? [with Fat Joe]). Ashanti & Aaliyah seemed to have dominate the Top 40 music scene of 2002 with their hits....though because of Aaliyah's tragic death it leaves Ashanti left over to become, as Ja Rule would say, "the princess of hip-hop and r&b".

The lure of obtaining Ashanti's success and the change of the music scene to urban is clearly seen with "TOP 40" one-hit wonders like Tweet, Toya, Truth Hurts, and Angie Martinez and with transitions of reigning pop stars exploring R&B like N'Sync (Nelly Remix of "Girlfriend"....most definitely Justin Timberlake with "Justified"), Britney Spears (she remixed her last two singles "Overprotected" and "Boys" to a more "r&bish" beat), Christina Aguilera (well...Dirrty explains it all), and Jennifer Lopez (less Latin songs and more hip-hop songs in her "This Is Me...Then" album comapred to her previous albums).

But anyways about the album...

Ashanti has definitely set a new level in R&B in the music scene. Her lyrics and vocals definitely bring a smooth R&B sound but still her beats create a taste of hip-hop. Ashanti's wonderful talent is definitely shown and presented nicely with this album. With Ashanti's continued success, as shown in "Mesmerize"...we could see Ashanti dominate this new Urban music period (which shows no signs of slowing down...), similar to how Britney dominated the Teen Pop phenomena...