Fat Joe’s ‘What’s Luv?’ was originally written for Jennifer Lopez rather than Ashanti.
The catchy single was a huge chart success when it was released back in 2001, but Joe shocked Ashanti during an Instagram Live video when he revealed Jennifer was actually supposed to sing the chorus.
The rap star recalled: “Irv Gotti and Ja Rule had called me, and they woke me up [at] like three in the morning, and they say, ‘Yo, come down, we made a song for you.’
“I go to the studio, it was like four in the morning. They played ‘What’s Luv?’ and you on it. And they was telling me, ‘Yo, this is for you and J. Lo. We want the Latinos on this.'”
Ashanti, who was calling in from home, admitted to being shocked by the news.
READ ALSO: Ashanti Reflects On Her Comeback In The Marginalized RnB Scene
She said: “Yo, I never knew that.”
But, ultimately, Joe was happy to work with Ashanti on the single, which proved to be one of his biggest career successes.
He said: “I was like, yo, J. Lo? She [Ashanti] sound amazing on here. I was like, ‘Nah, we leaving her there.'”
And Ashanti replied: “Damn. What the! You know I don’t curse in front of my fans.”
And although J.Lo has always been chastised for stealing Ashanti’s credit on several releases, passing off Ashanti’s vocals as her won, it is clear that the young former Murder Inc. signee has loads to be proud of.
Ashanti had a quadruple chart reign on Billboard at that time:
— Ivie Ani (@ivieani) May 16, 2020
“What’s Luv”
“Always on Time”
“Foolish”
“Ain’t it Funny” (she wrote this for JLo)
That made her the 2nd artist after The Beatles to have their first 3 chart entries in the top 10 of the Hot 100 simultaneously. pic.twitter.com/84cjFVAX6V
Meanwhile, Ashanti previously claimed RnB music has been marginalized on the radio.
The singer released her self-titled debut album back in 2002, when the genre dominated the airwaves, but Ashanti now feels it’s increasingly difficult for RnB stars to achieve mainstream recognition.
She said: “When you’re listening to the radio, there’s not a lot of room for RnB.
I think that it’s about finding that happy medium and having some merit in what you’re saying and creating a bop.”
READ: Ashanti is a ‘Pretty Little Thing’ in new collaboration with afro-wave lead Afro B
After a long hiatus from music, the 39-year-old also known as Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas returned to the scene with a new release ‘Pretty Little Thing” in 2019.
