Ashanti latest star to own masters and re-record music

Ashanti is the latest music star to gain control of her music catalog. After having released her self-titled debut album over 19 years ago, Ashanti has finally gained control of her masters. When musicians gain control of their masters, they control all deals made with their music. Most notoriously, Taylor Swift had a battle with her record company earlier this year. She found a way around not owning her masters by re-recording her masters. Now Ashanti is to follow suit.

What is the significance of this for Ashanti?

Ashanti’s debut album Ashanti was released on April 2, 2002. It featured hitmakers like Ja Rule, The Notorious B.I.G. and Irv Gotti. It contained hit singles like the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single Foolish and Baby and Happy. It debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 503,000 sells in its first week. Apart from the commercial success,  Ashanti was certified triple platinum and it went on to win Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2003 Grammy Awards.

Other stars to have recently gain control of their music include Anthony Hamilton, Charlie Wilson and Ledisi.

With this control, Ashanti will now be re-releasing music after  last having released the single Pretty Little Thing with Afro B in 2019. Her last full length album Braveheart, was released in 2014.

Here is her official announcement of the news:

It has been a long time coming for Ashanti to release new music. During the time that she did not release new music she has had multiple appearances in films and television shows. Now with this new freedom with her music, she is giving fellow musicians the courage to step up to their music labels to do the same. That is the definition of girl power!

Here is what she said during her Tamron Hall Show appearance:

“It’s so humbling. It is such an honor. I’m so grateful. It’s such a blessing, you know, the fact that we are still here, we’re living through a pandemic, and these blessings are still coming in, it just makes me so happy again, so humbled and such a believer. There’s a higher power, and I think that just being as a person and praying and putting your heart into things you get that energy back, and I think that’s so important. So I’m just really, really happy.”

We cannot wait to hear the new music!

Are you excited to take a listen? What do you think about the news? Should more stars have freedom in their contracts? Sound off below in the comments.