While visiting The Breakfast Club, the Long Island, NY native revealed a disgraceful incident that happened with a music producer she worked with years ago. According to Ashanti, this unnamed person demanded she take a shower with him in exchange for her recorded songs — or pay “40 racks per record.”
“One producer — we did two records together, he was like, ‘Okay I’m not gonna charge you, you’re my homie,’” she started. “And then when it came time to put it on the album, he was like, ‘Well, let’s take a shower together.’ I thought he was joking. And then he’s like, ‘Nah I’m dead serious. You know, let’s go out and let’s take a shower together and I’ll give you the records. If not I need 40 racks per record.’”
Taken aback with shock, Charlamagne Tha God let out a “Jesus Christ!” Having only worked with the producer for a “couple of weeks,” the “Happy” singer did admit that she thought it was light humor at first, but once she realized he was serious, she “had to make some phone calls” so that “stuff was handled.”
According to a 2018 Access Live interview, the 42-year-old singer discussed the same matter during the height of the #MeToo movement.
Mentioning fewer details, she explained, “It was very weird. We started out really cool, he’s very talented, and when it got down to the business of the two records that I wanted it kinda was like, ‘OK, well, take a shower with me and let’s go out on a date and let’s do this, and I’ll give you the music for free.’”
Ashanti added, “I thought he was joking, and then when he’s serious I was like, ‘Are you kidding?’ I was really really taken aback… I’ve been raised very strong and I don’t play those games and I have also been blessed to have a lot of big brothers and a lot of young brothers and let’s just say the situation was definitely taken care of and he definitely changed his attitude.”
Feeling “disrespected” and being to left to wonder “if things like that happens in the industry often,” Ashanti pondered, “I can’t be the only person… and it’s me… I’ve seen a few things and I’ve heard a few things from different females… It’s really creepy, it’s really, really sad”.