Ashanti has praised Taylor Swift for putting artists’ ownership of their music in the spotlight.
Back in 2019, Swift announced plans to re-record her own album masters, following a dispute with Scooter Braun and her old record label boss, Scott Borchetta, after Braun concluded a deal to buy Borchetta’s firm Big Machine.
Ashanti has taken a similar approach with her self-titled 2002 debut album and insisted it’s something she always wanted to do.
“What I will say is I’ve always had the idea to go back in and re-record and gain the masters,” she told Metro.co.uk. “I think Taylor is amazing for what she’s done and to be able to be a female in this very male-dominated industry, to accomplish that is amazing.”
She added that she can see it sparking a trend for artists who become major stars but lack ownership of their early records because they signed deals at the start of their careers.
“More of us have to continue that narrative of women empowerment, and just artists as a whole,” she said. “Owning your property and getting a chance to have ownership of your creativity is so so important. Male, female, singer, rapper, whatever, I hope this is a lesson for artists to get in there and own.”
Discussing recording her old songs again in Toronto, Canada, she added: “It’s weird because I’m touring and doing shows all the time, so I’m hearing my records all the time. But you go into the studio and people are like, ‘Argh, that’s my jam!’
“It’s been a really cool vibe and my mom has been getting footage of me going into the booth and she’s like, ‘Wow, this is crazy’, when you were recording this 20 years ago at a studio in New York and now you’re here redoing it, it’s a surreal feeling so I’m super excited about it.”
Ashanti, who recorded for Irv Gotti’s Murder Inc. imprint may feel empowered, but her former label boss feels cheated. He raged against Ashanti’s decision during an interview with Angie Martinez last year.
“I own all those great Ashanti Albums Angie,” Irv Gotti fumed. “I own the Masters. And. I Produced all those great Ashanti Albums. So I also own a good portion of the Publishing. What she is trying to do is re-record all those great records. And put them out on her label.”
“She can do this under the COVER laws. But she is basically trying to f### me out of my Masters. And make people decide which album to listen too or stream. Hoping her loyal fans will choose her version. But hey. I stand on the Magic that was created. And I wanna see her duplicate that Magic. It’s f##### up really. But such is life,” Irv Gotti said.