Get it straight. Murder Inc. "doesn't do R&B." So when CEO Irv Gotti met Ashanti Douglas, he never planned on signing her. Instead, he figured he'd throw her a couple of beats. Maybe use her to sing a couple of hooks. There was too much competition out there to remove his focus from hip hop and concentrate on developing and R&B artist. But something happened. They clicked. So Irv decided to give Ashanti a couple of tests.
 
     We doing this Pun record. And if it comes out hot, you're on. If not, we give it to someone else. The task was simple for Ashanti, who, at the age of 21, has already been through two record deals - one with music's leading pop factory Jive and the other with Epic. But Ashanti sucked it up and started over. She sung the hook on Big Pun's posthumous "How We Roll." Although her angelic vocals added a mainstream element to the track, there was only so much she could doon a chorus. Gotti needed more reassurance. 

     Part II. Ashanti had to prove she was more than just an average hook junkie. So what she could sing. The multi-tasking Murder Inc. council needed to know if she could write, and whether she was ready to perform. "There are a lot of people out there that on the shell look like they have talent, but on the inside, they don't have the entire package," Ashanti offers after a rehearsal for her Soul Train performance in Los Angeles. (Needless to say, she's been acing Gotti's tests.) Before signing on the dotted line, "Shani Bani" - as she's been called by one of her aunts - put in work. A Long Island native, Ashanti's first record deal came at age 14. Since then, she's been writing and recording material in preparation for her first release. By the time she was picked up by Murder Inc., she had either written songs or sung hooks for Ja Rule, Caddillac Tah, Christina Milian, and  - yes, the one you should know about - J.Lo.
 
    "At first it was like, 'Dag, those are my vocals people are listening to,'" Ashanti reveals in a low tone, so as not to express animosity when referring to the chorus on Jennifer Lopez's saving - grace remix "I'm Real." "It was weird because people were saying it doesn't sound like her all the way. I knew it was going to get out sooner or later. It's not a hatred thing. All I'm saying is that I did my part. J.Lo did her part, kept some of my vocals in and had a hit record."

     J.Lo was "cool," but it was Mary J. Blige and Aaliyah who inspired Ashanti. She explains, "Mary J. is the reason [I'm doing this]. I didn't want to rhyme and didn't want to sing over slow songs. Once 'Real Love' came out, I was like, 'That's it,' She made that marriage between hip-hop and R&B." That gives some logic to her run-ins with Sean Combs seven years ago. "Puff was going to sign me, but the contract wasn't a good look," she recalls. "I was 14 back then. I remember he made me smell this stinkin' cologne. When he put it up to my nose, I was like, 'Phew!"' Ashanti says Diddy was just
testing her honesty, to see how "real" of a person she was. Yet another test that she passed.

     Mary J. was crowned the queen of hip-hop soul in 1993. Ashanti, in 2002, is being groomed to be its princess. Her music bears a striking resemblance to Bilge's early material; It picks up where What's the 411? left off. Hip-hop smoothed out on the R&B tip. That winning combination seems to be Murder Inc.'s breadwinner these days (see Ja Rule, featuring [your name here]). "Your world is a little more complete when you have other outlets," says Shani. "I love R&B. Ilove.hip-hop-Jay, Ja, [DM]X, Nas." But where does that leave Prodigy? 

     "Me and Pare like cousins, we grew up together. The dance school I was telling you about, his grandmother ran it. " says Ashanti, who has been studying the art form since she was 3. "He used to dance way back in the day." It must have been this affiliation that led to a radio host's assumption that Ashanti was somehow involved in the scandal at the center of the lyrical battle between Jay-Z and Prodigy. "When that stuff happened with Jay, I didn't even know him. It doesn't make any logical sense," Ashanti begins with a hint of annoyance. "Miss Jones is the one. I was out of town, and people were calling me, like, 'Why is she running her mouth?"' According to Ashanti, Miss Jones insinuated that it was she who gave up the photo of Prodigy - the one that was blown up at Hot 97's Summer Jam concert. "Everybody is going to have to do whatever they going to do to make  themselves feel better. But for me, I know that I didn't do that...call up Jay and ask him."

      Maybe it was just another test. Would Ashanti's skin be thick enough to withstand the politics and bullshit that come with being in the spotlight? Seems so thus far. "I knew that stuff would be coming my way," she pauses, thinking to herself. Then, referring to her ability to withstand gossip, she adds, "Irv would be so proud." .

      So is her mom. Watching the eldest of her two daughters quickly rise to stardom has been rewarding. Momager, as she refers to herself,has kept a close eye on Shani Bani throughout the years, functioning as the co-manager of her daughter's singing career. That tight-knit family is probably why Ashanti is "so happy," as she sings on the second single, "Happy," from her self-titled debut album.

      Ain't it funny. Irv's side project has turned into a priority. And with Ashanti as the first R&B act on his label, Irv's surely got the work cut out for her. But judging from her test scores, Ashanti has yet to be foolish.