Ashanti (born October 13, 1980) is an American singer and actress. She was first discovered as a teenager and later signed to Murder Inc. Records in 2002.

 Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas (born October 13, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She was first discovered as a teenager and later signed to Murder Inc. Records in 2002. That year, she was featured on Fat Joe's "What's Luv?" and Ja Rule's "Always on Time", both of which became two of the biggest hit songs of 2002. She became the first female artist to occupy the top two positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously with "Foolish" and "What's Luv?" at numbers one and two, respectively.