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“Beyonce Is No Ashanti”

Back in 2003, a writer for the New York Times boldly scoffed at the prospect of Beyoncé’s burgeoning solo career, saying that “She’s No Ashanti.” Yes, both women were hot at the time, but in that piece, the writer said that Ashanti was Bey’s only “mirror-image rival.” All these years later we know that Beyoncé’s career has had more ups than downs and earlier this year, Ashanti spoke about that particular article and past comparisons.

“I remember that [article]. I feel like ‘the critics’ and ‘the media,’ people always put us against each other, but we never had beef. It was always all love. ‘Hey!’ ‘What’s up!’ ‘I like your shoes!’ It was that kind of thing. I think we’re two very different artists. I think we bring our different music to the table and I think there’s room. Again, I didn’t like the fact that people always put us together, but it’s a competitive business. There’s only one number one spot. Both working very, very hard. I was extremely happy just being with Murder, Inc. We had an amazing wave and I loved the music we were doing and it just felt right.”