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Ashanti’s new album, Braveheart, drops today, and to promote it, the singer stopped by The Breakfast Club to chat with Charlamagne, Angela Yee and DJ Envy. In their very interesting interview with her, Ashanti touched on everything, including critics who used to talk about her vocal abilities and her sideburns, what she’s learned about the industry, who she’s dating, and of course, Nelly. Here are the tidbits from the 30-minute interview that stood out:

If She’s On Good Terms With Nelly These Days:

“I will say that, there was a space where it was bad. It was really bad. Are we cool? Yeah. We’re okay.

When a man is hurt and a woman is hurt, I think men deal with hurt differently. I feel like we handle our emotions differently. There were a lot of things said and done publicly that should not have been. There was a foundation set and those things shouldn’t have happened.

We both definitely made mistakes in a lot of things. But I will say things do come full circle.”

If Nelly Is the One:

“Um, Nelly is a really good person, he has a really good heart. You know?”

If She Felt A Way About Nelly Going With Tae Heckard Soon After They Split:

“Did I feel a way? I’m very smart and I know him. I knew what the facade was.”

If She Was Dating NFL Baller DeSean Jackson:

“Um…No. We were hanging. I went to a football game. He’s real cool peoples. I can’t go to the game?”

How She Paid Bills Since Her Last Album In 2008:

“I did Broadway. I did Army Wives. I write. People forget early, I was writing for J. Lo, one of J. Lo’s biggest records ever. I wrote for Christina Milian, I wrote for a couple of pop groups. And I’ma be honest, I don’t really like to spend my own money. I know how to save.”

Dealing With Critics Who Said She Couldn’t Sing:

“When you’re hot and you’re on fire, you gotta expect that. When you’re number one and you’re killing it, it comes with the territory. You have to be strong enough.  If you’re strong enough to be number one, you have to be strong enough to endure the BS.”

Dealing With Haters Who Said She Had Sideburns Back In The Day:

“I’ma keep it all the way 100. I have nice hair. I ain’t even gonna lie. When you have ‘good hair’ you’re hairy a little bit and you have sideburns [laughs]. Some people love sideburns. This is what I thought though. On TV, on film and in pictures, it looks a little different than it does in person [laughs]. So when you’re looking in the mirror, you know, you gelling them down, but on film and on camera it may look a bit different. I looked at it like, they wack, you know, for saying that. I’m a girl, that’s real feminine for you to be saying that. But then I would look and be like, damn it! [laughs]”

How She Makes Her Relationship With Her Mom-ager Work After All These Years

“We been tight before the industry. My mom and I have an amazing relationship…Our relationship is not, oh because of the music industry, it’s more that we have a relationship and not an authoritive, mother, ‘I’m telling you what to do’ relationship.”

If She Ever Felt Like Giving Up:

“It’s definitely gotten to places where I fee like, ‘this is bulls**t’. This is not how it’s supposed to be. You’re not supposed to have to put in ten times more work and get less the pay. Just conceptually understanding the game and the agendas that people have and the fact that people look at you as a commodity and not a person. Once you understand that, you don’t take things personal. It’s about adapting and understanding it.”

If  She Would ‘Allow’ Nelly To Be Friends With Tae Heckard From Here On Out:

“What? Who? I don’t know what ya’ll talking about.”

Dealing With Famous Folks Trying To Holler At Her Mom:

“It’s so annoying. I swear, since I was like 7-years old. Steve Harvey? Jay Leno? It’s really bad. He [Harvey] pushed me out the way. The first time we went to LA to do an interview, he was like, ‘Heeeey, we have Ashanti! Who that? That’s her momma? Tell her momma to come over!'”

If you have 30 minutes to spare, I would recommend checking out the interview. It had quite a few funny moments, and moments where Ashanti kept it really real about the dark side of the industry. Check it out below and share your thoughts.

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