Ashanti’s rise to fame was courtesy of a few of the biggest collaborations within the early 2000s. With collaborations with artists like Ja Rule, Nelly, and Lloyd, it was nearly inconceivable to turn on the radio and never hear Ashanti on a hook.
One of many greatest songs she was featured in was Fats Joe’s “What’s Luv.” The track is one in all Joe’s most notable of his profession catalog. However, it seems that Ashanti’s label wrote the track with Jennifer Lopez in thoughts.
Fats Joe says Ashanti’s report label needed Jennifer Lopez as an alternative of her for “What’s Luv”
Within the early 2000s, Ashanti was on the rise as the primary R&B singer to be signed to the all hip-hop label, Homicide Inc. She was poised to turn into the princess among the many rap kings and the label’s main advertising plan for her concerned her being featured on different rapper’s songs. She’d already performed a handful of options for her label mates and Fats Joe fought for her to look on “What’s Luv” after he says Ashanti’s label needed Lopez on the observe
“Irv and Ja [Rule] referred to as me and so they woke me up at like three within the morning, and so they mentioned ‘Come down, we bought a track for you,’ it was proper after Pun handed,” he informed Ashanti throughout an Instagram stay chat. “They performed ‘What’s Luv’ and also you had been on it and so they was telling me, ‘That is for you and J. Lo, we would like the Latinos on it.”
Ashanti was featured on the demo and Joe was so impressed that he opted to maintain her on it, regardless of the label wanting Lopez to maintain the Latino aptitude going. The ultimate minimize would characteristic Rule, Ashanti, and Joe.
How did Fats Joe and Ashanti’s “What’s Luv” do?
Placing Ashanti on the observe proved to be the suitable transfer for Joe. On the time, each Ashanti and Lopez had been the rising queens of options in hip hop and R&B/pop. However Lopez was already an enormous star, so it gave Ashanti one other alternative as her star was on the rise due to her 2001 collab with Rule, “At all times On Time.”
“What’s Luv” peaked at quantity two on the Billboard Scorching 100 and remained on the chart for twenty weeks. The track was additionally successful internationally, making the charts in Australia, the UK, and Europe. It additionally reached primary on the Scorching Rap Songs chart.
The track turned Ashanti’s second prime 10 single and helped to make her the primary feminine artist to concurrently have the highest two positions on the Scorching 100 behind “At all times On Time.”
“What’s Luv” was in style outdoors of radio because the track was featured on the soundtrack for the comedy movie Jwanna Man. Clips from the movie had been additionally included all through the music video, which was shot in Ashanti, Ja Rule, and Fats Joe’s hometown of New York.
The music video proved to be a serious hit on music video countdowns like MTV’s TRL and BET’s 106 & Park. The track remained in style even all through the next summer time, with Ashanti and Fats Joe carried out the track stay through the 2002 MTV Spring Break festivities.