Ashanti appeared on “The Breakfast Club” radio show Thursday morning and revealed that a music producer once held two of her tracks ransom — insisting that she pay $40,000 per song or take a shower with him.
“I’ve been in a crazy situation with one producer,” the 42-year-old said, without naming the person. “I think I might have talked about this once.”
The singer-songwriter explained that she had been working with the anonymous music producer for several weeks after he offered to help produce the songs for free because she was a “homie.”
“We did two records together. He was like ‘OK, I’m not going to charge you. You’re my homie,'” she recalled.
“Then when it came time to put it on the album, he was like, ‘Let’s take a shower together.’ I thought he was joking,” she said. “He was like, ‘Nah, I’m dead serious. Let’s go out, let’s take a shower together and then I’ll give you the records. If not, I need 40 racks per record.'”
The Post has reached out to Ashanti’s reps for comment.
Ashanti appeared on “The Breakfast Club” radio show Thursday morning when she shared the disturbing story. YouTube/The Breakfast ClubThe R&B artist said she couldn’t believe what was happening at the time.
“I thought he was joking, because we had been working together for a couple weeks. But it turns out that he was serious. I had to make some phone calls and stuff was handled,” she said.
“It was wild,” Ashanti admitted.
Ashanti appeared on “Red Table Talk” last week and revealed her sister was a victim of domestic abuse.Facebook/Red Table Talk The musician was discovered when she was just a teenager and recorded her first songs when she was 20, later released by Murder Inc. She went on to become recognized as the princess of hip-hop soul and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year.
Her mom, Tina Douglas, has served as her manager for her entire career, and also popped into “The Breakfast Club” to confirm Ashanti’s outrageous story.
Ashanti did not name the alleged predatory producer but hinted at exposing him in the future in her memoir.
Last week, the singer appeared on “Red Table Talk” with her mom and sister Kenashia, who was a victim of domestic abuse, speaking about the “darkest time of their lives.”
“As the older sister who wants to protect my younger sister,” Ashanti said, “no one gets a book on how to handle this.”
