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Features
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The Arrival of Ashanti
On the heels of Emmy Rossum's performance in Phantom of the Opera, the longest lasting legacy of Coach Carter may well turn out to be its sumptuously impressive female lead.
Friday, January 14, 2005
By FilmStew Staff Report
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Steve Granitz/Wireimage.com
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Another star is born
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Just over a decade ago, Queen Latifah started creeping onto the big screen in films such as Jungle Fever, House Party 2 and Juice. It wasn’t until the F. Gary Gray comedy Set It Off that she got a chance to really shine alongside Jada Pinkett Smith, Viveca A. Fox and Kimberly Elise.
Which is what makes singer Ashanti’s debut in Coach Carter so remarkable. Like Ice Cube in Boyz in the Hood or even Tyrese in 2 Fast 2 Furious, she oozes charisma and major supporting role confidence right out of the gate. But when the 24-year-old Long Island native born Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas recently sat down with FilmStew in New York, much of the talk was about her next film opening in May.
“I just did The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz,” she enthuses. “I played Dorothy and Pepe the Shrimp plays Toto. I was always a fan of The Muppets. Actually, my favorite of all time was Fraggle Rock. I used to cry when it went off TV.”
“Kermit plays Scarecrow; Gonzo plays the Tinman,” she continues. “With me being Dorothy, I kind of want to get out of Kansas to be a singer, and the Muppets have this grand opening kind of like American Idol. It does have a message though and there are a lot of great roles in the movie.”
“I was working with people like Queen Latifah, David Alan Greer, Quentin Tarantino and Kelly Osbourne.”
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Lester Cohen/Wireimage.com
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Ashanti's talented co-stars
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Prior to signing on for Coach Carter, Ashanti had discussions with director Joel Schumacher (Phantom of the Opera) about the possibility of remaking the 1976 musical drama Sparkle, about three sisters from Harlem who become singers. The film, cowritten by Schumacher, starred Philip Michael Thomas and Irene Cara.
But those talks came to an impasses, partly because Schumacher was unable to obtain the rights for such a project. And so, post-Muppets, Ashanti’s efforts are focused instead on her new upcoming album “Concrete Rose.”
“Oh my gosh, the album is incredible,” she exclaims. “I mean, I know a lot of artists say that about their work, but this is honestly, genuinely my best album. I'm so infatuated with it. It's totally a different sound.”
“The single is called “Only You,’” adds Ashanti, who maintains that although rapper Nelly dropped by during production, he and she remain just friends. “It's kind of like rock and roll, hip hop and R&B all rolled into one big ball. That's something really different for me. It doesn't sound like anything on the radio right now and that's important for an artist on their third album. You have to make some kind of change to keep the people interested.”
“It just creates a really dope vibe; it's got variety and it's just hot.”
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Steve Granitz/Wireimage.com
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A perfect role for Jackson
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Ashanti’s musical heritage begins and ends with her dad. Once a member of a band, he has eight brothers and sisters. Translation: Ashanti has eight uncles and aunts on his side of the family.
Although growing up, Ashanti would constantly hear him singing and listening to other people’s music, she maintains she fell into it almost by accident. But two years after entering her first talent contest, she had a record deal at age 14.
More recently, she just shot a national TV commercial in Chicago for T-Mobile’s sidekick campaign. When asked the rather unusual question of what fortune cookie message she would author if she was asked to do so, her answer leads back to that beloved wireless device.
“Wow, that's hard,” she begins. “Well, what I have on my Sidekick, you know how you have a little message underneath? It says, 'At the end of the day, the devil jumps out of his suit ???14:47.' Something really bad happened to me and it caused me to write that.”
“I wrote that and it was really eerie,” she adds. “Because as soon as it happened it just came out. I said, 'You know what, I'm changing my tag,' and it kind of just came out. I didn't have to think about it.”
For now, Ashanti is hoping that no devils jump out, with the new album and Muppets movie on the horizon. Overall, she says she only hopes to be able to one day reach the heights of another currently musical purveyor currently in vogue.
“Just seeing Ray, the movie; wow,” she says, also citing The Color Purple and Harlem Nights as two of her other all-time favorites. “My respect level for Ray was always high, but with that, it shot through the roof. I don't know. It kind of just put a twist on viewing music for me.”
“I would honestly say that I'm a positive person, genuinely,” adds Ashanti. “It's not like an act that I'm putting on for people. My sister plays the role, she's fifteen years old and I wasn't like that at fifteen. It's important for me to be positive, because I see a lot of negative things that go on that really shouldn't happen.”
“So if I can make any kind of difference, that will make me feel better.”
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