Rating: N
Another sad thing about the death of Aaliyah (she would have turned 27 next month) is the fact that her absence opened a niche for the much lamer Ashanti. Her voice is average, like a slightly better-sounding Jennifer Lopez, and her whispery, shitty, forgettable songs contain the word “baby” a billion times. Most offensive, she’s friends with Ja Rule, so you know Ja and his homies (who are so similar-sounding they practically are him) are gonna be all up on her remix album yelling about his drop, sounding like their throats are full of ball bearings. A few cameos, a couple of dull new beats and Ashanti’s brain-corrodingly stupid ditties and their insipid plastic production are made somehow worse.