After securing her first record deal as a teenager with Jive Records, Ashanti moved homes to Noontime/Epic Records, per Billboard. She also began hanging out with the guys from the Murder Inc. label, including Fat Joe and Ja Rule. "It was a good yin and yang. I was the girlie girl and the young girl among all of these rapper guys, all these gangstas, so it was a cool experience to just have big brothers looking out," she told Metro about Murder Inc. "It was a good time back then," she recalled.

Many years later, the label's founder Irv Gotti claimed he had more than a friendly relationship with Ashanti. Gotti had separated from his wife at the time and according to the record executive, he walked Ashanti home one day and the two kissed, he recounted on "The Murder Inc. Story," via XXL. Gotti also claimed on the "Drink Champs" podcast that he and Ashanti used to sleep together. Fat Joe then called out Gotti on Instagram for bringing up a 20-year old relationship, via XXL.

In 2022, Ashanti appeared on the remix of the song "Gotta Move On" by Diddy and Bryson Tiller. Diddy said he chose Ashanti for the remix because, "after I've seen Irv do his thing, I was just thinking, 'sis may want to express herself on this song,'" he told "The Breakfast Club." In the song, Ashanti sings, "it's been 20 years" and to "please, say less," via Genius.

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