Bankrate: That's a tough thing for someone to handle at any age. Was it especially rough since you were dealing with it as a teen?
Ashanti: Definitely. I can remember my very first deal. I was 14, and I was signed by Jive Records. It was a huge deal for my town of Glen Cove, Long Island. I was in all the local newspapers, and they had a picture of me and the president of Jive Records, and everything was great for a few months. I was still going to school, so my classmates were like, "Wow, you really got a record deal." And then it turned into three, four, five months, and people were like, "How come I don't hear anything on the radio? You don't have a record deal." Then things started to fall by the wayside, and I was faced with answering all these questions, and I don't even know what's going on. So it was kind of hard.
Bankrate: But how did you handle that emotionally, considering that you were a 14-year-old girl? Just being a 14-year-old girl is rough enough.
Ashanti: Exactly. You know what's really funny? This goes back to Dorothy. Because I was so naive and innocent early on that it really didn't affect me so much. I was like, "Oh, OK. So we'll just go get another deal," not realizing that some people work all their lives and don't even get their foot in the building. Here I was at 15, working on my second record deal. So it was kind of weird, because I really didn't understand how hard it was. I understand it now more than ever.
Bankrate: So having gone though this, when your debut album came out and you broke all these records, did it make you more prepared to handle the onslaught of fame and attention that came with it?
Ashanti: It was so, so fast, so it was really hard to take it all in. I understand it now way better than I did. When I first heard my numbers, we were in a limo. We were on our way to a signing, and I first heard my numbers, and it was like, "Yo, it's 504,000 and change (in the first week sales)." So I'm like, "Is that good? Did we do well?" And people are looking at me like, "Are you crazy?" I really didn't understand. When they said, "You're tied with The Beatles for having three records on the charts at one time," I was like, "Oh, that's kind of cool." I really didn't understand it and appreciate it because I was so naive, like how Dorothy was naive getting out of Kansas. So maybe this role was really meant for me.
Bankrate: What were some of the coolest parts of suddenly being so big, and what were some of the most challenging parts of it?
Ashanti: The cool parts were having people come and say, "Oh my gosh, I love the record. It means so much to me. It changed my life." And the treatment was pretty good, flying first class and having a driver, things like that. That was great. Your life changes almost instantaneously. And the challenge, obviously, is living your life under a magnifying glass. Critics talk about you, and critique you, and say things that are not true. You face rumors, things like that.
Bankrate: Did you treat yourself to any extravagances?
Ashanti: My very first indulgence wasn't for me. I bought all the females in my family a Gucci bag with my first check.
Bankrate: So many people waste their money when they first become famous. Did you do anything to prepare financially when all this hit, or did you go on a spree?
Ashanti: That was something that was actually really easy for me. I took economics in high school, which turned out to be very helpful, so I was saving my advances. I had an advance at 14, an advance at 17 and another advance at 20, and I got a business manager and accountants very quickly. Plus, I was already a little cheap, I must admit. I didn't like to spend my own money. I would rather spend someone else's.
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