Ashanti, Trey Songz, et Twista

Born in Glen Cove, New York to mother and former dance teacher Tina Douglas and father and former singer Ken-Kaide Thomas Douglas, Ashanti has a creative upbringing. She attended the Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Centre at a young age where she studied dance including tap, jazz, ballet and hip-hop, and later in her teens began singing regularly at various New York shows.

The singer’s big break came in 2002 when discovered by hit maker Irv Gotti, who teamed Ashanti up with Fat Joe and his single “What’s Luv?” and Ja Rule’s “Always on Time”. The two singles were released simultaneously and led to Ashanti being the first female artist to occupy the top two positions in the chart. Before long she released her debut solo single entitled “Foolish”, which became instantly popular, the single was her biggest to date, spending ten weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

With the success of her first three singles Ashanti and Irv Gotti’s Murder Inc. record label released Ashanti’s debut album “Ashanti” in April 2002. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, has been certified triple platinum in the U.S. and catapulted the singer to a mainstream world of magazines covers and publicity. Before the end of 2002 Gotti produced a remix of “Foolish” with the Notorious B.I.G. which again hit the charts and represented Ashanti’s domination of the R&B world in 2002.

Her follow-up “Chapter II” in 2003 saw the singer reach the top of the charts once again, largely due to the success of the lead single “Rock wit U (Awww Baby)”. However due to Irv Gotti’s Murder Inc. label coming under some intense scrutiny by the FBI and a feud with 50 Cent’s G-Unit the album got ignored somewhat. The same year the singer released her first Christmas album entitled “Ashanti’s Christmas” and her third full-length LP “Concrete Rose” came a year later in 2004 with the lead single “Only U”.

In 2005 Ashanti made her acting debut in the film “Coach Carter” which opened at No. 1 at the U.S. box office. In 2008 came her fourth studio album “The Declaration” which unlike her debut album which she wrote the majority-of herself, Ashanti enlisted the help of Akon, Babyface and Mario Winans in production. The album debuted at No. 6 in the albums chart led by singles “The Way That I Love You” and “Good Good”.

After a time focusing on her acting and musical appearances including staring as Dorothy in a stage production of “The Wiz”, Ashanti released her fifth album “Braveheart” in March 2014, two years after its initial single was released.

As a child growing up within a military family, Trey Songz had zero aspirations to become the musical superstar he is today. A shy boy, it was the encouragement of parents and friends that built his confidence and got him performing in front of live audiences. Songz was discovered at the age of 16 at a talent show by record producer Troy Taylor and was subsequently signed to Atlantic Records.

While recording his first album, “I Gotta Make It”, Trey Songz was concurrently releasing various mix tapes under the name Prince of Virginia. One song, a response to R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet” gained particular attention and earned Songz some notoriety, which bolstered sales of his first album.

While his first two albums received a lot of positive attention from the R&B community, it wasn’t until his third and fourth studio albums – “Ready” and “Passion, Pain & Pleasure”, respectively – that Trey Songz managed to successfully cross over into mainstream appeal. Singles “Say Aah” featuring Fabolous and “Bottoms Up” featuring Nicki Minaj were both top ten singles in the US and are the singer’s most successful singles to date.

A versatile performer, Trey Songz has collaborated with the likes of Ne-Yo, 50 Cent, T.I. and Lil Wayne, amongst many others. Trey Songz has toured alongside Jay Z and Usher where he opened for both artists in 2009 and 2010 respectively. An energetic performer, Trey Songz has also headlined three tours and played many festivals.

In addition to picking up fans from across the US and Europe, Trey Songz has also picked up multiple award nominations over the last ten years, including three Grammy Award nominations.

Born on 27 November 1973 in Chicago, Illinois, Twista began rapping at the early age of twelve, and in 1992 he released his first album entitled “Runnin’ Off At Da Mouth” under the name Tung Twista.The next album, “Resurrection” was set to be released in 1994, however, due to marketing issues with his label, Atlantic Records, the album was only released in Chicago. Despite the lack of national attention for “Resurrection,” Twista dropped the “Tung” from his stage name and teamed up with producer The Legendary Traxster and Cwal for “Adrenaline Rush.” The album became his first charting album, peaking at Number 77 on the Billboard Hot 200.

In 1998 Twista teamed up with fellow Chicago rappers to form Speedknot Mobstaz; and together, they released “Mobstability.” That same year Twista formed a new label called Legit Ballin’ and released two compilation albums in 1999 and 2001. In the beginning of 2002, he started to work on his next album entitled “Kamikaze” which was later released in 2004. The album debuted at Number One on the American Billboard 200 album chart. One year later followed with “The Day After” and “Adrenaline 2007.” Unfortunately the letter didn’t do as well compared to his previous albums.

Twista released “The Perfect Storm,” his eighth studio album, in 2010. The album featured guest artists such as Waka Flaka Flame, Raekwon, Diddy and Ray J. Twista started to work on his next studio album in 2013 and in 2014 he released the first single of the album “Dark Horse.”