American singer, Ashanti hopes to shed more light on the sexual harassment which she claims occurs in the American music industry after bravely sharing her story earlier this month.
The 42-year-old hitmaker – full name Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas – opened up to People magazine on Tuesday December 27, about the hardships that she has had to overcome during her two decade career.
She said: ‘Honestly, I’m not sure if another artist would be able to deal with what I’ve dealt with.’
Ashanti had revealed that a close-knit male music producer had offered her two songs for free, originally, before walking back on the offer and giving her the ultimatum of showering with him or paying $40,000 for each song.
She said: ‘I really, genuinely thought he was joking. You can feel like someone’s cool, and in the back of their mind, they have an ulterior motive.
‘Things like that can happen to Ashanti, so it can happen to anyone — and I’ve heard worse stories.’
Earlier this month Ashanti made a startling claim about a producer attempting to ransom her songs in exchange for sex during an appearance on the radio show, The Breakfast Club.
While speaking to hosts Charlamagne tha God, DJ Envy and Angela Yee, the 42-year-old singer revealed that she was in a ‘crazy situation with one producer,’ who she said worked with her on two records.
After explaining he told her she was his ‘homie’ and was ‘not gonna charge’ her for two songs they worked on, she said everything changed when it came time to put out the album.
‘I thought he was joking,’ she explained, before he said he made it clear he was ‘dead serious’ or would expect her to pay him ‘$40,000 per track.
She continued: ‘Again, I thought he was joking because, you know, we had been working with each other, for like, I don’t know, a couple of weeks.’
