Product Details

• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Stereo)
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Azure
• DVD Release Date: September 14, 2004
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002IQK2C
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,961 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

ASHANTI:PRINCESS OF HIP HOP - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Please don't waste ur money or time, March 10, 2006

By 

ElleB* "*Elle*" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Princess of Hip Hop (DVD)

Take it from me, I have already done it and it is not worth it...First of all, it is unauthorized, poor quality film, and is just a bunch of pics put together and is narrated by someone who has the nerve to not even know how to pronounce certain words!!!!
When she mispronounced (the narrator) and I was getting annoued with the poor quality film, I just turned it off!! I didnt even watch the whole thing and I won't!!

I only gave it one star because I couldnt give it 0!!!

2.0 out of 5 stars I thought and wish this was a live concert, April 14, 2010

By 

Vincent F. Bryant - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Princess of Hip Hop (DVD)

This was a promotional dvd for an artist who needs no hype; the resalution was less than 1080i. Overall, I liked looking Ashunti; but, I wish she would have given a full lenght concert.

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unauthorized Ride to Explore Ashanti!, August 15, 2009

By 

*badgirl* - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Princess of Hip Hop (DVD)

This is an unauthorized presentation of Ashanti providing her very beginnings, pitfalls, reaching to her rise to the top. It has information from her early childhood until her album titled, Chapter II. The narration is by Kulondi Frier. It will provide a full detailed analysis of her record label flops, success, her managers, and the hits that came with her self-titled debut, her sophomore album "Chapter II", and Ashanti's Christmas. This account is done in a positive, uplifting fashion highlighting Ashanti's talent as well as inner humble sweet personality and inner beauty.

The menu has 8 chapters to choose from. Chapter 1 has her birth place, birth date, parents names and brief introductions, as well as Ashanti's interests in dance. There are plenty of photos to view, fast video glimpse, award podium clips, and more. She began with background hooks, dancing on some videos, and other gigs. During that time the documentary mentions how R&B and hip-hop were separate entities and how Mary J Blige and P. Diddy managed to bring both into a nice combination -or so, that's how I interpreted it. Both genres combined into a splash. Mary J Blige taking the title of "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul".

Chapter 2 discusses Ashanti's mom, as having taken notice of her daughter's talent. As Ashanti states, "Singing was an accident". From there her mother took her to talent shows and as Ashanti won most of them it was apparent she had something. Every now and then the clip will put a person talking in the bottom of the screen. One guy mentions how he enjoys Ashanti's mesh of Hip-hop with R&B making it thus more interesting. Also, it has other revealing facts about her first performance wardrobe malfunction and how Ashanti deals with it. Also, it has Ashanti's first shock of Jive not coming through with signing her nor Epic 4 years later. There's mentioning of her dance training, appearance in music videos, her hand in acting like in "Malcolm X".

Chapter 3 is more about Irv Gotti's background and how he became an A&R, his hits, and more. It has quite an array of information on his ties with artists like Ja Rule and others. It explains his connection and influence creating success with artists such as Jay-Z, DMX, and Ja Rule. Irv Gotti's contribution to Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt album, DMX's "It's Dark And Hell Is Hot" and others. A business associate hooked up Ashanti to meet Irv Gotti and the chemistry was right. He immediately signed her. His label was Def Jam --more specifically Murder Inc. He gave Ashanti duets with Big Pun, and Ja Rule -both being #1 hits.

Chapter 4 mentions Ashanti's self-titled debut release and how her first single rose to the #1 spot along with What's Luv and Always On Time duets making it 3 top 10 songs that was the first artist to do that since the Beatles. Furthermore, the album's singles were mentioned along with the videos and how they impacted. Her dreams were definitely being lived and her competition was also taking a view on that. The chapter talks briefly on that and on Ashanti's reaction. Her album debuted at #1.

Chapter 5 is about her remix of certain songs like Un-Foolish sampling The Notorious BIG as well as controversy, haters, and on-line discussions that became heated. It specifically talked also about the Arethra Franklin Lady Of Soul Award that was picked for Ashanti and how it created a huge madness of on-line chaos. Bad mouthing extended to other more serious issues as the FBI did some investigating and decided to search the studio for connections between Irv Gotti and a friend regarding some personal matters which turned out to bring nothing to the FBI.

Chapter 6 begins with Ashanti's continued success as well as road blocks along the way. The PETA organization attacks her for wearing a fur coat on a video for her Christmas album thus once again fueling the fire. But Ashanti kept strong and various clips proved she could take the heat. Her Christmas album was talked about and her first album mentioned as being triple Platinum. She also won the best Contemporary R&B Album. Furthermore, the spotlight heads to Miami as a hot spot for an array of artists and the Hit Factory Studio being a place many do their tracks--including Murder Inc. Her second album Chapter II was scrutinized, talked about, and given much detail. The narrator mentions the videos and how they were done, giving a nice viewing of the actual "in production" type.

Chapter 7 has Ashanti's success carefully analyzed as the "Rain On Me" song had 3 different version videos done thus making it clear Ashanti was definitely on the road to accomplishments. Also, the Christmas album was looked at up close along with her appearances on TV, and the big screens--mentioning an array -- "Sparkle". Her book, Foolish/Unfoolish: Reflections On Love was analyzed with much emphasis on each chapter--definitely inspiring a person to want to buy it.

Chapter 8 is just an exit of the entire video giving clips on all the different life events, with photos, and some last words.

Overall, this is an unauthorized look into Ashanti so there will be no videos, Ashanti talking, or exclusives. It will simply give the listener an idea of who Ashanti is, how she got into the music industry, what it was like, and also on her personality, reactions to success and failures, and the players behind the scenes. It's a pretty good DVD considering there are not many other there to view. I'd recommend this to any die-hard fan who has no knowledge of Ashanti or who has very little idea of how Ashanti began.