If you listened to music about four years ago, you may remember a singer named Ashanti. She had a few songs of her own, sold a few albums. Most importantly, she started showing up with rappers like Fat Joe and Ja Rule on their songs. Coattails…gotta love them.

However, you probably haven’t heard of her recently. That’s likely due to the fact that her last album, ‘The Declaration’, failed to bring in the numbers that her earlier work did. The last time I heard of her was when she spent a couple months making out with Jesse Metcalf for the flick “John Tucker Must Die”, which believe it or not, I love.

Her lack of appeal hasn’t gone unnoticed by her boss, Irv Gotti-label head for The Inc. (formerly Murder Inc. Records). He announced recently that Ashanti and her label are parting ways.

Via MTV News:

“The relationship has run its course. The chemistry of what’s needed — we’re in two totally different places. You’re talking to somebody that took her and shaped and molded her and put her out there for the world, and it blew up. We [hold the record] for the [fastest] selling debut by a female R&B artist — 503 [thousand]. We did it! My views and philosophies and her views and philosophies are not meeting up.”

This is bad news for Ashanti’s esthetician who was likely making nice cash keeping those sideburns of hers under control.

On the bright side, Ashanti is rumored to have turned down a scholarship to Yale in order to pursue her music career. Maybe they’ll reconsider reinstating it?