Happy belated birthday to Ashanti, who celebrated her 44th with a lavish party last Sunday (October 13). Of course, her boo Nelly was there to celebrate with her, and now he shared an adorable video montage on his social media recapping the whole thing. “Happy Bday To the most beautiful woman in the world,” he began his Instagram caption of the clips below. “Putting Smiles on your face is something i wake thinking about and the thing I love doing the most… grateful to have someone who loves and appreciate me as much as I do them … love you mama.”
However, Nelly also has a lot of other matters to attend to apart from his relationship with Ashanti, namely a lawsuit from one of his group members in St. Lunatics. Basically, the lawsuit claims that he never gave the group their proper credit or compensation for the work they did on his 2000 album, Country Grammar. The St. Louis native’s lawyer alleged that all but one of the group members reached out to have their names removed from the lawsuit, leaving only Ali Jones as the plaintiff.
Nelly Recaps Ashanti’s Birthday Party
But unsurprisingly, we’re sure that Nelly’s personal life will take precedence over any legal disputes. Maybe we’ll eat our words, but we’d bet that he will probably not address this much on social media in favor of sharing his new role as a father. “His name is Kareem Kenkaide Haynes,” Ashanti said of their baby boy. “His dad named him [after her father] with a lot of pride. My dad has only girls, so Nelly was just like, ‘I think that would be really, really dope.'”
That being said, some other Nelly fans online are expressing concern instead of congratulating him and Ashanti for their newfound parenthood. This is because of a recent performance in which he seemed particularly drowsy, causing rumors of his possible drug use to swirl. Some didn’t take them as seriously as others, remarking on how it could just be healthily recreational and not cause for extreme worry. In any case, it seems clear that this couple is as happy as they could be.
About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022.
Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case.
Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.
…
