Ja Rule Opens Up About Ashanti and Nelly’s Reunion, Says They Wanted ‘That Old Thing’ Back: ‘The Chemistry Was There’
Rapper Ja Rule had a massive influence on the music industry back in the early 2000s, and he remains one of the defining musicians of that decade. But one person he often collaborated with was Ashanti, an R&B singer — the two complemented a lot of the other one’s songs.
Ja and Ashanti have been friends for decades, and he recently spoke about Ashanti’s reconnection with her former flame (and now husband), Nelly. Spoiler alert: He wasn’t surprised that she and Nelly got back together.
Ja Rule says the ‘chemistry’ was always there between Nelly and Ashanti
Nelly and Ashanti were certainly the “it” couple in rap and R&B in the early 2000s. The couple first met back in 2003, and there was an instant connection. The couple always kept pretty quiet about their relationship, and they never even truly acknowledged that they were dating; they often referred to each other as good friends. The two allegedly dated between 2003 and 2014, but after a long 10-year break, they reconnected in 2023. Today, they’re married with a baby.
Ja Rule has been close with Ashanti for years and has said that his wife and Ashanti have remained good friends. He recently spoke out about Ashanti’s reunion with Nelly and suggested that he wasn’t surprised the two ended up together.
“You can tell, sometimes, when women … They know they want that old thing back,” Ja told Tamron Hall. “I don’t want to blow sis up, but the chemistry was there. The chemistry was there. And I think, for both of them, it came back quick. So, I think they missed each other.”
Nelly and Ashanti even kept their wedding a secret for as long as they could; the two have since welcomed a baby boy.
Nelly once revealed why it took him so long to marry Ashanti
Back in 2010, Nelly opened up about why he did not initially marry Ashanti, and his reasoning made sense. “What people don’t understand is that I think you really have to be friends first, that’s the thing,” he said in an interview with Rap-Up TV. “It’s not about how long it takes; there’s no time limit on this.”
Nelly added that he’s “not a person who wants to be married more than once” and “not a person who wants to be in a relationship more than once.” Ultimately, though, he knew Ashanti was who he wanted — it just took him 20 years to lock it down.
