Concrete Rose

Following the success of her sophomore studio album Chapter II, Ashanti confirmed in November 2003 that she had begun planning her third studio album, due to be out in mid-2004. In February 2004, Ashanti said the album had "a new sound, a new flavor", and said she wanted "to touch on more topics that I didn't touch on with the first and the second record." She also confirmed that she had already recorded three songs for the album. By July, Ashanti confirmed she had already finished the record, and planned its release for November. The album's title was inspired by The Rose That Grew from Concrete, a poetry collection of poetry written between 1989 and 1991 by Tupac Shakur. Ashanti explained that Concrete Rose serves as a metaphor for blending musical styles: when people think of hip-hop, they often imagine something gritty, raw, and "like concrete," while R&B suggests something smooth, sensual, and soft, like a rose. Because her music combines both hip-hop and R&B, she felt the title Concrete Rose captured that balance. == Singles and promotion ==

The song "Turn It Up", featuring rapper Ja Rule, was initially released as the lead single off the album. However, it was downscaled to a buzz single after The Inc. decided to release "Only U" as Concrete Roses lead single instead. The song, released on October 26, 2004, reached the top ten of several countries, including Ireland (#4), Japan (#), and the United Kingdom (#2); the song also reached the top twenty in Germany (#12), New Zealand (#14), Switzerland (#12), and the United States (#13). In November, Murder Inc. changed its name to The Inc., in an attempt to distance the company from its several controversies. Between November 2004 and January 2005, Gotti, McGriff, and several employees and associates of The Inc. were arrested on charges of money laundering, racketeering, and murder, regarding to the killing of rapper E-Money Bags. In April 2005, Ashanti chose "Don't Let Them" to be the second single from the album. The single failed to chart in the United States; however, charted moderately well in Ireland (#41) and the United Kingdom (#38). == Critical reception ==

Concrete Rose received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 47, based on 10 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average" reviews. Hattie Collins, writing for The Guardian, found that "Ashanti doesn't stray from the R&B rulebook that has so far seen her sell some 7m albums in the US alone – namely a hip-hop backdrop of hard-knock beats tempered by a soul-lite vocal [...] A lack of originality and too much filler mark Ashanti more as a pedestrian than the princess she purports to be." Steve Appleford from the Los Angeles Times wrote that Ashanti and Concrete Rose sound "trapped, sapped of strength and ideas, and buried beneath all the worst cold and calculated production tendencies of her label [...] What follows is modern R&B; formula at its most flat and uninspired. For all her lovesick panting, pleading and purring, Ashanti is never emotionally engaged with the songs, which aren't worth the trouble anyway." Entertainment Weeklys Raymond Fiore remarked that "the thin-voiced vixen's third disc bruises both genres with a slew of mostly midtempo clunkers built with her weapons of choice: faux grit and forced sensuality." In his review for Slant Magazine, Sal Cinquemani wrote: "Ashanti is incapable of doing slinky or sexy and, despite her incessant attempts at vamping, she can't all-out sing either – she's even upstaged by a Hammond organ." == Chart performance ==

During the week of Christmas, Concrete Rose debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 254,000 units. On the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart the album debuted at number two where it spent a total of 28 consecutive weeks on the chart. By November 2005, the album had sold over 1 million copies, according to Nielsen Soundscan. Elsewhere, Concrete Rose debuted or peaked at number 16 in Japan, number 25 in the United Kingdom, number 36 in Germany, and number 65 in Canada. In Japan, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). In the United Kingdom, it also peaked at number four on the UK R&B Albums chart and was eventually certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). == Track listing ==

Notes • denotes additional producer Sample credits • "Message to the Fans (Skit)" contains samples from "Why You Treat Me So Bad" by Club Nouveau, written by Denzil Foster, Jay King, Jocelyn McElroy, and Thomas McElroy. • "Don't Let Them" contains interpolations of "Could I Be Falling In Love" by Syl Johnson, written by Willie Mitchell, Yvonne Mitchell, Earl Randle, and Lawrence Seymour. • "Love Again" contains an interpolation of "Fuck Faces" by Scarface featuring Too Short, Tela, & Devin the Dude, and written by Devin Copeland, Mike Dean, Brad Jordan, Winston Rogers, and Todd Shaw. • "U" contains interpolations of "Freek'n You (Mr. Dalvin's Freek Remix)" by Jodeci featuring Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, written by Donald DeGrate. • "Turn It Up" contains a sample from "Short Eyes", written and performed by Curtis Mayfield. == Personnel ==

• 7 Aurelius – vocals, background vocals, producer, associate executive producer, instrumentation • Won "Engineer to the Stars" Bee Allen – engineer • Chuck Amos – hair stylist • David Ashton – engineer • Ashaunna Ayars – marketing • Jerry Barnes – bass guitar • William Barnes – guitar • Erica Bowen – recording director • Milwaukee "Protools King" Buck – engineer • Al "Boogie" Carty – bass • Robin Clark – executive assistant • Tom Coyne – mastering • Kenneth Crouch – keyboards • Ashanti Douglas – executive producer • Tinya Y. Douglas – management • Tony Duran – photography • Easy Mo Bee – drum programming, beats • Malcolm Flythe – producer • Stephen George – mixing • Irv Gotti – producer, executive producer, mixing • Deidre Graham – marketing • Terry "Murda Mac" Herbert – assistant engineer • Bashiri Johnson – percussion • Gavin "YG" Johnston – assistant engineer • Terese Joseph – A&R • Jimi Kendrix – producer • Darcell Lawrence – production executive • Trevor Lawrence – drums • Selan Lerner – keyboards • Jerome Leventhal – management • Chris "Gotti" Lorenzo – A&R • Tammy Lucas – background vocals • Deborah Mannis-Gardner – sample clearance • Glen "It's Crazy" Markazi – engineer, mixing • Josh McDonnell – assistant engineer • Demetrius McGhee – organ, strings, bass guitar, keyboards, producer, instrumentation • Rosie Michel – stylist • Fred Moore – A&R • Karen Moskowitz – photography • Rick Patrick – creative director • Tenisha Ramos – marketing • Bill Sample – Hammond organ • Chink Santana – producer • Adam Scheurmann – engineer, assistant engineer • Paul Silveira – engineer • Todd "Shortma" Simms – A&R • Quinshae Snead – personal assistant • Rob Stefanson – assistant engineer • Supa Engineer "Dura" – mixing • Laura Tamburino – art producer • Errol "Breezie" Jr. Vaughn – A&R • Andy West – art direction == Charts ==

Weekly charts Year-end charts == Certifications ==