Not Fat Joe taking 10% of the baby!
Fat Joe is attributing the rekindled romance between Ashanti and Nelly to his 2021 Verzuz showdown with Ja Rule.
In a live chat with fans, the Bronx rapper shared that their reunited love story was sparked by the positive energy of the Verzuz event.
Expressing joy at their apparent happiness, Fat Joe revealed that Ashanti and Nelly even FaceTimed him recently, during which he brought up the speculation surrounding Ashanti’s rumored pregnancy.
“I immediately tell them I need 10 percent of this kid because if it wasn’t for Verzuz that I brought Nelly out [during] me against Ja Rule,” Fat Joe said. “That’s when they saw each other and that energy connected again. That’s when he said I gotta have her.”
“He was over there contemplating; he really wanted to go over there.” He then shared that a member of his crew urged Nelly to talk to Ashanti. “He goes over there, and that starts the conversation. You know somebody gotta crack the ice—I don’t know why they fell out.”
According to COMPLEX Nelly was the first one to confirm their romance in September 2023.
“Yeah, we cool again,” he told Philo TV’s Boss Moves. “We cool again. I think it surprised both of us, though. It wasn’t anything that was, like, I don’t think planned. I think we both was pretty much doing what we do. But sometimes being separate, you understand one another more.”
Ashanti later discussed their reconnecting during her red carpet appearance for the MTV VMAs, which saw her carrying a clutch with a photo of them from 20 years ago when they first met at the awards show.
“We’re in a great space, everything is positive, we’re having a lot of fun,” she told People.
Then, in December, Nelly was seen rubbing Ashanti’s belly onstage, suggesting that they were expecting.
Reports quickly emerged that the singer is pregnant with her first child with Nelly, though neither artist has confirmed the rumors.