Fat Joe Speaks Out About Ashanti’s Baby Kareem

Earlier this month, Fat Joe opened up about meeting the baby boy of his friends Ashanti and Nelly.

And what he said left everyone reaching for the tissues. 

Fat Joe Said ‘… The Most Beautiful Baby In The World’

As reported in People magazine, Joe had nothing but beautiful things to say about Kareem Kenkaide Haynes.

The rapper was being interviewed by Entertainment Tonight at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on the red carpet.

During his interview, Joe couldn’t help but gush about Ashanti and Nelly’s son. 

He said, “I saw the baby. The baby is the most beautiful baby in the world.”

Joe was clearly smitten from his first encounter with his friends’ firstborn.

Fat Joe’s Verzuz Battle: Where Nelly And Ashanti Reunited 

But even before he saw Kareem, Joe was happy to talk about Ashanti’s shock pregnancy and what he thought his role was in her reunion with Nelly.

When Joe faced off with Ja Rule on the Comedy Central show Verzuz Battle, both Nelly and Ashanti were there, too. 

Nelly walked across the stage and gave Ashanti a hug in their first reunion since their breakup. 

After that, Nelly and Ashanti’s renewed relationship developed really fast. 

The following year, Ashanti confessed that they were in a much better place during an interview.

Soon after that, they were spotted out and about together on several different occasions.

And it wasn’t long before they went public with their relationship, saying that they had finally gotten back together.

Joe was clearly delighted that the couple was back together, and even more delighted about it happening during his Verzuz Battle. 

He even joked online about being the one responsible for bringing them back to each other.

After rumors started swirling about Ashanti being pregnant, Fat Joe quipped, “I immediately tell them I need 10 percent of this kid.”

He went on to say that if it wasn’t for him bringing Nelly out during the show, they would not have connected again. 

He added that it was at the moment Nelly saw Ashanti across the stage behind Ja Rule that he said “I gotta have her.”

Nelly Opens Up About Relationship With Ashanti

Nelly talked about their relationship on Philo TV’s Boss Moves.

And he said that they were both actually surprised by the fact that they had become part of each other’s lives again.

They supposedly both agreed that going their separate ways all those years ago actually helped them understand each other more.

And although they have both grown older and wiser, it looks like they are having more fun than ever.

Ja Rule Speaks Out About Ashanti And Nelly’s Relationship 

Ja Rule explained during an interview on the Tamron Hall Show what he saw that fateful day when his Verzuz battle was upstaged by the happy couple. 

He said that he thought the two missed each other, and that “the way they clicked just came back so fast.”

It sounds like Ja Rule felt that it was like they had never even broken up at all. 

But he told Tamron that he wasn’t really surprised that the couple had gotten back together. 

He went on to suggest that he just knew something was up from the way Ashanti and Ja Rule’s wife had been talking for a while. 

He said that he knew that he could tell that Ashanti wanted Nelly back, who he referred to as “that old thing.”

However, he made it clear that he wasn’t trying to make fun of them, and acknowledged the amazing chemistry the pair still obviously had when they were finally united again.

Ashanti’s Pregnancy Rumors 

Although Fat Joe might consider himself the puppetmaster in the relationship of his two friends, there was certainly something going on that he didn’t know. 

After jokingly demanding ten percent after hearing the baby gossip, Fat Joe went on to say that it was “just a rumor” that Ashanti was pregnant. 

While Ashanti has had her fair share of rumors made up about her, the talk of her having a baby has turned out to be 100% legit. 

Recently, she shared a couple of photos on her Instagram, seemingly to celebrate her pregnancy.

The photos showed her lying on a beach in a gold bikini. 

In the caption, she wrote that the fact that she was about to become a mother was “the greatest feeling ever.”

Nelly And Ashanti Secretly Tied The Knot  

Nelly and Ashanti had previously announced both that they were expecting and that they were engaged in April of this year.

But there was something else going on that no fans, or even Ja Rule or Fat Joe, knew about.

The couple had already taken the final step and tied the knot in private. 

Public records show that they got married on December 27, 2023, and it sounds as if Joe had no more knowledge about this than anyone else at the time.

Ja Rule Championed For Ashanti

The friendships among these four artists go back decades, with Ja Rule being one of Ashanti’s biggest champions back when they were first making hits together. 

Ja Rule revealed to Tamron Hall just how much he fought for his so-called sister when trying to put songs together. 

He said that label executive Irv Gotti had suggested some big names to jump on Ja Rule’s track Always on Time, including Beyonce and Alicia Keys.

However, Ja Rule was adamant that they had the right singer for the job right there in the studio with them. 

Fat Joe Calls Out Irv Gotti

Although Ja Rule has definitely been there to help Ashanti, there was a time when Joe felt the need to call him out for not doing enough for their friend.

This came after Ja Rule appeared alongside Irv Gotti in an infamous episode of Drink Champs.

Irv caused a scandal after claiming to have had an affair with Ashanti while she was with Nelly and Irv was married. 

Joe later took to Instagram Live to say that Irv had been disrespectful in his ranting about Ashanti.

And then he went on to say that whatever happened was done 20 years ago, and this just made Irv look like he wasn’t over her.

Fat Joe Slams Ja Rule 

What’s even crazier is that Joe didn’t just call out Irv. 

He also slammed Ja Rule for failing to defend Ashanti. 

Ja Rule has since responded by insisting that he did stick up for her. 

And later, he took to Instagram to make it clear that he did not condone what Irv did on the podcast.

And he hoped that people understood how uncomfortable it felt to be put in the position he was now in. 

Did Ja Rule And Ashanti Ever Date? 

Unsurprisingly, there have been frequent rumors about a relationship between Ja Rule and Ashanti over the years.

Ashanti has been quick to shut down the rumors, insisting that she never dated the rapper.

She apparently actually sees him as a brother.

In an old interview with Entertainment Tonight, she doubled down on this.

The singer said that from day one, it was never that way between them.

She said that from the first time they met, she saw him as a brother and he saw her as a sister.

This is definitely also the vibe Ashanti shares with Joe. 

Now, both rappers can adopt the role of uncles to Ashanti’s beautiful baby boy.

Judging by Joe’s comments on the red carpet a few days ago, it’s a role he’s only too happy to take on. 

With Nelly as his father, Ashanti as his mother and these two as his adoptive uncles, Kareem is already hip hop royalty.