Ever since they revealed that they got back together in 2023, Nelly and Ashanti have had lots of reasons to celebrate together.
In July 2024, Nelly surprised the mother of his child with a star-studded baby shower at a Dolce & Gabbana store in New York.
Nelly Said, ‘Love You Mama’
And he recently surprised her again for her 44th birthday.
It was a really important one for Ashanti because it was her first birthday as a new mom.
Nelly made sure to document moments from the special day, and the world got to see just how special he made his wife feel when he posted an edited video of the celebration on Instagram.
He captioned the post with a heartwarming birthday message to the love of his life.
After calling her the most beautiful woman in the world, he wrote that putting a smile on her face was something he woke up thinking about, and the thing he loved doing the most.
Nelly said that he was grateful to have someone who loved and appreciated him as much as he did them.
He finished off by writing: “Love you mama.”
Ashanti responded to him in the comments section and showed that the love was mutual by saying that he always went out of his way to make her smile, and that she loved and appreciated him so much.
She added that she was so grateful to have the most thoughtful, kindest, loving man in the world.
Ashanti shared that the birthday was so special and it meant everything to her.
Ashanti’s Island-Themed Birthday Party
So, what exactly did Nelly do to make the celebration such a success?
Essence reported on how the party had an Island theme going on, in honor of Ashanti’s love of vacationing in tropical places.
It was an intimate group of people that included their closest family and friends.
The video made it clear that Ashanti must’ve known that she was going to some kind of special event because she was being filmed as she got made up by professionals for the occasion.
In one clip, she was even seen pumping milk so that her newborn son would have food while she was off celebrating.
She wore a fuschia pink dress and accessorized it with a matching bag and pink shoes.
The island theme was a perfect choice for the R&B singer who’s become known as the vacation queen.
There were tropical flowers decorating the entire room that Nelly had rented out in a hotel.
On the tables was a banquet of Caribbean cuisine, and bottles of Nelly’s brand, MoShine, could be seen being passed around by the waiters.
At one point, Ashanti blew out a candle on her multi-tiered, frosting-covered birthday cake.
She also gave a speech, and in one of the clips, she could be heard gushing about how ‘insanely in love’ she was with the two main men in her life.
Ashanti’s 44th birthday isn’t the only celebration she and Nelly have attended over the last few months.
Nelly’s Annual Black And White Ball
More recently, the pair were both at Nelly’s annual Black and White Ball.
Every year, the rapper holds the event in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, to help raise money for some worthy causes.
The proceeds of the 2024 ball went toward the Make-A-Wish Foundation and to help fund scholarships for local students to be able to go to Harris-Stowe State University.
Stars like Ne-Yo, Bow Wow, and Jermaine Dupri turned up to perform at the event.
The Shade Room reported on how happy Nelly and Ashanti looked together that night.
During a performance of her hit single Baby, Ashanti and her husband surprised the crowd by playing around with the lyrics of the song.
Instead of just repeating the word Baby in the chorus like the original song does, they sang: “We made a baby, baby, baby, baby.”
Nelly peppered the song with some background vocals and threw in the occasional ad-lib, too.
The duo danced on stage together, and they were smiling non-stop at each other as they sang.
People couldn’t get enough of the joyful couple.
One social media user commented on the video of them performing, saying that they were so cute and true soulmates.
Another person agreed that they looked ‘so happy together.’
Ashanti Addresses Pregnancy Rumors
It was at the 2023 Black and White Ball that all the speculation about whether or not Ashanti was pregnant really began.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Ashanti revealed that the incident that ended up generating so many headlines around the world was actually just a goof.
She said: “When he blurted that out on the stage, we actually did not know. I hadn’t even taken a test at that time.“
Ashanti explained that she was touching her belly because she was trying to adjust the pendant on her dress, and then Nelly put his hand on hers and made it look like it was something else.
But it wasn’t until the following month when Ashanti missed her period that she realized that she WAS actually pregnant.
According to Bossip, the press at the 2024 ball were eager to find out if Ashanti was expecting another little one, even though it’d only been a few months since she gave birth to her son.
A reporter named Damon Arnold spoke to the couple on the red carpet and reminded them how the joke they’d made the previous year actually came to fruition.
He said that he needed to ask the pair for ‘safety’ if there was a bun in the oven again.
Ashanti instantly answered: “Don’t do that!”
And Nelly simply said that he was going to stay quiet.
Nelly’s Lawsuit
The rapper was honored along with his ex-bandmates, The St. Lunatics, by being given the Key to the city.
The hip-hop group had made headlines a couple months earlier after Nelly was hit with a $50 million dollar lawsuit in September 2024.
A report by Rolling Stone revealed that the lawsuit claimed that the group members didn’t get the proper credit they deserved on other tracks of Nelly’s first album.
The lawsuit was a pretty big scandal when it first came out, but just weeks later, Billboard reported that 3 of the 4 ex-bandmates were alleging that they weren’t involved.
They announced that they’d never wanted to be part of the lawsuit, and that they didn’t authorize the lawyer responsible for the case to include them as plaintiffs.
Nelly was also arrested not long after his son was born.
PEOPLE reported that it was because of an outstanding warrant from 2023.
He was also allegedly in possession of an illegal substance.
However, in November 2024, NBC News revealed that Nelly wouldn’t be charged.
A spokesperson for the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office released a statement which said: “We don’t believe the facts in this case warrant the issuing of charges.“
Nelly And Ashanti Speak Out About Their Baby Kareem
So, though he’s had some bumps along the way, Nelly has been able to overcome them and focus on one of the most precious things in his life right now, his baby – Kareem Kenkaide Haynes.
When speaking to PEOPLE, the couple shared just how excited they were to have their new family member.
Ashanti said that her son was a blessing and an angel.
She shared that her life was amazing and she felt super blessed and happy.
She said that she was insanely in love with him.
She admitted that she wasn’t getting much sleep, though Nelly was still managing just fine.
When asked what the baby’s personality was like, Ashanti joked that Kareem had his father’s temper, and that he would get fussy when his milk bottle wasn’t ready for him.
In her interview with Entertainment Tonight, Ashanti talked about another way that she could see Nelly’s behavior in their son.
He reportedly sleeps in the exact same position as his father – on his side with his hands folded.
Ashanti also opened up about how Kareem got his name, and it turns out that all the credit goes to Nelly.
Nelly named the baby with a lot of pride.
He and Ashanti had reportedly been going back and forth for a long time on what to call their child, but Nelly eventually decided that he wanted one of his son’s names to be Kenkaide.
Ashanti thought that it was just so amazing, thoughtful, and sweet, because that was her father’s name.
Nelly said that it would be a nice honor to name their son after him because her dad only had daughters, so he never got to pass on his name.
Ashanti told ET that their son’s first name, Kareem, meant kind, noble, bountiful, generous, and dignified.
It’s clear that both she and Nelly are simply obsessed with their son.
