Ashanti is clearly not one to let the past slide without a little fun and fire. During a recent episode of Hot Ones: Versus, the R&B queen turned up the heat, not just with hot wings, but with a sizzling question that threw Nelly off his game.
As the couple shared laughs and wings, Ashanti hit pause on the spicy moment to drop a bomb. “I have a question… I may regret this,” she teased with a playful smirk, locking eyes with Nelly. “You mentioned you brought someone with you to Verzuz… who was that?”
That question had real weight. It referred to their infamous 2021 Verzuz link-up where the two reunited after years apart. While fans swooned over their rekindled chemistry that night, many never forgot that Nelly might not have shown up alone.
Caught mid-chew and clearly flustered, Nelly tried to play it cool. “You know what, I don’t even remember that lady. She was a nobody,” he joked, sidestepping the answer like a vet avoiding a verse in a freestyle battle. With Ashanti watching and waiting, Nelly finally opted to eat one of the show’s blazing wings to dodge further questioning. To this day, that mystery woman remains just a mystery.
Outside of the hot seat, though, the couple has been peeling back layers in more sincere ways. In a sit down with Cocoa Butter, Nelly showed love to Ashanti’s music catalog and revealed a track that hits closest to home. “‘Rain on Me’ was at a different time in our relationship,” he explained. “We gon’ slide that along and stick with ‘Baby.’ […] Some of those records include my brother Ja [Rule]. But ‘Baby’ is all my wife. I’m riding with that one.”
Now with a reality show in the works, fresh music like “This Lil’ Game We Play,” and that signature spark still lighting up the screen, Ashanti and Nelly are reminding fans what grown chemistry looks like. Whether on stage or on the Gram, the duo continues to dish out love, laughter and just enough spice to keep the timeline talking.