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Nelly has shared footage of the moments leading up to Ashanti‘s recent surprise birthday party in a sweet social media post dedicated to his wife.
The St. Louis rapper took to Instagram on Saturday (October 19) and shared a recap video that captured the couple as they got ready to attend what Ashanti seemed to have thought would be an intimate dinner.
Instead, after clips of the two and their loved ones six and two hours before the event itself, the video captures the exact moment when Ashanti — who turned 44 on October 13 — realizes that her husband had planned something much more elaborate: an island themed birthday party, complete with tropical decorations.
Nelly accompanied the video with a sweet caption dedicated to the mother of his youngest son that reads: “Happy Bday To the most beautiful woman in the world.. Putting Smiles on your face is something i wake up thinking about and the thing I love doing the most… grateful to have someone who loves and appreciate me as much as I do them … love you mama”
Ashanti responded with her own affectionate note in the comments, writing: Awwwwww Thanku babe!!!! U did such an amazing job!!!! You always go out of ur way to make me smile…I love & appreciate u sooooo much!!! I’m so grateful to have the most thoughtful, kindest, loving man in the world! This birthday was so special & meant everything to me. I love u infinitely [prayer hand emoji, heart emoji, wink-and-kiss emoji]”
Watch Ashanti’s birthday recap below.
Ashanti and Nelly welcomed their first child together, a son named Kareem Kenkaide Hayes, on July 18, but kept his name and birthdate quiet until late August.
Just hours after announcing their baby boy’s arrival, the former Murder Inc. songstress broke down his name during a conversation with ET‘s Deidre Behar.
“His dad named him with a lot of pride,” she said. “We were going back and forth for a long time on his name and he was very adamant. He was like, ‘This is what I want! I love this!’ And I thought it was just so amazing and so thoughtful and so sweet because Kenkaide is my dad’s name and obviously my dad has only girls.
“So Nelly was just like, ‘I think that will be really, really dope.’ And this was all his idea. [And] Kareem means generous, kind, noble, dignified, bountiful and just having dignity. So I was like, ‘That’s so cute!’”
Ashanti and Nelly not only managed to keep their baby a secret until they were ready to share the news, they also did the same thing with their marriage.
In June of this year, TMZ got their hands on a marriage record for the expecting couple that revealed they tied the knot prior to the new year, on December 27, 2023.
While the document doesn’t state what city the lovers said ‘I do’ in, it was made official in St. Louis County, so it’s likely they wed in the rapper’s hometown.
