Glen Cove's Ashanti, Nelly welcome their first child, a boy

Actor and R&B singer Ashanti, a Glen Cove native, and her husband, hip-hop star Nelly, have welcomed their first child together.

The couple’s representative on Wednesday said the infant is just over a month old, announcing in a statement to People magazine, “Ashanti and Nelly welcomed their baby boy, Kareem Kenkaide Haynes, on July 18, 2024. The proud and happy parents are so in love with KK!”

“Funny how life’s plans aren’t…always on time.. lol,” Grammy Award-winner Ashanti, 43, born Ashanti Douglas, wrote on Instagram, alluding to the baby arriving ahead of the due date.

Accompanying a photo of herself in Frida Mom disposable postpartum underwear, she added “I’ve been waiting to be a mom for a long time now but nothing could prepare me for EVERYTHING motherhood brings! This is what postpartum looks like … I’m so proud of my body for giving me my baby, baby, baby, baby, baby.”

She told “Entertainment Tonight,” in an Instagram post by the program, “Having all of us in the delivery room and seeing his face for the first time, I cried it was just so emotional and spiritual at the same time,” Ashanti recalled. “Having a vision of this moment for so long...it was such an electrifying feeling.”

The child’s name, she said, came from father Nelly, 49, born Cornell Haynes, Jr., “with a lot of pride,” explaining the middle name is that of her father, who variously spells it Kenkaide and Ken-Kaide, and Kareem is a variation of the Arabic word “karim,” meaning generous.

“My son definitely dictates everything now,” she told “ET,” calling the newborn “the priority overall and I don’t care what it will take, what I have to do, I’m just going to give everything and my all to my son. … This little boy has my entire soul wrapped around his finger.”⁠

While cautioning, “I’m super brand new so I’m not trying to give the golden advice,” she suggested that fellow new mothers ““follow your gut instinct and keep strong no matter what the obstacles bring. Your child absolutely feels your energy. Make sure that the baby feels secure and safe and you have to have space for you as well. … I think that it’s really important to create a balance.”

This is Ashanti’s first child. Three-time Grammy winner Nelly has daughter Chanelle Cornice Valentine-Haynes, 30, and son Cornell Iral “Tre” Haynes III, 25, from his former relationship with Channetta Valentine. As well, he adopted nephew Shawn Thomas and niece Sydney Thomas following the 2005 death of their mother, his half-sister Jacqueline Donahue, who died of leukemia at age 31. The blended family was the subject of the 2014-15 BET reality-TV show “Nellyville.”