Dancehall King, Shatta Wale has intimated no Ghanaian artiste, including himself can compare to the current status of Nigerian artistes like Davido, Burna Boy, and Wizkid.
According to him the trajectory of these Nigerian artistes have is as a result of the positive support they receive from their kinsmen.
The musician was responding to question posed to him, on weekly entertainment show, SHOWBIZ TODAY on Takoradi based Empire FM with host Feeling Daddy, concerning his rants towards some media personalities in the country.
“That is why the Nigerian artistes are moving faster than us, Davido came to Ghana and drove straight to my house, Burna Boy came to Ghana and I stayed with for one and half year, don’t they industry see that, this is a guy that could have taken up first before these boys go? Now see where Burna boy, Davido and Wizkid are, we can compare no single artiste including me to them, just because we don’t want the growth of our artistes,” he explained.
According to him such situations drag the entertainment industry as such, ”My future plans involve identifying emerging talents and offering them guidance to comprehend the music business in Ghana. This initiative is designed to prevent them from repeating the same mistakes that some of us have experienced.”
Charles Nii Armah Mensah as known in private circles, said entertainment programs have frequently portrayed his brand in a negative light, “yet consistently leverage these opportunities to transform negativity into positivity for my personal gain.”
The artiste was recently criticized by entertainment pundit , Ola Michael as not deserving of a diplomatic passport , as earlier suggested by former French ambassador to Ghana ,Anne Sophie. This further attracted a run of vitriol at the pundit. When quizzed on his action , he said “Why didn’t Ola use instances like Stonebwoy displaying a gun on stage or Sarkodie being linked to an abortion case as examples of artists who shouldn’t have diplomatic passports, instead of singling out me, Shatta Wale?”
“I don’t impulsively resort to insulting or targeting specific individuals on social media. My wisdom and extensive knowledge prevent me from engaging in such behavior. However, there are certain media figures that, in my opinion, warrant such responses.”
While responding to the substantive issue of his worthiness of a diplomatic passport, the Dancehall artiste explained that “when it comes to the diplomatic passport issue, I would have hoped that media personalities would lend their support and advocate for the cause with politicians, rather than undermining specific artistes in their discussions. Such negative attitudes might not be taken seriously by politicians, hampering our overall efforts.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
