Please, allow me to give you a preamble to this story before shooting my unquestionable points on why Charles Nii Armah Mensah Jnr. a.k.a Shatta Wale; Ghana’s self acclaimed dance hall king must not apologise to Charter House, organizers of the Ghana Music Awards, and owners of GhOne TV; over what they (Charter House) tagged as defamatory statement.
It all started on September 23rd and it got a repeat on 24th, when Shatta Wale uploaded couple of self recorded video on his Facebook page for free view of his over 92,000 followers.
He (Shatta Wale) questioned the objectivity of Ghana Music Awards, its lack of giving other artistes in other regions the opportunity and attention they deserve. Shatta Wale, in the video, questioned the rumour he heard about the management of GhOne TV not to air his music, as well as not to mention his name on any of their entertainment shows.
He berated the rules being set by GhOne TV management in the entertainment industry, and lashed out at Ghanaians who work for the management of both GhOne TV and Ghana Music Awards show. He questioned why a Nigerian man in the name of Mr. Iyiola Ayoade (pronouncing it with disgust), will come and set the rules, and dictate what should be done in Ghana entertainment industry.
Here is an excerpt purposely for Shatta Wale Movement die hard fans like me; I believe this will reinvigorate them on the right of other artistes Shatta was fighting for, and keep them abreast of the real context. After which I will top it up with my reasons why all the Shatta Wale movement fans must impress it on Shatta Wale not to apologise, unless he wants to fall our hand (disappoint us) , like Nigerians would say.
Here is the transcribed excerpt: “I dey send this to Iyiola Ayoade…You no dey respect huh? You come Ghana, you wan come do entertain rules, you get sense? Or you fit say the music awards nobody no say you dey do kululu wey you no dey nominate Kumasi artistes, you no dey nominate Northern Region artistes, you no dey nominate Bolgatanga artistes, you no dey nominate Takoradi artistes, no even Volta Region, not even our common Koforidua here. You dey come set rules, show the type of music dem for play for your foolish station GhOne.”
“If some DJ dey play my video for your TV station you say make he stop, make dem no talk anythong about Shatta Wale. You dey talk Deborah Vanessa or Vanessa Deborah or something…say make them no mention my name for your TV station and things. You are in for trouble.”
“Ghana artistes self wey they fool wey they follow follow you. Wey you dey give them two thousand, three thousand Ghana cedis?…give me seventy thousand you no dey fit give me, thirty thousand be my class.”
Here follows my reasons:
Firstly, Shatta Wale’s bank account is much fatter than what Charter House has sued us for; after all how much is GHc 10milion compared to how much Shatta Wale earns per show; compared to Shatta Wale’s gold business worth, or his collaboration fee, which could even be more than what 2face or Wizkid earns.
Shatta Wale and his manager Nana Asiama Hanson affectionately called ‘Bulldog’ by fans have-on several occasions- show fans on their Facebook page -pictures of hard currencies to prove they have got the money. And truly they have it, so I want to believe the attempt of their lawyer in court to beg Charter House for an out of court settlement must have been a mis-representation of what both Bulldog and Shatta House have claimed, that they will never beg Charter House.
Secondly, “Charter house is owned by a Nigerian man” said, Shatta Wale. Even though his contribution has been able to put Ghana entertainment industry on a firm ground, he remains a Nigerian man. Even though his company is legal, as he employs Ghanaians and project their music on his stable; GhOne TV, he remains a Nigerian. Even though he has been able to create ground for competition and excellence in the industry, he remains a Nigerian.
Even though Ghana Music Awards remains the most consistent show in the history of Ghana, he’s still a foreigner, and must not create the rules; the rule that has made his platform to be reckoned with.
Even though Shatta Wale himself goes outside Ghana to perform, charges before leaving the shores of Ghana, and as well- dictates the class of hotel he wants to stay in – because he’s Shatta Wale, but a Nigerian must must not be allowed to make rules in Ghana, even when he’s married to a Ghanaian.
Thirdly, as Ghana reggae dance all king, Shatta Wale rather creates rules. And as it has been declared many times by Shatta Wale himself and Bulldog that Shatta Movement is a “country”, they have their own constitution as well. So, no law court should make sense to Shatta Wale and his country citizens. Like he said and I quote “Charter House is in trouble”, as the only law that applies here is Shatta Movement republic law, and Charter movement should expect soldier fans to run them over.
Actually, one of them spoke recently, in the name of Kwaisey Pee, asking Ghanaian artistes to boycott the 2015 Ghana Music Awards. Here him: “I know the next awards are next year but the truth is that we have to do something for the organis¬ers to know that we are not happy with them. Over the years, they have not treated us fairly. And this was what Shatta Wale was trying to say and has found himself in court. Even that, we should be showing him some solidarity but we are not showing him any support.”
So, Charter House should beware, because we are not going to beg. We have what to leverage on. The fourth one is a brief one! In reggae, there’s nothing like ‘beg or remorse’ in our dictionary. We say it the way it is. We fight for our right and the people we love, anyway we deem it fit.
Lastly, even though Iyiola Ayoade owns the GhOne TV, he dare not dictate what kind of music he plays, or which artiste he doesn’t want his entertainment presenters talk about -because he doesn’t make the content; we do.
He sells our content, and we get nothing in return. His platform doesn’t even make us popular. But either he owns his TV or not, we (Shatta Wale Movement) will dictate what he plays, when he plays it, because this is Ghana, and it is Shatta Wale’s law that applies here.
And for the enemies of Shatta Wale, like this blogger from GhanaGist who says and I quote “Shatta Wale is brash, always has been and always would be. It’s what he based the resurrection of his career on and I would go so far as to say that’s his business model. It’s been a hugely successful business model so far.
“Shatta Wale has reached insane heights of popularity both locally and internationally- that he does not need to stir the pot as often as he did in the past. He should just pipe down and concentrate on his music and pleasing his legions of fans”, we are coming for them.
The satire ends there, but the reality continues on the 4th of November as Shatta Wale will be appearing in Court, either with his remorse face, or with daring, furious face, accompanied by his manager-Bull Dog, saying in patua “Charter House, bring it on; we are ready to face the consequences”.
