“Our Videos Are Poor As Ghanaian Artistes, That Is Why We Are Not Going To Africa” – Shatta Wale

Dancehall king Shatta Wale has revealed money has been a major challenge to Ghanaian musicians in their promotions in other neighboring countries.

The dancehall artiste/songwriter who was a guest on Zylofon FM’s flagship programme Showbiz Agenda told the host Sammy Flex that most musicians in the country feel ashamed talking about it but truth is, they are not doing promotions in other countries like we see Nigerian artistes do because they don’t have the money.

“Artistes these days own their own record labels. As you can see somebody like Sarkodie owns his label, Stonebwoy owns his own label, I own my label but the main problem is the money. You see the money I have now, I have to be careful how I spend it. Else you will see me in the near future and go like, this guy was famous but now he is struggling. I want to prepare my grounds because it has not been easy getting to the level I am today. And the industry we find ourselves in, it`s just by his grace. So for instance, I want to prepare my grounds so that when I leave Ghana and I’m in Nigeria there will be business running here for me. I should have some properties here. I mean there should be some things that when I am even broke, I can sell and make something out of it” he explained.

Shatta Wale added: “I don’t know about others but for me the money I have now is not enough for me. I talk to video directors in Nigeria and the monies they mention is huge. Some mention $75,000, $50,000 and ask yourself, how many shows do we even play in a year? So that one day, I will talk for every artistes. They feel shy to say it. But I will say it is the money that is the problem. If I am complaining about the money, then think about the ones that are coming up. Our juniors, the Kuami Eugene and the others. They are trying to shoot videos but the videos are not even crossing to Nigeria, ask yourself why? It is the standard. We are trying to shoot videos but when you check the props you will see that there is something missing in there. When you check Davido and co, they shoot video and you see that the location, girls everything is big but here we try. Sometimes I watch videos of Kuami Eugene and some artistes and the standard, I don’t want anyone to feel bad about it but the standard is not good enough. We have money problem. This is the same industry where we looking for money and FDA is banning us on top”.

Story by: Reagan O.O.Osarfo (Nana Reagan)