Ghanaian musician Charles Nii Armah Mensah also known as Shatta Wale is one of the biggest and most well-known artists in Ghana, it, therefore, felt right in the eyes of many that he would assume he would be part of the performers when Global Citizen came to Ghana.
Imagine the shock when the list of performers was released and his name was not part.
To be honest, I wasn’t surprised but others were.
After the concert was held, many have blamed Shatta Wale’s absence on demanding performance fees, and inability to play live music and the biggest assumption has been by Hitz Fm’s Prince Tsegah who blamed it on sabotage by “Gatekeepers”.
Shatta Wale definitely plays hardball when it comes to money but I don’t think he would have made it the reason not to play.
Also, Shatta Wale although not usually a live performer, could have done a live set and on sabotage, I will disagree as a platform as large as Global Citizen will not just rely on hearsay.
I believe what cost Shatta Wale a slot was the fact that his brand does not fit in with Global Citizen.
Shatta Wale has always been known as a rebel, a brand positioning that has worked magic for him, however, that makes him unstable. He usually goes on long rants, usually filled with hard-hitting words against his fellow colleague musicians. I don’t think Global Citizen would want such actions on their stage thus a safe bet is to ignore him.
Secondly, in recent times Shatta Wale’s brand has been tainted due to his negative comments about Nigerian artists, and his back and forth with Burna Boy that led to both sides accusing each other of rape allegations. Global Citizen is big on empowering women and children and would certainly not want to get its brand mixed with talents accused of such acts.
It would have been great for Shatta Wale to have been on the stage but per the above points I have raised it was appropriate that Shatta Wale didn’t get on that stage.
Source: museafrica
