I SLEPT WITH INSECTS AND FROGS-SHATTA WALE TELLS HIS STORY

Award winning Dancehall act, Shatta Wale was
on e.TV’s The Late Nite Celebrity Show to share
his story as a music maker.
The Everybody Like My Tin singer sharing the bit
of his life before his comeback to his current
fame and glory revealed to Giovani Caleb:
“From Bandana to Shatta Wale was a long
journey, I was at a place no one wanted to be;
at some point, I was living with insects, frogs
and when I remember that now – it fills my eyes
with tears.
“I was living at a place where an artist was not
supposed to live. That was when I bought myself
a small computer, a Pentium two and a
keyboard and told myself I wanted to learn
how to play beats.
“Because anytime I went to any studio to
record; right after I left, they will delete my
song – apart from the money which was hard to
come by then, I still tried to pay. And I was like
“wow, this shouldn’t be happening to me” and
anytime I wanted to protest, they will go like
Dancehall is not something people in Ghana will
want to listen to. But I kept telling them ‘this
was what my spirit wanted me to do.
So when I bought my computer, I was always in
the room alone around Sakaman playing beats
and recording the songs and show it to people.
Some will laugh at me and say ‘Oh! This one you
wouldn’t get anywhere, and you won’t make
money… Try and do what others are doing.”
I was like it’s not all about the money – this is
what I want to put to the youth of Ghana that
you can be what you want to be.
Money will come when God sees how hard you
are working.
“Things was so bad even my girlfriend at the
time told me I wasn’t classic enough and
decided to go for a classy boyfriend and I was
like wow – This was the Megye Wo Girl happening
in real life.
“I had to move from one area to another area
and met friends who promised they were going
to help me and offered me places to live and
all that.
“I slept in people’s halls and kitchens.
Sometimes I need to squeeze myself into
people's verandas. And there was times when my
friend’s girlfriends came around, and I had to
sit outside and wait with all these mosquitos.
“And even if I got one girl who was feeling me
in that kind of way and wanted to support me
small, and I wanted to enjoy some [fleeting
pleasures of the flesh] and I couldn’t afford a
hotel, so I just find one small uncompleted
building and do it quick quick.
“It was crazy but I really had to be strong. I’m
the type I don’t really worry about problems.
Because looking back, I realized I was the one
who brought all the problems I was facing upon
myself. I decided to leave home at that very
tender age – my dad didn’t disown me. I was
rather stubborn with what I had wanted to do.
That’s how God created me.”
The Late Nite Celebrity Show airs on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday at 9.30PM.