Dancehall artiste Shatta Wale, aka Charles Nii Armah Jnr, has spoken about his reasons for not attending the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards event last Saturday even though he had been nominated in various categories including the ultimate Artiste of the Year award.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Hitz Entertainment News last Monday, he said based on the controversies that surrounded him last year, he did not believe he would win an award this year.
He said that organisers of the awards wanted him to be there this year as a nominee and also perform but he did not attend because they could not pay him 70,000 cedis on the night.
He said “I overheard they paid artistes from Nigeria 40,000 and 45,000 dollars but when I asked for 70,000 cedis, the organisers refused. I told them I didn’t really need an award from them because I didn’t trust them, so I was really surprised they gave me all those awards.
“They refused to pay me the performance fee I asked for because they wanted to take me cheap like they take other Ghanaian artistes for cheap”, he said.
Shatta Wale said he believed his fans had come to realise that he did not do music to abuse people but rather educate people through music and that is what he believed Charterhouse had seen and that was why they gave him those awards even though he didn’t believe they would give him the awards this year.
The dancehall king also denied reports that he intentionally went to the Conference Centre on the night of the awards as widely speculated. He said he was only passing by and people saw him and decided to jubilate with him.
He said he had gone to eat at his manager’s bar and decided to use the Conference Centre route which was nobody’s property, so people should not think he went to the venue for any reason.
He advised Ghanaian artistes to unite so they could fight for their rights otherwise, the poverty trend in the music industry would continue.
He said “as for me Shatta Wale, I have promised myself and God that I am not going to be poor in this music industry and I’ m going to make sure I bring a change because I want artistes to be respected.
Artistes who perform for free should stop because it is killing the industry.”
Shatta Wale thanked God for blessing Charterhouse and also opening their eyes to see good talents like him.
Shatta Wale won Reggae/Dancehall Song Of The Year, Vodafone Most Popular Song Of The Year for his song Dancehall King and the Artiste of the Year awards all of which were received on his behalf.
Source: Graphic Ghana
