Abdullai Isshak writes that Bandana?s 2007 ?Road to Success? album didn?t turn out to be a huge hit as he expected. The self-proclaimed Dancehall King?s popularity plummeted, he adds when he rebranded from Bandana to Shatta Wale.
After six years in the wilderness, he is back in full flight gettting a lot of buzz in mainstream media ? radio, newspapers, TV and online.
Here?s how Shata Wale made it back to the top.
Target a top-rated act and send him to the cleaners.
He recorded ?You want It,? which registers his displeasure at treatment meted out to him by Samini at the latter?s October 2011 Mavado Concert. In the song, he speaks of how Samini wasn?t ready to put up a stage for another Dancehall artist to over shadow him. It got him some attention. Big Headline; ?Bandana Fights Samini?.
Target a potential threat and let people know you don?t like him.
Shatta Wale recorded ?A letter to Iwan?, on which he and his (Shatta Movement) literally took ?Gideon Force? ? (Iwan?s movement) to the cleaners. A creative piece of a diss song, he ends by inviting IWAN to reply. That one, too, got him some attention; he won for himself some hardcore loyalists.
Let your core support base know you?ve got their back.
Shatta Wale knows how to get his loyal fans to buy into his theatrics. Put out a record, tie-in the name of the vicinity where you live, and let them understand you are about the only act who cares about them. Bandana has a solid backing in Nima, a suburb of Accra with a higher concentration of people.
In Nima and some parts of New Town, Shatta Wale is a smaller god who enjoys entourage rides with at least 50 motor bikes aiding him. That?s street credibility right there.
He is aware of the solid ?backing? he has, which is why he alluded to it in the song ?You Want It?. ?Remember, Shatta Movement Security bigger than some batty bwoy in vicinity,? he sang.
When you don?t win at an awards ceremony, don?t say the ?battle is the lord?s,? fight the organizers, and call them thieves.
Hours after Kaakie mounted the stage to read her acceptance speech at this year?s VGMA?s, Shatta Wale posted a Facebook post, venting his anger at why he was snubbed. It didn?t end there; in typical Shatta Wale style he put out ?A Letter to Charter House?, a diss song meant for the organizers of the scheme. The public backlash coupled with the contants mentioning he was getting, brought him back to life. He is the most talked about local act now.
Boycott the next awards even if you are promised it is going to be free and fair.
After going on rampage at the VGMA, he felt he?d had enough and not interested in any other scheme. He sat out of the Bass Awards, which he even stood a better chance of winning. Few days later got signed on to the scheme Nominees jam. Then came an announcement from the organizers of the Ghana Meets Naija concert that he?s been added to the list of performers. He was not on their cards few months ago.
Controversy sells? Recency effect? We don?t know about that; all we know is that the Shatta Movement is reigning, and Bandana is the Dancehall King inna di whole Ghana!
