I recently wrote a piece on Gifty Anti and her self-sabotage at springboard. Perhaps I should mention that
these articles are not meant to attack any personality but to analysis the
conduct of very visible individuals and how it affects their occupational and
life performance. In effect they are performance analysis and it is hoped that
readers will learn a thing or two from the situations.
Barely a fortnight after the
Gift Anti article, the self-sabotage alarm bells went off again. This time, it
was a bigger catch or is it. Shatta Wale have managed to get himself sued for
10 million GHS by entertainment event giant Charterhouse. Doesn’t sound good
but believe me it is worse than it sounds. Even if by some miracle Charterhouse
decides to drop the charges, Shatta Wale would have had a close encounter with bankruptcy
barely two years after his breakthrough. It is not fun by any stretch of
imagination and it could actually mean career death.
Anybody who lives in Ghana
knows that Shatta Wale although extremely, talented only just started peaking
after so many years of obscurity in the industry. His contemporaries; most of
who are in possession of only a fraction of his talent left him behind as he
struggled to gain the recognition that he truly deserves. Many years ago, I was
flipping through radio stations when I heard his voice verbally assaulting an
ace producer. That was the first time I heard him speak and got my own helping
of his famous venom. He is not a very nice guy when he is unhappy. It takes a
specific kind of person to release such insults on a well-respected public figure
especially when the whole world is listening. Shatta Wale is that guy and he
left no stones unturned and he dealt with Mark Okraku Mantey.
Not too long ago I started
hearing his voice on X fm as a regular on a show hosted by one Mr. logic. They
donned the dancehall “badman” badge
and proclaimed its manifesto complete with the extreme negativity and profanity
that characterizes the Jamaican dancehall. In the midst of the cacophony they
called radio broadcasting, Mr. Logic constantly chanted praise to Mr. Wale as
he pointed the whole world to his talent and the authenticity of his rebel
mentality. He projected Wale as the true dancehall artist as he has not only the talent but also the attitude.
They had fun for a while but nothing lasts forever.
The two apparently got into a
misunderstand for reasons I have not bothered to find out. But it wasn’t long
before Wale’s constant appearance on xfm or perhaps the magic of Mr. logic’s
management skills paid off. His Dancehall king single took the whole country by
storm and before one could say Ananse; Shatta Wale is off the ground. But there
was no Mr. logic with him. Then came the dis songs and the counteractions.
Lyrically and musically the two were at each other’s throats and apparently it
hasn’t ended.
I have deliberately decided
not to mention his well know brawl with Samini for obvious reasons. It seemed
Shatta Wale is not a very patient man and that in more than one way accounted
for why it has taken him so long to get off the ground when talent wise he had more
than it takes. I saw some of his famous videos on YouTube. The same videos that
have earned him a 10 million GHS law suit and I struggled to understand what he
was getting at besides the obvious burning passion to abuse charterhouse and
its owners. He seemed very good at it which can only be the result of years of
practice – you see being disrespectful is a mainstay of the Jamaican dancehall.
They even have competitions about it. If you can’t dis, you are not cool.
Wale epitomizes the
self-sabotage phenomenon- building something you treasure with a lot of hard
work over a long period of time and by your own action destroying it in a day.
There is no negative behavior that results in positivity and those who do not
understand this little moral law tend to row against the tide when they can
sail downstream aided by a strong yet gentle breeze. But to understand these moral laws are the
realm of structure. In my work I have talked extensively about the important
influence of structure on content and how it is structure that determines the
direction of content. Our friend in question obviously has a weak structure
though he carries great content. That he is a very talented individual cannot
be challenged. He generates a lot of power applying his gift but he has a
problem knowing how to use this power. This is what has made it possible to use
it against himself coming close to destroying everything he has built over
years of struggle.
Think about it this way; when
the ordinary person records a video abusing a powerful institution, it doesn’t
really attract that much attention. But when a person with as much power at his
disposal as the founder and life president of the SM movement does it, it
attracts a law suit. So he does have power but what can he do with that power.
But let’s just assume that he doesn’t understand these things; how is it that
those who have a commercial interest in his work did not know better as their
cash cow is on the path of self-destruction. If indeed his managers are
capable, we must see a tactful handling of the matter and a resulting drastic
change in behavior. Otherwise they may all need the service of a life coach who
might help them answer the questions concerning how your regular activities
will determine how your life will ultimately pan out.
From where I stand, Shatta has a few problems; wrong
thoughts that will without fail lead to wrong behavior, lack of emotional
intelligence leading to a low level of socio-emotional competence and a weak
structure to manage the great content he has. A weak structure is like a
cracked glass trying to hold precious water. The solution to his problems is a
simple one, he needs more than his managers, he also needs a life coach.
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