VGMA19: Artiste of the Year category; A closer look at Shatta Wale

Rebranding from Bandana to Shatta Wale, Charles Nii Armah Mensah Jnr born in October 17, 1984, the dancehall artiste is best known for his biggest breakthrough hit song “Dancehall King” which led to him winning major awards. 

Charles Nii Armah attended Winneba Secondary School and during that time he was popularly known as ‘Ayoz’. He changed his name to “Bandana” after senior high school and released the hit track “Bandana from Ghana” which received massive airwaves in the year 2004.

After the release of his first Album titled Bandana from Ghana, Bandana went into musical hiatus until he re-branded himself to Shatta Wale and released his hit song Dancehall King in 2013.

Shatta Wale was full of controversy after his return into the music industry in 2013, the dancehall artiste after losing 'Dancehall Artiste of the Year' awards to Kaakie took to social media with numerous videos attacking organisers of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards that he was robbed of an award he thought he deserved going to the extent of composing a song about them adding that he (Shatta Wale) doesn't need their award.

This the media, bloggers and other entertainment pundits claim led to his breakthrough and relevance in the Ghana Music Industry. 

In 2014, British Newspaper, The Guardian, reported that the five must listen to tracks from around the world includes Shatta Wale’s song 'Wine Ya Waist' which featured Nigerian act Davido. In the same year 2014, his song 'You Can’t Touch Me' was widely used by dancers against racism campaign worldwide.

The 'Dancehall King' hitmaker made a great impact in the music industry in a very short time after his return which led him to gain major ambassadorial deals with companies like Guinness Ghana Breweries along with other musicians like Reggie Rockstone, EL, and Fuse ODG for Made of Black campaign. Shatta is also the brand ambassador for Rush Energy Drink. 

In 2015, Shatta Wale asked not to be nominated in the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards even though he could have won the prestigious Artiste & Song of the year for the second time running with his hit songs 'Dancehall Commando' featuring Sarkodie, 'Party all night long' featuring Jah Vinci, 'Wine ya waist' featuring Davido and 'Korle Gonno' among many hit songs he released the preceding year because he had a pending court case with the organisers of the awards, Charter House Productions Limited for allegedly making defamatory remarks against the CEO of Charter House in a video he uploaded on his Facebook page.

He was also named the 38th Most Influential Ghanaian by E-TV Ghana in 2015 in their annual survey of influential people in Ghana. He is the dancehall Messiah. He resurrected dancehall in Ghana.

In 2018, Shatta Wale made a return to the 19th edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards scheme after about four-year absence. He had six nominations and won only one award.

The 20th edition of the prestigious awards show is just around the corner and Charterhouse, organisers of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs) has released the full list of nominees which saw Shatta Wale bagging 10 nominations including Artiste of the Decade.

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Artiste of the Decade category is set to award artiste who had the biggest impact in the music industry, earned multiple nominations across the years in the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) and have been relevant on the Ghanaian music scene and beyond.

The award scheme will also take a closer look at the artiste who over the last decade have been influential in music, showbiz and their craftsmanship in the industry.

The last artiste of the decade category went to the highlife Maestro Julius Kojo Antwi. This category will be a different category from the ultimate category called Artiste of the year.

In the special category for this year’s awards, the organizers nominated Shatta Wale, Samini, Sarkodie, Efya, Becca, Stonebwoy, Joe Mettle, R2bees, No Tribe and Okyeame Kwame.

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