The self-acclaimed dancehall king, Shatta Wale, has disclosed that the leaking of the track lists of his much-awaited album, Gift of God (GoG), made him lose a $4 million record deal.
He accused his former manager, Bullgod, of the unauthorized release of the track list.
Lamenting about the incident in a recent media interview, the “On God” hitmaker revealed that he partnered with a record label that had already prepared a comprehensive distribution strategy to promote the album until Bullgod leaked the track list of the album.
He said the album featured international artists for him to get diversity for the album to break borders, but the deal with the record label was canceled as a result of Bullgod’s act.
Shatta Wale claimed that Bulldog’s actions were motivated by personal issues following the termination of their working relationship.
“My GoG album had international collaborations because he was working with me. I woke up one day, and that time he had stopped working with me. He (Bullgod) felt he had something to disgrace, so he brought that thing out, and when he brought that thing out, I had a deal with a record label that wanted to give me 4 million dollars, so I got pissed and I lost that money because we had done documentation and everything waiting for a rollout.
“So after he released it, they called me and asked who released it, and I said my former manager, and the boss said they cannot further the deal because of what has happened. And it was like three days for them to send me that money,” Wale said.
The Gift of God album, originally slated for release in 2020, faced multiple delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shatta Wale had earlier described the project as a timeless body of work aimed at giving fans a unique musical experience.
After the controversies surrounding the album and the subsequent cancellation of the deal, Shatta was forced to release the album alone in 2022.
Source: Ghana/MaxTV/MaxFM/max.com.gh/Joyceline Natally Cudjoe
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