Charles Nii Armah Mensah, the man Ghana knows as Shatta Wale, is speaking plainly about something most people in his position would rather avoid. The dancehall star is sounding the alarm on drug abuse, and he is doing it with personal receipts. Some of his own childhood friends, he says, have had their lives destroyed by substance addiction, with a number of them ending up behind bars.
The warning he is putting out to young people is twofold: watch what you put in your body, and watch who you let influence your choices. Peer pressure, he says, is part of how people end up in those situations in the first place.
There is something different about hearing this from Shatta Wale specifically. He grew up in those same streets, ran with those same circles, and came out the other side with a career. The fact that he is naming the cost, not just the success, is what makes this worth paying attention to.
Originally published by AllAfrica.