Kwame Dadzie writes: Stonebwoy should bail out of Zylofon Media and be ‘free’

I am not a prophet of doom; in fact, I am not a prophet at all. I have never had any revelation from God before.

I am just a writer who opens a vein with his pen and predicts possible occurrences through observation, intuition and critical analysis of issues.

Not long ago, I was insulted by some people because I had pointed out what factors could harm artiste relationships at Zylofon Media. That was few days after they had signed Shatta Wale onto their music record label.

I suggested 4 things they could do to forestall any problem that could rear its head at the company and wished that they became proactive in tackling them. I mentioned that Willi Roi would sow seeds of confusion among the artistes; Bulldog may not give in his all in working with Shatta Wale (someone he had had issues with in the past) as his Artiste & Repertoire manager; Shatta Wale, a ‘patented’ troublemaker would stoke fights among the in-house artistes – and finally warned them against their propensity to prioritise Shatta Wale over the other artistes.

They took my words for granted and went ahead to live their lives. After all, they have their mission and vision – no one can tell them what to do.

Stonebwoy’s attack at Champs Bar

When I heard that Stonebwoy and his crew had been attacked at Champs Bar at the Paloma Hotel in Accra on Saturday March 10, 2018, I fathomed the centre was gradually loosening. People were tagging me on Facebook, referencing my previous article but I was not happy. I wrote the article to help save a possible ‘disaster’ and not to see the misfortunes happen.

Signing Stonebwoy’s arch-rival Shatta Wale onto Zylofon Music shouldn’t have generated any rift between the two artistes but some elements at Zylofon Media made it possible.

How many times should we be told that creative artistes or people who do talent-oriented jobs have egos? Every creative artist naturally has ego – even the worst artist feels he is the best.

It is not easy to house two arch rivals under the same roof and expect them to live in peace without putting in place measures to ensure a peaceful co-habitation.

The moment Shatta Wale was signed, Zylofon Media should have employed the best strategies to manage these two hulking ‘egos.’ But it takes tact to do that. Obviously, that would not have been possible with figures like the Head of the Zylofon Arts Club, Willi Roi who would irresponsibly go on radio to incite Stonebwoy against Shatta Wale or vice versa.

The posture of some workers of the company, both on social and traditional media (including their own radio station, Zylofon FM) contributed to the glaring show of hatred the two artistes are exhibiting now.

Going for the Hyundai Sonata from Stonebwoy was stupid

I hear the Transport Manager, Eric Amponsah upon whose behest some workers attempted take a car from Stonebwoy was sacked shortly after the incident. Well, I don’t know him. I have not bothered to find him or see his dismissal letter – so I can’t really tell if he’s at post or has really been sacked.

What is heartwarming, however, was when Nana Appiah Mensah, the CEO of Zylofon Media, did the right thing [this time] by apologizing for the attack on Stonebwoy and his team at Champs Bar. But whichever reason they tried to take the car from Stonebwoy was nonsensical. It put the company in a very bad light.

Even if they had problem with Stonebwoy, it was simply wrong to have followed him from the University of Ghana campus to Champs Bar at night, under the pretext of taking the car for servicing.

Stonebwoy’s display of childishness at the University of Ghana

It is public knowledge that Stonebwoy is not happy that Shatta Wale was signed on to Zylofon Music record label and was given a better reception but he needed to have accorded some respect to the company that handles his work.

The act of pulling down the Zylofon Cash banners did not make sense. This is a product that had been launched by his company. Any well-meaning person would know that even if it is not spelled out in the contract to promote it, it was just right he helped in projecting the smaller brand – the success of Zylofon Cash, by extension feeds into the parent company.

I have heard Stonebwoy deny that he asked the organisers to pull down the banners but reliable sources say, his manager Black Cedi was the one who engineered the act. Shameful!

The VGMA nominees jam drama

Recently, Zylofon Media, through their lawyers, wrote to Charter House, the organisers of Vodafone Ghana Music Awards to prevent Stonebwoy from performing at their forthcoming Nominees Jam at Cape Coast because they were not aware of the said engagement.

This comes few days after the record company had put out a notice of the list of artists singed on to their various labels, stressing that anybody who needed to hire the services of the artists should deal with Zylofon Media.



It is surprising why Stonebwoy would want to do away with Zylofon Media when it comes to booking for shows. He did same at the Hilla Limann Hall Week celebration sponsored by Zyofon Media where he had earlier declined to perform but later went behind them to perform.

He named his daughter last week and my checks prove that no representative from Zylofon Media was present.

From all indications, Stonebwoy is not happy being with Zylofon Media at the moment. It appears he feels caught in a noose and would want to be free.

If he feels disrespected or uncomfortable being at Zylofon Media, he should just follow the due process and bail himself out of the contract he has with Zylofon Music.

It is absolutely preposterous to go about booking gigs without the consent of a record label you have been signed on to.

With his current beef with Shatta Wale and the recent happenings, a Stonebwoy-Zylofon relationship looks bleak and fruitless. It won’t favour either party because these problems will keep recurring.

Conclusion

Zylofon Media is in for a good cause but they have been foolhardy to critical issues and the earlier they put their house in order, the better.