Shatta Wale Strikes Gold With Beyoncé, Talks Vybz Kartel Collab

It’s one of the biggest collaborations for Shatta Wale as an African dancehall artiste, and it is paying homage to Ghana, in a way the world has never perceived Africa until now. The African dancehall artiste featured in Black is King in visuals and vocals with Beyoncé Knowles who is a 24-time Grammy winner.

The film dropped a week ago and in an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America, Beyoncé said the project has been in the making for a year now and her goal was to work with creatives, directors, and actors across the world to re-imagine the story of the Lion King. ‘The narrative unfolds through music videos, fashion, dance, beautiful natural settings and raw new talent.”

She said the production started in her back yard, then onto Johannesburg in South Africa, to Ghana, to London, to Belgium, to the Grand Canyon. She said her hope for the film is that it shifts the “perception of the word black, which has always meant inspiration, and love, and strength and beauty to me. Black is King means black is regal, and rich in history, purpose and in language.”

Meanwhile, Shatta Wale’s collaboration with Beyoncé for the recently released Already video which also features Jamaican-American, Major Lazer, has seen his career get a major jump with the artiste ranking #48 on Billboard’s social media influencer list.

The video has reached 16 million views on YouTube after being released in just a week, although the song was featured in the blockbuster film The Lion King: The Gift released last year. The video release of the song has placed the African dancehall artiste at a tipping advantage with his song being a favourite among fans of both him and Beyoncé, his camp told DancehallMag.

The song itself is performing extremely well on Billboard’s R&B /Hip-Hop Digital Song sales. According to the artiste’s management team, of the songs from the film, Wale’s Already is among the top three bestsellers. It debuted at NO. 9, ahead of Find Your Way Back at No. 21 and Brown Skin Girl with Saint Jhn, Wizkid and Blue Ivy Carter at No. 25.

For Billboard’s R&B Digital Song Sales, Already placed No.3, the first of Beyonce’s Black is King songs to rank among top 12- Find Your Way Back at No.7, Brown Skin Girl No. 9, Black Parade at No. 10 and Mood 4Eva at No. 12.

The song is also the only track from the film that reaches Billboard’s all-genre Digital Song Sales chart this week, debuting at No.50 on the 50-spot roster.

Wale in an invited comment says he has been busy in his native Ghana since the release of the film but he is working on another dream collaboration which would be a song with him and Vybz Kartel.

For now, he is enjoying his successes as his headlined album Tropical Cruises to Jamaica: Reggae Collector’s edition also soared in album sales, peaking at No. 2 in the United States, second only to Buju Banton’s Upside Down 2020.

The album has been a chart-topper for eight weeks now and features his single Dream.