SHATTA WALE REACHES NEW INTERNATIONAL MILESTONE AS RIAA GOLD CERTIFIED ARTIST

Shatta Wale, a leading figure in dancehall music, is the first Ghana-based musician to achieve a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Through his partnership with Beyonce, Shatta Wale has accomplished this achievement. The American superstar collaborated with Shatta Wale and Major Lazer on the song, “Already”.

Initially included in Beyonce’s The Lion King album, which was created as a music production for the film, “Black Is King” and released on July 19, 2019, it was already in use. The song’s video was made available by Beyonce as part of a visual album a year after it was first published.

The RIAA declared the music to have received a gold certificate on Monday, August 8, 2022. “Already” had been included in a number of songs that had been published on the RIAA website.

According to the RIAA, a song or album must have sold 500,000 units in the US n order to be certified as gold. This indicates that three years after its debut, the song, “Already” has succeeded.

One of Shatta Wale’s best collaboration was “Already”. Following its inclusion on Beyonce’s album, the song generated interest on a global scale.

It started out simple, in my backyard. I wanted to do one or two videos for The Gift Album, then it just grew. Before we knew it, we were shooting in Nigeria, Ghana, London, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where we filmed with women of the Himba tribe.

It took an incredible group of creatives from all around the world, and so many of us were of African descent, telling a part of our own family’s story and its hidden history. Black Is King was a huge production that employed a large number of brilliant artists who may not typically see themselves working on a Disney project. Until now!

Beyonce, speaking on the project in an interview by Ghanaian-British fashion editor for Vogue, Edward Enningful.

In response to a question on how she sees herself and her work in relation to the wider black community, she acknowledged Ghana and gave Shatta Wale and Dancegod Lloyd credit for their contributions to the album’s song, “Already”.

Shout out to Ghana! We shot there for the “Already” video. We worked with Shatta Wale and the choreographer Dancegod Lloyd. I am doing what my family has always done in celebrating and uplifting the black community.

Beyonce.

While Shatta Wale is the second Ghanaian to receive an award from the RIAA, he is the first Ghana-based artist to accomplish such a feat.

The first was the widely regarded British singer, Fuse ODG, who resides in the United Kingdom. Light It Up remix by Fuse, Major Lazer, and Nyla has received double platinum certification, which denotes sales of over two million copies.

The song, which was first released in 2015, was certified gold in 2017 before hitting double platinum on September 15, 2021.