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A pebble was thrown into the Ghanaian showbiz pool this week. Nay, let me rephrase that. A huge rock was thrown into the Ghanaian showbiz pool this week. It was so huge a rock that the ripples spread as far as the corridors of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service.
 
There was never a time that you thought you would wake up to hear about a fight between Shatta Wale and Bulldog, was there? You are big fat liar if you claim you thought about it.

For about two years, the two gentlemen, artiste and manager respectively, had struck up a friendship which manifested in the media.

We saw the two as a great team. Two people who understood each other, spoke the same language and virtually sang from the same page in the same hymn book anytime an issue about one, especially about the artiste, came up.

I have known Bulldog for a while. He has always been one who was dedicated to his artistes and would put his hand in the fire for them.  

There have been many times in the past that he would call for a favour or two about pushing his artistes in the media.

Especially in the early days of his artistes management career when he had brought up 5Five and needed all the favours he could get to push them, some of us were only a phone call away. Being good friends therefore, we also helped in any small way we could.

However, when after the Guinness Big Eruption concert in 2013, I reported that Samini floored Shatta Wale at the performances, despite the fact that most of the people at the stadium were there because of the self-acclaimed dancehall king, Bulldog took an issue with it. A big issue with me, Graphic Showbiz, and my editor, Adwoa Serwaa Bonsu.

He called me and vehemently registered his displeasure at the story. In his view, I should have spoken to everyone at the stadium to use their opinion for my news story. Absurdity does not describe that suggestion, by the way.

Bulldog also called the editor and gave her an earful for using that story, especially so on the front page of the biggest entertainment newspaper in the country.

The artiste himself, Shatta Wale also granted an interview to Adakabre and called me uneducated and went further to ask Graphic Showbiz not to write about him again.

But we are Graphic Showbiz, we would if we want to, we won’t if we don’t want to, unless you bring a red hot gagging order from the courts.

This is just to make the case that Bulldog is always dedicated to what he believes in.

And it was that dedication to his work and to his artistes which was made manifest when he got on to managing Shatta Wale.

It is no hidden fact that when he shed his Bandana garb and took on the new public persona of Shatta Wale, the dancehall artiste needed a big personality and ego as he had to manage his business and most especially public image vis-à-vis media engagements.

Enter Lawrence Nana Kofi Asiamah Hanson aka Bulldog of Bull Haus Entertainment. For circa two years, the public saw the two as not just an artiste and a manager or two people trying to make it in show business, but most importantly as friends.

It was like a match made in heaven or as some people like to refer to it, as one made in hell.

Thanks to his decision to work with Shatta Wale and to take on the kind of public image needed for the job, Bulldog burnt a lot of bridges in the process.

He fought with every perceived or real enemy of Shatta Wale, from his friends in the media to his former employers, former colleagues and many more beneath, above and in-between.

He virtually charred and scarred himself and most of the social capital he had developed over the years just to ensure that he kept up with the raucously rambunctious brand personality of his most popular client, Shatta Wale.

It was therefore surprising when last Friday at 2:51pm, Bulldog posted on his Facebook wall what he purported was a press release from Bull Haus Entertainment indicating that his management company had severed ties with Shatta Wale.

The release was signed by Kendrick Yehowada, CEO of Bull Haus.

That post by Bulldog would spark a lot of showbiz talk. Social media went buzzing and so was radio and other forms of media.

Then on Monday, the artiste in question, Shatta Wale, was hosted in the studios of Pluzz FM by Samuel Baah on his AM Pluzz Showbiz Morning Show.

As to be expected, he pulled no punches neither did he mince words. In typical Shatta Wale fashion, he gave his side of the story about the chronology of events that led to why Bulldog may have posted that release.

The artiste called the manager names including being lazy and even claiming that Bulldog threatened to kill him like he “killed the other guy.”

That, my dear friends was some damning accusations and allegation. I understand the police CID subsequently expressed their desire to look into the matter of the allegation made on live radio by one of Ghana’s topmost artistes at the moment.

Let the point be made that up until now (now being when this piece was being put together on Wednesday morning) Bulldog had not given his side of the matter.

He had been mute about it and so it is just one side that people have used to draw conclusions about how sour the relationship degenerated into.

In spite of the gung-ho manner Shatta Wale went about the issue on Pluzz FM, there are still many who are cautious about this public outrage.

Some have said, we should not be in haste to believe everything that comes from the camp of Shatta Movement for Life. We have heard apologies that were merely said to please an audience.

Some have also opined that the views expressed by Shatta Wale concerning Bulldog were too serious to be considered as a publicity stunt.

What do I think? Honestly, I don’t know. We would have to wait to hear what Bulldog says to ascertain the extent of the bust up or the depth of the publicity stunt, whichever of the two this Molotov cocktail thrown at Bulldog is meant to be or achieve. Maybe even never know.

Be that as it may, this one will go down in Ghanaian showbiz lore as one of the most interesting happenstances since whenever!