Shatta Wale has used a TikTok livestream to send a blunt message to young people: watch the company you keep, because drug addiction starts with friends. “When you have that kind of friend, desist from them,” the dancehall star said, adding that he knows “a lot of my friends who have gone astray just because of drugs”.
The comments, made during a livestream with fans earlier this week, were reported on Friday, 13 November, by GhanaWeb and Oyerepa FM.
“Drug addiction starts with friends”
Shatta Wale said his own upbringing was strict. “Growing up, my father never allowed me to go out,” he said. “In the system we are in now, we can’t really control the people we keep around as friends. Drug addiction starts with friends.”
He described how he believes the habit spreads. “You have a friend who has some money, and when you go out to eat with him, he will tell you that you have to smoke before you eat,” he said. As the smoking continues, he explained, that same friend will suggest adding cocaine once it no longer has the same effect.
According to the Ghanaian Times, he also recounted how substance abuse has destroyed the lives of some of his childhood friends, leaving some of them in prison, and warned against friends who constantly push drinking, smoking and partying.
“I have dreams”
The Shatta Movement boss said he keeps himself in check by being careful about who gets close to him. “I have dreams, so unless you don’t have a dream of your own, you will start following friends and feel that is your dream,” he said. “If you have a dream for yourself, you will be focused to the extent that nobody will get you to try anything you don’t want to try.”
He ended with a direct appeal: “I want people to pay attention to what I am saying. It is friends who can lead you into drugs, and if you don’t take care and position yourself well in this economy, you will end up doing things your spirit wouldn’t like.”
The message comes in a busy week for the musician, who released two new singles on Friday, including Window.
Is Shatta Wale’s advice on choosing friends right? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
