Ghanaian musician Shatta Wale, in a candid conversation on the Honest Bunch Podcast, has revealed that he slept rough on the streets of Ghana for roughly six years, from the age of 17 to 23, surviving hunger, rain and sun.
He said he slept at filling stations and in front of clubs and shops, carrying a single bag with just one shirt, and hid the truth from friends by pretending he stayed with an aunt he did not have. At one point, overwhelmed by hunger, he considered giving up before deciding to press on.
In Shatta Wale’s words: “I’ve been on the streets for like six years on the road, with no money, trying to hustle, studio to studio, meeting friends. I always had this one bag with me with just one shirt in it and my jeans. I’ve lived with hunger, that’s why I tell my team hunger doesn’t kill. One time I was very hungry and I had to sleep because I wanted to end it. I was like, if I want to die, let me die in my hunger. But I woke up and I was like, oh, let me just find something to eat, and a friend helped me out.”
