Joint 77 Reveals What Led to Fallout Between Militants and Shatta Wale
Former SM Militant Joint 77 has spoken about the events that eventually led to the breakdown of the relationship between the Militants and dancehall musician Shatta Wale.
According to Joint 77, tensions began to grow within the group because the members felt increasingly excluded from Shatta Wale’s major projects and international engagements.
He claimed that Shatta Wale rarely involved the Militants in his major projects, did not travel with them for overseas performances and, on several occasions, performed songs they had recorded together without them.
Joint 77 said the situation became frustrating because the members were publicly associated with Shatta Wale as the SM Militants, but were often left out when major opportunities came up.
He cited Shatta Wale’s trip to work on a music project involving American singer Beyoncé as one of the incidents that particularly affected him.
Joint 77 recalled that he was eating with Shatta Wale on the day the dancehall artiste travelled but had no knowledge that he was leaving the country or that he was going to shoot a video involving Beyoncé.
According to him, none of the other Militants were also aware of the trip.
He said the incident was not an isolated one, claiming that Shatta Wale repeatedly travelled without the group and sometimes performed songs belonging to the Militants without taking the members along.
Faced with what they considered continued exclusion, Joint 77 said the members eventually decided to accept performance opportunities independently.
He explained that the Militants began performing their collaborative songs at international shows without informing Shatta Wale, saying they acted in a similar manner to how they believed they had been treated.
Joint 77 said Shatta Wale later became aware of the international performances and was unhappy that the Militants were performing their songs without his knowledge.
According to him, the development further deepened tensions between the group and Shatta Wale and contributed to the eventual decision to disband the Militants.
Joint 77, however, maintained that the actions of the group were not motivated by bitterness.
He said they were instead driven by frustration over what they perceived as a lack of support, involvement and opportunities from their leader.
The disagreements eventually contributed to the fallout between the former members of the SM Militants and Shatta Wale, bringing an end to their working relationship as a group.
