I am the opposite of what people think about me - Stonebwoy

From being seen as an even-tempered person, Dancehall artiste Stonebwoy has in recent times gained a reputation for being quick to get angry and liking violence.

And this is because of a number of incidents that he has been involved in such as the fracas that occurred at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) in 2018 as well as last year's misunderstanding with Sarkodie's manager Angeltown during the recording of the rapper's Black Love concert.

In spite of all the scandals, Stonebwoy has stated that he is not at all violent like people think.

“I am the opposite of what people think about me. Yes, there is news out there about me pulling a gun but I can say the only time I pulled a gun was during an incident with my record label Zylofon Media where I needed to defend myself because I was being attacked and I would have been dead if I had not done that.

Apart from that, I have never pulled a gun anywhere. Not even at the VGMA. With the VGMA, I had the gun with me but never pulled it out,” he told Kwasi Aboagye on Peace FM's Entertainment Review show last Saturday, January 9.

According to him, he is very calm and thinks through issues before reacting adding that the negative stories about him are to make him look bad.

“Anyone close to me knows how cool I am. Most of the stories out there are not a true reflection of me but in Ghana negative news travels far and everyone buys into it. My wife feels very bad when she hears such news about me but there is nothing you can do when the stories come out," he said.

Commenting on the VGMA incident, Stonebwoy revealed that instead of the huge fallout he had expected from it he rather got more deals.

“I never expected to get more deals after my VGMA incident but I have rather gained more. I think the incident was a blessing in disguise because it got me so many deals and made VGMA popular as well. People outside the country got to know VGMA more after the incident,” he said.

Away from his issues, Stonebwoy also pleaded with event organisers to pay artistes well so they can also deliver.

“I think it is about time we were paid well after coming this far. The government should be able to invite most of us and give us money for our hard work,” he added.

He also suggested the establishment of a Hall of Fame like there are in other countries, to recognise artistes who have excelled in Ghana. We currently don’t have anything like that but I think it will be prudent if we did,” he said.