By Faith Barbara N Ruhinda  Updated at 1115 EAT on Monday 21st September 2026

NIGERIA- A new voice is preparing to enter Africa’s fast-moving music landscape. Nigerian artist AFRIKahN will make his official debut on 1 October with IF IT AIN’T ME, a western styled Afrofusion record with Afrobeats influences, released worldwide through Multination Records.

The single introduces an artist whose first statement is centred on self-belief. The title comes from a question AFRIKahN has adopted as a personal challenge: “If it ain’t me, then who?”

Rather than presenting success as something already achieved, the record looks at the decision that comes before it. The point where an emerging artist chooses to back himself, despite circumstance, geography or the absence of an obvious route into the industry.
For AFRIKahN, that idea is closely connected to where his journey began.

From Nigeria to a Wider African Audience
AFRIKahN emerged from north-central Nigeria, an environment far removed from many of the established centres of the international music business.
His musical roots stretch back to childhood, including early experiences singing in church, before his development eventually brought him into the Multination Records ecosystem.

Part of that development has taken place through the Multination Lab in Zaria, Nigeria, a creative development programme established to give emerging young artists and creatives access to recording equipment, digital tools, practical music development and mentorship.

AFRIKahN’s progression from that environment to an international release is significant for Multination Records because it represents the model the company says it wants to build across emerging creative communities.

Instead of waiting for finished artists to arrive at the door, the label’s approach is focused on finding potential early, creating access to development and helping artists build music, identity and audiences capable of travelling beyond their immediate surroundings.

AFRIKahN is now the first artist to take that journey through to an official Multination Records artist release.
Why ‘IF IT AIN’T ME’ Comes First
For a debut record, the title is deliberately direct.

IF IT AIN’T ME introduces AFRIKahN through an idea rather than an elaborate biography.

It is about backing yourself.
It is about refusing to wait indefinitely for somebody else to decide that your opportunity has arrived.

And it is about ambition that can exist regardless of where somebody begins.
That message gives the song relevance beyond AFRIKahN’s own story, particularly across a generation of young African creatives building careers in environments where talent can be abundant but access to professional infrastructure remains uneven.

Musically, the track sits primarily within African Popular music, with Afrobeats as a secondary influence. You can see the work draws across Afrobeats, R&B, soul and contemporary urban sounds.
The record will arrive alongside a wider visual campaign, with an official music video also scheduled for 1 October.
A Debut With a Wider Purpose
The release is also a significant one for Multination Records.

The independent UK-based music company has positioned itself around discovering and developing emerging artists from Africa and other international markets, with an emphasis on artists whose opportunities may not necessarily match their potential.

Its stated mission is to discover, develop and elevate artists while creating connections between emerging creative communities and international audiences.
The label has already been building relationships beyond Nigeria. Uganda is among the countries from which Multination Records has received artist demo submissions, and the company’s AFRIKahN story also references talent-scouting activity through both Nigeria and Uganda.

That East African connection matters as the company looks beyond individual national music scenes towards a more connected African and diaspora ecosystem.

Uganda itself has a young and increasingly outward-looking creative community, while African music is becoming less restricted by traditional regional boundaries. An artist can emerge in Nigeria, find an audience in Kampala, connect with listeners in London and reach another community elsewhere without those audiences necessarily encountering the music in that order. That movement across borders sits at the centre of Multination Records’ approach.

Its operating idea is simple: talent is universal, but access is not.
The Multination Lab is one attempt to address that gap by providing young creatives with access to equipment, production knowledge, mentorship and a space in which ideas can develop into finished work.

AFRIKahN’s debut now provides an early test of what can happen when that development pathway leads all the way to an international commercial release.
The First Release, Not the Final Destination
There is another reason IF IT AIN’T ME matters.

It is release number one.
For AFRIKahN, there is no established catalogue behind the song and no long list of previous records for new listeners to discover. The audience will encounter him at the beginning.

For Multination Records, the same is true. AFRIKahN’s debut represents the first opportunity for the label to turn its artist-development philosophy into a public release.

That makes 1 October a starting point for both.
Whether IF IT AIN’T ME connects first in Nigeria, Uganda, elsewhere in Africa, the UK or across the wider diaspora will ultimately be decided by listeners.
But the question at the centre of the record is already clear.

If it ain’t me, then who?
AFRIKahN’s answer is to step forward.
IF IT AIN’T ME by AFRIKahN, released by Multination Records, will be available worldwide from 1 October 2026. The official music video will be released the same day. It will be followed up by INVISIBLE and RINGBACK, scheduled for release in November and December respectively with accompanying cinematic videos.