Listening to Jahfrican’s music, one could easily believe he’s Nigeria’s newest Afrobeats star.

However, Jahfrican is Jamaican producer Adrian Locke, one-third of the Truck Back Records outfit, behind hits like Erup’s Click Mi Finger, I-Octane’s Lose A Friend and Macka Diamond’s Dye Dye.

Jahfrican has spent the past year curating his sound and style for this producer-cum-artiste evolution.

The fruits of his labour are evident on tracks like Ole Friend, a drum-pulsating ode to true friendship, sonically and visually boasting African retention.

“I’ve always been Afro-conscious,” Jahfrican told BUZZ.

“Mi learn drumming at a tender age and that led me into other cultural knowledges. I’ve produced a lot of world music so I had chances to produce with some African producers, Haitian musicians too, so mi learn different things… The Afro-sound is getting a lot of attention right now and dancehall, I believe, has been at the heart of that so as a dancehall producer stepping into that field, it’s a more technical ballgame but it feels like home.”

He started his recording career in 2020 with Ole Friend, the music video for which debuted over the weekend.

Though he’s released newer songs like Vogue and IceBox, his current focus is fixed on Ole Friend, which is no surprise because of its symbolism.

The song was inspired by a spat he had with a female friend and further got the stamp of approval as a lead single from his close circle.

Moreover, it was his selector friends who encouraged him to become an artiste, based on his distinct sound and artistic excellence.

The atmosphere of friendship pervades the visuals with several of his cronies like Mr. Lexx, D’Angel and Christopher ‘Johnny’ Daley making appearances.

“The premiere has garnered a lot of support online,” he said. “Mi always produce from underground and Ole Friend has been an underground banger since dem time deh so now it’s creeping out on the mainstream. Mi just waan the mainstream support.”

Jahfrican is confident he can make hits for himself, just as Babyface, Dr. Dre, Timbaland, Pharrell Williams and others of his kind have done.

“I try to do everything with a plan and with a structure… I know I can make it work as an artiste but it takes a little push over the hills fi reach deh so – it nuh happen overnight. If it happen overnight it’s not gonna be as sweet as if it happen over time so I’m patiently waiting for it to happen and doing the right thing.”