When a social media user challenged media personality AJ Sarpong to share a music industry story that sounds made up but is completely true, she delivered a behind-the-scenes account that reads like folklore yet helped shape one of the biggest Afrobeats records in recent memory.
He said: Tell me a story that sounds fabricated but is 100% true. Music industry edition. “Don’t air me,” the user added, half-joking.
Sarpong’s response rewound the clock to late 2019, just before the world changed.
At the time, the Nigerian label Chocolate City had contacted her to coordinate press and potential collaborations for two of its rising stars, CKay and Blaqbonez. Through her boutique firm, Sarpong handled publicity, events and promotions, and she quickly secured media placements. The harder task was locking in creative partnerships on the ground in Ghana.
“I did the work, got all the press sorted but the problem now became collaborations!” she recalled.
She reached out widely, contacting several artists in hopes of pairing CKay and Blaqbonez with Ghanaian talent. The responses were underwhelming. Some never replied. Others stalled. A few prominent names, she hinted, were simply not forthcoming.
With options thinning, she turned to Albert, then with Lynxx Entertainment. After a string of rejections, his answer stood out.
“So I finally reached out to Albert, then of Lynxx Ent, and surprisingly after many No’s he said the first Yes, sure anything for me! Imagine my relief!”
That yes set off a chain reaction.
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Sarpong escorted the Nigerian acts to Lynxx’s camp, where sessions began almost immediately. CKay and Kuami Eugene clicked. Beats rolled. Melodies bounced around the room. In the middle of it all, CKay played a track he had been working on titled “Love Nwatintin.”
Kuami Eugene was hooked.
“Kuami loved it and created some magic right there with a verse!” Sarpong said.
Months later, in 2020, the song was officially released. Sarpong threw her weight behind it, becoming the first to spin it on radio and pushing for broader circulation. She hoped it would catch fire.
It didn’t. Not immediately.
“Was disappointed cos I looooved the song!” she admitted.
Then March arrived. Covid-19 swept across the globe. Borders closed. Streets emptied. People retreated indoors and scrolled. TikTok surged as a cultural force. Somewhere in that swirl of lockdown boredom and algorithmic discovery, “Love Nwatintin” found a second life.
The remix took off internationally, morphing into one of the most viral Afrobeats tracks in the world. What once struggled for rotation became unavoidable, soundtracking dance challenges, wedding videos and countless online trends.
“And the rest they say is history,” she wrote, laughing at how improbable it all now seems.
AJ Sarpong took the pride personal. Before the streaming numbers, before the global charts, before the pandemic unexpectedly amplified its reach, there was a studio session in Ghana made possible by a single yes.
“Always proud of my role in bringing those 2 incredible artistes into the same room.”
