For some young people, music is more than entertainment. It is a means of expressing emotions, preserving culture, telling stories and finding comfort during difficult moments.

At the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), students and young musicians have different relationships with music, but their experiences reveal how deeply it has become woven into the lives of young people.

For Kim Joshua Dahwol, a young emerging artist, music became part of his life at an early age. He began his musical journey at about 13 after growing up around musicians.

“One day, one of them told me, ‘You should give it a try—you’ve got something,’” Kim recalled.

Even before he began creating his own music, Kim performed songs by other artists at events in secondary school. He enjoyed entertaining people, and with time, he realised he wanted to create his own music and tell his own stories.

That experience eventually developed into a passion for music and a desire to use his voice to connect with others.

When Music Tells Society’s Story

Kim believes music reflects what is happening in society because musicians often draw inspiration from what they see, experience and observe around them.

“You can’t really sing about what you don’t see or experience,” he said.

For him, music, like literature, captures people’s realities, emotions, struggles and victories. He believes every generation develops its own sound partly because musicians respond to the events and experiences surrounding them.

His own approach is what he describes as motivational hip-hop, a style centred on encouraging young people to pursue their dreams while remaining true to themselves.

Kim hopes his music inspires young people to chase their ambitions with confidence and determination without losing sight of their values.

“Success is important, but staying true to who you are and holding on to your values is just as important,” he said.

But pursuing music is not without challenges.

Kim said balancing recording music with creating content to promote his work can be difficult, particularly when he is trying to manage everything himself.

He also has to deal with criticism from people who may not immediately understand his sound or artistic direction.

Rather than allowing criticism to discourage him, Kim said he uses it as motivation to improve, remain consistent and stay true to his vision.

Music as an Emotional Language

For some students, music is less about creating songs and more about how it makes them feel.

Patience Yohana, a Mass Communication student, describes music as an important part of her life because of its ability to influence her emotions.

“To me music is very important and essential to human beings because whenever I am down I play music to lift my soul up,” she said.

For Patience, however, music does not only serve an emotional purpose. She believes musicians also have a responsibility to speak about issues affecting society.

She said music can be used to inform the public about what is happening in the country and believes musicians should consider the educational influence their songs can have on listeners.

Keeping Culture Alive Through Music

Beyond entertainment and emotional expression, music can also serve as a link between people and their cultural identity.

Isaac Weina Waziri, a student choir master at a campus fellowship, sees music as an important part of his lifestyle and a way of expressing his emotions.

“Music is my lifestyle,” Isaac said.

He believes music has an important role in preserving cultural identity because different cultures have historically used music as a means of expression.

According to Isaac, music contributes to the uniqueness of cultures and helps keep cultural traditions alive.

His relationship with music also extends to his personal identity and values.

He said the music people listen to and sing can reveal something about who they are, while the messages contained in songs can influence their values and behaviour.

“Every music I listen to, its lyrics teaches me something which I learn and act,” he said.

When Words Are Not Enough

For Akubue Miracle Chidera, an IJMB student at UNIMAID, music provides a different kind of emotional connection.

“Music communicates what words can’t explain sometimes,” Miracle said.

She described music as something that can ease emotional burdens and provide comfort when emotional support from people may be unavailable.

For Miracle, different genres can serve different purposes depending on the situation. She does not restrict herself to one particular genre, explaining that her playlist is versatile because different songs are connected to different purposes and memories.

Her experience illustrates how personal the relationship between young people and music can become. A song can remind someone of a particular moment, express an emotion or simply provide comfort when words fail.

More Than Entertainment

The experiences of these young people show that music occupies several spaces in their lives. It can be a source of motivation, emotional relief, cultural expression and social commentary.

For Kim, music is a platform for telling stories and encouraging young people to pursue their dreams. For Isaac, it is connected to identity, values and cultural preservation. For Patience, it provides emotional comfort while offering musicians an opportunity to educate society. For Miracle, it communicates feelings that words sometimes cannot express.

As young people continue to navigate academic pressures, personal struggles, changing cultures and an increasingly digital world, music remains one of the ways they understand and express their experiences.

It is not simply something they listen to.

For many of them, music is a voice through which they understand themselves, connect with others and make sense of the society around them.

Mustapha Maaji is a mass communication student at the University of Maiduguri, Borno state.