It is no doubt that The University of Lagos is majorly known for her highly influential social activities in the country. The School of Nation’s Pride has a lot of prominent alumni in several sectors including the music industry.
There are a lot of top musicians in the country but a notable amount of them studied and graduated from the School of First Choice. Some of them started their career before they were enrolled, some of them became known while in school and some of them achieved the peak of their career in the music industry after they graduated.
Let’s dive in!
1. WANDE COAL
Oluwatobi Wande Ojosipe (born on 18 October 1985) popularly known as Wande Coal, is a Nigerian singer who studied Human Kinetics in the University of Lagos. He got his first break in the Nigerian entertainment industry as a dancer after which he got signed to Don Jazzy’s Mo’ Hits Records in 2006.
Wande Coal started off as a singer in the teenage choir at his church. He featured on D’banj’s Rundown/Fuck you up album on singles such as “tonosibe”,”why me” and “Loke”.
He has also collaborated with several artists such as Phyno, Davido, Naeto C, Dr SID, D’Prince, Wizkid and many more. He is remarkable for his song ‘Ololufe’ which is one of the best love songs any Nigerian has written
Wande Coal is one of the greatest Legends in the musical industry and for some of us he has been part of our childhood.
2. MAYORKUN
Adewale Mayowa Emmanuel professionally known as Mayorkun, was once a student of Unilag who studied Accounting.
Mayorkun (born on March 23, 1994) began to learn the rudiments of music at a very young age where he was part of the choir.
He is a pianist, song writer and a well-known singer and was discovered by Davido on twitter when he released a cover of Davido’s single (The Money) after which he was signed to Davido’s record label DMW from 2016 to 2021. He has released 2 albums which are; The Mayor of Lagos (2018), Back in Office (2021). He also has numerous hit songs which includes; Eleko, Mama, Betty Butter, etc.
Mayorkun has proved he is an icon and he is still doing great in the music industry.
3. LIL KESH
Another top musician who graduated from the beloved prestige university is Keshinro Ololade (born March 17, 1995) popularly known as Lil Kesh. He is a Nigerian Singer, Rapper and Songwriter who studied Linguistics in Unilag. He was first discovered through his first debut single ‘Lyrically’ which went viral within Nigerian Universities after which he was signed into YBNL Nation. Under this label, he has further released hit songs, some of them are “Shoki, Efejoku, Is It Because I Love You” and many others.
He is an ‘Omo Bariga’ and he started rapping amonsgst his folks before he came to limelight.
Lil Kesh is an artiste Unilag can brag of and he is still doing well even at the moment. He recently had a hit song which feature the popular Zinoleesky. They titled it “Don’t Call Me”.
4. YEMI ALADE
Unilag is not gender-biased in producing the best, she cuts across both genders.
Yemi Alade is a popular Nigerian Afropop Singer, Songwriter, actress and activist who is one of the prominent Alumni of the School of First Choice where she studied Geography.
She is known for her unique genre in the music industry both in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
Yemi has gained prominence in the music industry and is considered one of the biggest artists in Africa since when she won the peak talent show in 2009 and had a hit with her single ‘Johnny’ under Effyzzie Music Group.
She has released several songs and albums after she rose to fame which has earned her countless awards in the industry and she remains one of the female Legends in the music industry.
5. YCEE
Another musical icon who was once an akokite is Oludemilade Martin Alejo (born January 29, 1993), popularly known as YCEE. He studied Marine Biology at the University of Lagos.
Although, he started his musical career as an underground rapper since 2012, he came to limelight with his hit single “Jagaban”, the remix with Olamide gave him a big push into industry. His other hit songs include; “Juice”(ft. Maleek Berry), “Omo Alhaji” and so on.
Ycee has also featured with other legendary artists and he has achieved a lot in the music industry.
These top musicians mentioned are still very active in the industry till date and they display uniqueness in the production of their respective genres. There are still top Unilag alumni musicians that are not on the list above who are doing their best in the musical industry. They also deserve a lot of credit.
The University of Lagos will not cease to produce top musicians and it is a very remarkable thing the school is very proud of.
Of course, Rema is a student of the school at the moment and more are still coming!
Unilag dey produce abeg!
Tell us more about about the up and coming musicians please