The youths are the drivers of any developmental trend in society. They are also the ones that determine, to a large extent, the growth and development of any society. These make them the backbone and future of their country as a whole. Youths all over the world often grow up in different circumstances and socioeconomic status. They also have varied view on their contributions to the development of their society. Youths are also subjected to different education and training on an increasing scale and for a long period of time. Despite these differences, there are certain similarities that can be found among youths. The rise of new technologies, especially the new media, has brought the same consumer markets to youths. Although not all youths have the same access to consumption of these new technologies, these various forms of popular culture have become indispensable to the lives of youths who are the major consumers.
There is no gainsaying the fact that popular culture has a huge influence and impact on youths all over the world. This is because youths are people still in their developmental years and so are easily influenced for good or bad by whatever takes place in and around his surroundings. In this informative age where youths are the major consumers of popular culture, the impact on their lives has been more immediate and extensive than what was obtainable in the past. The article examines the impact of popular culture on youth’s capacity to contribute to societal development in Nigeria. Because the examples of popular culture come from a wide array of genres and because these various forms of popular culture are ever-changing (that is, the popular culture in one generation is different from the ones popular in another generation), the paper will focus on the effect of popular music on Nigerian youths since 2000.
The term popular culture holds multiple meanings and interpretations depending on who is using it and the context in which it is being used. McGaha (2015) defines popular culture as the totality of attitudes, ideas, images, perspectives and other occurrences within the mainstream of a given culture. Crosmman (2017) defines popular culture as the accumulation of cultural products such as music, cyber culture, film, television, fashion and radio that are consumed by the majority of a society’s population. Youth popular culture refers to the various cultural activities that young people invest their time in, some of which include television, movies, internet, music to mention but a few (Duncan-Andrade, 2010). Popular culture is made up of the customs and behaviours accepted by the majority of the masses at any given point in time. The emergence of popular culture in this globalized world has made it indispensable in our society, especially among youths owing to the rise of new technology, particularly the new/mass media. Popular culture has become intimately connected with almost every aspect of our society (education, mass communication, and production) and it is now the main tool through which youths learn about themselves, their societies and the larger world. The available and accessible to the majority of the masses is one of the key characteristics of popular culture.
Youths are among the prolific users of the various popular culture products. There are many sources from which popular culture can be derived. A major source is the mass/new media, including popular movies, music, television programmes, video games, sports, fashion/clothes, technology and slang. Advances in communication, as a result of globalisation and urbanisation, has allow for a greater transmission of these various forms of popular culture by words of mouth and through the use of smartphones (Delaney, 2007). Popular culture has a way of influencing an individual’s attitudes towards certain topics (McGaha, 2015). As a result of this, popular culture has both positive and negative impacts on the lives of Nigerian youths and in their capacity to contribute to societal development. For one, popular culture strengthens interactions between people with the same likes and dislikes. It also provides youth with an outlet for them to express themselves and share their feelings and opinions among themselves. Popular culture enables youths to be more creative and to expand their horizon, helping them to explore and expand their identity.
Some negative impact of popular culture on Nigerian youths include the fact that popular culture sometimes discourage intelligence, hard work and learning among youths. For instance, in a Facebook post, the user posted, “30 billion naira in your account or free scholarship to study in any university of your choice, which will you go for? The comments were alarming because more that 80% of the people that responded to the post choose the money over the opportunity to acquire free education. This goes to show how the various image portrayed by teen artists in music videos and television programs have affected youths negatively and this often impinge on their capacity to contribute meaningfully to the development of the society. Also, because youths usually have a strong urge for social and peer acceptance, the various forms of popular culture can provide youths with dissatisfaction about their image and appearance. An example of this can be seen in the prevalence of anorexia bulimia among youths today owing to their fear of getting fat. Furthermore, the depiction of violence, sex, substance use (drugs and alcohol consumption) and nasty slangs and languages have serious negative repercussions on youths.
Music as a Form of Popular Culture and its Impacts on Youth’s Capacity for Development in Nigeria
Music is one of the most popular forms of popular culture that has great appeal among youths in Nigeria. There are various genres of popular music, each with its respective artists. Music is a powerful and effective tool of communication especially among youths. The youths are the future of Nigeria and the voice of musicians are often seen as the accumulated voice of the youths. These artists usually serve as inspiration to Nigerian youths because of their ability to express their emotion to a large audience. There are several ways through which music can positively influence the capacity of youths to contribute meaningfully to societal development:
Firstly, music has/ can be used as a tool by youths to bring to light the sufferings of the Nigerian people. Timaya’s song “Dem Mama” talks about the use of force and violence by the Nigerian state in dealing with the Niger Delta People over issues of resource control. The song brought to light the issues of oil and violence that took place in Udi, a village in Bayelsa State between the Federal Government and the indigenes of the village. Because the Niger Delta people, known as the minority group resisted the government over the gross destruction of their land, they are branded as militants. Timaya’s song however reversed that branded, tagging the Nigerian government as the militants and oppressors. “Elewon” by Junglist also talks on the Niger Delta crisis with the Nigerian state over oil resources and oil land. Music thus served as a tool from which transgressive interventions was articulated. Music was also used here to draw attention to issues that are affecting the Nigerian people e.g. issues of environmental degradation, militancy, unemployment, bad leadership etc.
Music can be used by youths to express themselves, their feelings and emotions. It can also be used by youths to promote and protect the cultural heritage of the Nigerian people and also for the promotion of good moral values. Timaya’s song “Ogologoma” talks about the fact that life is not always a bed of roses and that each situation should be appreciated. TY Bello Song ‘Greenland” and Timi Dakolo’s song “Great Nation” talk about the beauty of the Nigerian state. In “African Queen”, 2Face spoke on the beauty of womanhood and that love must be appreciated. Music can also be used to show appreciation to God for all his blessings.
Despite the positive impacts, contemporary music has done more harm than good to the Nigerian youths. It has impinged greatly on their capacity to contribute positively to societal development. Since the introduction of rock music, music lyrics and videos have undergone remarkable changes (Abiodun, 2017). Beginning from the 2000s, Nigerian music videos have become more explicit especially with reference to violence, drugs, sex and female nudity. Most of these things portrayed in contemporary music affect the minds of the Nigerian youths negatively. This ranges from female nudity, substance use, alcohol consumption and the excessive display of wealth. Some of the ways Nigerian music affects youths negatively include: the promotion of promiscuity among youths because seeing these celebrities act these well influences youths’ action in a negative way. Also, since youths spend most of their time listening to music with sexual degrading lyrics, it often leads them to initiate one for of sexual activity or the other.
Popular culture (music) have also created social isolationism among Nigerian youths because rather than spend their time hanging out with friends, they prefer to spend their time alone listening to music or watching music videos. Also, even when they meet with friends, their topic of discussion is always centred on what they have watched in these videos and how they can make it a reality in their own lives. There is also the issue of sexual objectification and the promotion of premarital sex. Most contemporary Nigerian music videos degrade female sexuality and help in shaping a male dominant view of sexuality. Women are often portrayed as sex objects in these videos. Also, contemporary music lyrics often encourage premarital sex among youths. It has led to the loss of dignity among youths who now see premarital sex as an important necessity and step of civilisation.
Most musical lyrics contain nasty words and sentences and this has led youths to see nothing wrong in the use of these words. For example, some girls now find it okay for men to call them ‘bitches’. Also, some music lyrics contain words that encourage youth to disrespect authority. The dressing mode of youths has also been affected by Nigerian music videos. For example, girls now prefer to dress provocatively and sexily because of what they watch on these contemporary music videos. The guys now draw tattoos and prefer rugged jeans and crazy hairstyle. All these have led to moral decadence and loss of moral values.
Another negative impact can be seen in alcohol and substance use. The use of drugs and other substance in popular culture especially as portrayed in contemporary music videos often give youths the impression that they are something that are very cool and appealing. With popular teen artists/celebrities like Wizkid. Naira Marley, and Davido using drugs and drinking alcohol in their music videos, it has become common for Nigerian youths to try them out and experiment with them. Generally, the negative effect of these music lyrics, videos and the artists themselves on youths and their capacity for societal development is that youths no longer believe in hard work or the value of education. All they care about is making ‘fast cash’ like the musicians who they see as their role model. Also, since most of these musicians portray the use of drugs, exposure of skin, smoking cannabis, sexual objectification of women, the youths themselves take these things to be the latest trend. The result of these practices can be seen in the loss of moral values among youths in the society. The long-term effect of this on the society is the prevalence of cybercrimes, cases of sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery, the use of violence etc. These do not bode well for societal development.
These various forms of popular culture often make youths to believe that what they watch and listen to is the trend and acceptable code of conduct. The young males are made to feel the illusion that having this particular image will bring them women while the young ladies believe that if they do not act and dress the way celebrities do, they are old fashioned and uncivilised. The long-term effect of all these is the incapability or unwillingness of the youths (who are supposed to be the leader of tomorrow) to take up the mantle of leadership.
From the discussion above, it can be seen that the various forms of popular culture have a lot of positive impact on the lives of youths. The analysis above also showed that despite these positive effects of popular culture on society, it also has disastrous consequences on youth’s capacity meaningfully to development. The work conclude by stating that, when managed properly, popular culture can be a force for good for the Nigerian youths, but, when they are not properly educated on the proper use of the various forms of popular culture particularly the new/mass media, the end result of the use of the various forms of popular culture will be the decadence of the Nigerian society.