When the school day ends, the music starts. Trading classrooms for studios and notebooks for microphones, young artists spend hours perfecting songs to share with the world. From writing lyrics to performing in front of students, these aspiring musicians prove that talent extends far beyond the school walls.

Laman Yared, ‘26, has been making music since second grade; what started as a way of passing the time has transformed into a passion that has taken over his life.

“[The experience] has been pretty calming, exciting… It’s a part of my daily routine now,” Yared said.

Yared specializes in R&B and has released a total of around 45 songs. He can still recall the first time he shared his music with the public.

“I think it really hit [in] seventh grade,” Yared said. “Hearing it for the first time and [seeing] other people like it made me feel good.”

Similarly, Braylon Coleman, ‘27, has been producing rap music for about three years and has learned several useful skills through this.

“It’s been fun,” Coleman said. “Learning a lot of new things about how to work certain sites and how to make your voice sound better on auto-tune and things of that nature.”

Coleman enjoys the production aspect of creating his music, while Yared focuses more on the performance aspect of his music.

“I just like entertainment [and of] all those forms of art, music is just the one that I am good at,” Yared said. “I like making people happy.”

Contrary to Yared, some students like Jason ‘JasonBandzz’ Nicholas,‘26, who creates rap music, focus their music on personal experiences.

“[Music is] a way to express how I feel to other people,” Nicholas said. “I feel I talk about a lot of real-life stuff to people. [Specifically, things that] underserved communities can relate to.”

Although it can be difficult to feel the impact of their work, students such as Nicholas stay optimistic by remembering their passion for creating. Nicholas’ audience has grown to 377 monthly Spotify streamers.

“The passion probably came [from] when I made ‘Should Have Saw It,’ which is the song most people at this school know, [because] people from other cities were singing that,” Nicholas said. “That was probably when I realized I had a passion, because I could touch a lot of different people from a lot of different areas.”

Inspiration can be found all over. For Coleman, listening to artists such as Playboi Carti and Young Thug inspires him to create melodies and beats, guiding him as he explores genres and finds his own style.

For others, such as Yared, inspiration can come from a specific person and their experiences rather than from the music they produce.

“I would say my biggest influence is probably The Weeknd,” Yared said. “He definitely made me want to start making lyrics because he’s Ethiopian, and it showed me that Ethiopians could do this too.”

Creating music consistently revolves around collaboration to create the best result. The WHHS music scene is no exception,
with student musicians supporting each other’s passion and growth.

“JasonBandzz… [he’s a] great guy,” Coleman said. “He [is] really passionate about this, and he really got the hype. This is something he wants to do, and he’s really good at it.”

“The stereotype is that [rapping] doesn’t take talent, or [that] the rappers don’t talk about anything, but in my opinion, most music, you don’t talk about a lot of serious stuff,” Nicholas said.

It is apparent that passion and happiness is reflected within the music of these aspiring artists.

“It’s fun when you [get] a good song come out of it as a result,” Coleman said. “I feel accomplished.”