Maryland natives Kane Tabiri and Charles Tyler were friends in high school, balancing school work and athletics from football to wrestling. A mutual love of Hip Hop eventually united them as a rap duo who decided to work on music together. However, something needed to be added as they began to develop their sound around 2011.

“Kane’s sister Ama is there just watching us work the whole time as we were working on getting better at our craft,” explained Tyler. “We kind of got to a point where we were just rapping. We figured that we had to incorporate some type of R&B or some female vibes. Ama came along and the chemistry that we all had just clocked. We’ve been locked in ever since just making lovely raps.”

Together as Lo Village, Kane, Charles and Ama started releasing music in 2016 with their well-received debut project Last Summer. Featuring early fan favorites ranging from “Petty / Real One” to “Canada Goose,” part of the trio’s charm blended the co-ed creativity of The Fugees with post-blog era gen-z antics. Lo Village is a sum of their collective musical interests, past and present.

“I think it comes back to the fact that we all have crazy music tastes and that kind of is a reflection in the music,” said Ama, who is inspired by 90s legends like Mary J. Blige, Brandy, Lauryn Hill, and Aaliyah while finding love for contemporary artists like Kid Cudi alongside SZA. “ So I think with all of us just wanting to go into music differently, it came naturally because we weren’t trying to do music like anybody else. We were going into it doing it differently, and it just came out in the music.”

Adding Tyler’s appreciation for B2K and Boldy James, in addition to Kane finding inspiration for Bob Marley, A Tribe Called Quest and Outkast, their eclectic approach to Hip Hop took the group pretty far. Between follow-up releases like 2019’s It Takes A Village album and Lost In America EP in 2021, they also redefined their ideas of success.

“We grew up listening and watching people like Michael Jackson and stuff like that,” Kane said. “If someone could do that, it’s like we’re going to do it and go hard; go big or go home. As we’ve gotten into the music industry, we understand what it takes and even ask if we even want something like that. Sometimes it just becomes whatever the universe is willing to let us indulge in and be able to put the brakes on things if we want to.”

Some of those wins included getting placements on series like HBO’s Insecure, New York Fashion Week pop-up, and respect from notable industry tastemakers like Zane Lowe and Ebro.

As Lo Village was working to reach even higher following the release of Lost in America, the trio had to stop everything once Ama was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis collectively. She says it was difficult in the beginning as she figured out what was wrong with her despite support from her group members. Months had passed, and they were recording, Ama wasn’t getting better and things weren’t coming to vision as they wanted to as a group.

“I think the hardest part was figuring out what was actually wrong,” Ama said. “Cause I feel like once I did actually get diagnosed, we were able to have a better plan of what to do next and things like that.”

Kane mentioned that their priority was ensuring his sister felt supported and that her health became a priority.

“It kind of made us have to remember what’s important and communicate better,” explained Kane. “I think just in life you’re seeing the magnitude of something like this but then you take it to the group and it’s really made us focus more and just have a new perspective that helps us see this through and get to a place we want to be musically.”

That place of understanding has already begun to matriculate into recent singles this year, including “On Your Way” and “Fallin.” In mid-June, Lo Village will release the celebratory track “My Bag” featuring the lyrics “I’m in my bag / I don’t want to brag / We’re finna to take this shit as far as it goes.”

Those tracks will be featured on their upcoming album Yellow Brick Road. Set for release on July 14, Ama describes the album as thematically being built around various topics related to their individual and collective journey.

“When we were picking the names of the project we all wanted the names of each song to reflect the process of the journey,” said Tyler. “We understand that we have done the work but a lot of people haven’t and a lot of people are trying to find their way or figure out who they are. Giving people a soundtrack to that is something we thought would be beneficial.”

They have a common goal of working together as a trio to build better communication and keep themselves close-knitted. Most importantly, they’re just enjoying the adventure.

“We’re always laughing and making jokes because there is a bond there regardless of what happens to us,” said Ama. “Sometimes that’s just the way with any relationship you have. It’s just about being around each other in the studio where it’s always very fun.”

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