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Photo: Kendall Bessent

Maryland-based collective Lo Village, consisting of siblings Ama and Kane Tabiri and childhood friend Charles Tyler, have made their grand return after some cathartic and transformative insolation, showcasing their new set of skin in Yellow Brick Road.

Mastering a euphoric blend of R&B, pop, and neo-soul, their 2021 album and title-track single “Lost in America” found itself garnering critical acclaim, earning upwards of one million streams on Spotify. With an incredibly promising trajectory, momentum quickly came to a halt when Ama was suddenly diagnosed with MS, leaving uncertain her vocal ability and the future of Lo Village.

Yellow Brick Road marks the trio’s grand return after a time of healing and hope. This 10-track project is informed by the consequential introspection onset by life’s uncertainty, and how stepping away from music in order to hold each other up as humans more deeply connected them to their why.

The substance of Lo Village’s work is culturally significant, speaking to the truth of the Black experience and every shade of our joy, fear, and expression. We sat down with the trio upon the project’s release to dissect their journey back home to music and the lessons learned along the way.

Ones To Watch: Having taken a pause and undergone so much in your personal lives prior to this album’s release, how does it feel to officially have it out in the world?

Kane: It feels like our kid is out in the world living. I don’t have kids, but I do have a cat, and if my cat went into the world and I started hearing about my cat in publications, I would feel excited and proud.

Ama: I feel overwhelmed but ultimately happy that it’s out, getting to see everyone’s reactions to it. I always feel mixed emotions when we put something out and it takes a little bit for me to sit with it and process.

Tyler: We’ve been working on it so much, I’m just happy it’s out.

How did the physical and emotional healing you went through collectively shift you all as individuals and as artists?

Tyler: Things were slowed down a lot with the pandemic but it gave us time to sit back and pick the focal point for this album and figure out what we wanted to address. A lot of the last album addressed the problems going on in America at the time, but we wanted to stray away from that with this project. We were concerned about always rapping about racial equality and didn’t want to be too preachy. 

Ama: I was obviously going through a lot of health stuff so it made me think about what I really wanted from music. When I was diagnosed with MS and didn’t know the future of my voice, it was tough not to know if I’d be able to continue at all. Some of the songs in the project were made before I started having vocal issues, so it was nice to be able to see it through and finish the songs. It was a full-circle moment.

Touching on not wanting to be preachy, as neo-soul artists who have taken it upon themselves to speak on behalf of significant cultural issues, did you ever have to be intentional about letting yourselves explore lighter topics with less of a burden?

Kane: We have always understood that if we’re going to make music, we’re not going to be derivative of something else. We’ve made sure that we’re ultimately just truthful. “Lost in America” was just the truth of those times. Going into quarantine, we were introspective and by ourselves, and what comes out of that is more truth of our experience. We can still be light and not be so heavy while speaking on truth. Even in those tough times, you have to stay positive and have hope.

Ama: In general, musicians struggle with not being too preachy, but at the end of the day your work is an expression of yourself. If you think I’m preaching to you, maybe you need to hear what I’m telling you. It comes down to the person that’s listening. 

Definitely. I’m obsessed with your latest visual, how does the era that you’re paying homage to in the “Cudi” video influence your artistry?

Ama: It’s one of my favorite videos that we’ve done because it was so simple and easy to execute, but also such an obvious thing for us to do. Trios were really big in the ‘50s and ‘60s and I don’t know how it never came to our minds to do something emulating that. It was so fun, and if you hear the song, it matches the “doo-wop” vibe so well but that wasn’t on purpose at all.

Tyler: The video fits the song so well because the song is carefree, which isn’t a style that we do all the time. I think that’s why it worked. “Cudi” was an opportunity for us to showcase something different. 

Kane: If you listen to our older music, we were really animated and always trying to tap into nostalgia. We strayed from that but I think really returned to it with this track. My brother did the treatment for the video. He’s really good at that, he actually directed a N.E.R.D. video. He made sure the video was simple and specific, and I think when you reduce something to its most minimal, you get something very direct rather than getting lost in something complex. 

Having relationships that span well into your youth, do you all feel connected to your inner children? What would little you say about your lives right now?

Ama: I’m constantly trying to remember my childhood and be playful because I miss being a kid. I think that making music helps me be able to express that. I’ve been stuck on early 2000s R&B for the longest and I can’t let it go. When you’re doing something like music, you’re going to have to be in touch with your inner child. Your childhood builds who you are and that’s when my musical identity was born. 

Kane: The work I used to do before this place in my life was work my inner child was disconnected from. Doing 9-5 work or selling weed, kid me would be like “So this is what we’re doing?” Once we started making music, the kid in me came alive. I tap into that kid in me all the time to keep our work truthful and honest. If we’re ever lacking something, I check in with my kid like, “What would you have wanted?” People are making music and they’re not tapping into their inner children, they’re tapping into what’s going on around them now and that’s how you become a derivative. It’s no longer unique. That time in the ‘90s was filled with so many unique different styles because everyone was tapping into their inner child. It wasn’t an adult mind saying “Go get the money.” The kid mind would direct you to the art that’s going to bring something fresh into the universe. 

Tyler: Being younger, all I did was watch Music Choice. I wanted to be Bow Wow and Lil Romeo. I take that into how I am in this group, I also try to sing and harmonize, not just rap. 

How has being from Maryland shaped your sound?

Tyler: The music scene coming from Maryland doesn’t sound one way. You hear artists from Detroit and know they’re from Detroit, you hear artists from New York and know they’re from New York. Not even just from the rapping, but the beat selection and the cadence. Maryland doesn’t really have that. 

Ama: There’s not one singular sound coming from the DMV. The area has a lot of creatives and everyone is trying to showcase what they can do, so it all sounds very different. There are so many big artists that I forget are from the DMV, like Chris Brown, Dru Hill, Pharrell, Missy Elliott, even though everyone just always refers to Wale. When I was younger I really enjoyed go-go music because I loved the melodies and harmonies and I think I still use that.

Kane: Go-go was a blend of everything that we were already doing. I always wanted to have a go-go band or do something with that type of vibe. What we’re doing isn’t a go-go band but the melodies, the integration of influences, being a group of people using instrumentation, it’s all from go-go. That blend coming from the DMV is the biggest thing.

And lastly, after such a journey, how are you protecting your peace right now?

Ama: I don’t do anything that don’t make me happy. A lot of times I do stuff for other people and I’m not selfish enough. I’m always trying to make someone else happy or people please rather than following what I want to do. 

Tyler: Doing things that serve me, making sure I know my boundaries and am doing things for myself. Adequate sleep and prioritizing my needs.

Kane: I don’t want to leave any “what if’s” in my mind. I used to be really into sports and once that was gone, I was like “what if?” Now, if I ever do something, I leave it all there so that I can move on and have a peace of mind. Being present means I can give my all. 

Lo Village's