DJ T-lite, Foxy and Nae Nae, left to right, have two major tours lined up for the summer.
Four years ago, Madison teenagers Jhanae Harris and Makahya Drake were celebrating their first-place finish at the Madison Star Showcase talent competition. Out at Applebee’s, they were congratulated by other diners who had seen them sing and dance in the showcase. “People were telling us that we looked great together and that we might as well start a little group,” Harris says. “So we wrote our first song right there on a napkin.”
That group became Trilogy, a three-piece pop and hip-hop outfit fronted by the 17-year-old Harris, who goes by “Nae Nae.” Drake, 17, whose stage name is “Foxy,” is the other main vocalist, singing and rapping over beats provided by 15-year-old Toniece Allen, aka DJ T-Lite. All three attend La Follette High School. “We’re Trilogy not just because we’re three people, but because we sing, dance and rap,” Drake says. “We’re a triple threat.”
The group is managed by Greg Doby, a music industry veteran and producer who has worked with hip-hop artists like Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Lloyd Banks. A former arts coordinator at the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, Doby was asked by Harris’ mother if he would help coach the girls prior to the talent show. He recalls being immediately impressed by their wide range of talents and sparkling personalities. “They had the ‘it’ factor; I saw that early on,” says Doby, who is known affectionately by the girls as Uncle Greg. “I’ve been working with them ever since — recording, marketing, media, the whole shebang.”
Trilogy’s music features tight vocal harmonies, classic hip-hop beats and polished production, all wrapped up in themes of girl and youth empowerment. “Our inspiration is a mixture of everything — inspiration from the kids arounds us, the whole environment, the issues that are going on,” Harris says. “The music that we write is very relatable and positive.” In May, Trilogy released a video produced by DJ Pain 1, “Never Walk Alone.”
Harris is the primary songwriter, with other members adding input. Her favorite artist is Beyoncé, but she draws from a variety of styles, including South Korean K-pop “and other weird stuff,” she says, laughing. Drake favors country and R&B, but she also loves bachata, a style of music from the Dominican Republic. “I don’t know what they’re saying, but I like it,” she says, also laughing. The girls share a close friendship that has grown deeper over the years of rehearsals and performances. Drake says the members are able to sneak homework breaks during practice, and Harris acknowledges that being in the group has meant sacrificing a typical high school social life. “I’ve had to cut back on hanging out, but it’s worth it,” she says. “This is what I want to do.”
Over the past several years Trilogy has performed hundreds of shows around Madison and throughout the state, on stages big and small — Summerfest in Milwaukee, Juneteenth in Appleton, the Madison Hip-Hop Awards, the Overture Center’s Rising Stars competition. This summer, they are preparing to embark on two major tours — the Beyond Beautiful Youth Empowerment tour (an anti-bullying program organized by local “doctorpreneur” Jasmine Zapata) and the Extreme Tour, a traveling music and extreme sports showcase. Both tours include stops in major U.S. cities as well as abroad, and both start in July — the girls are raising money to help cover travel costs. Doby says it’s rare for a group so young to have the opportunity to travel internationally to perform. “We’re very fortunate; both these tours sought us out,” he says.
But even as Trilogy’s profile is growing, the group has at times struggled to convince venues in Madison to book their shows — a frustration shared by many local hip-hop artists. They performed recently at the Between the Waves festival and hosted an anti-bullying benefit at the High Noon Saloon, but Doby says the bookings are often met with skepticism and questions about the music and the performers.
“For a lot of urban music, it’s hard to find a lot of outlets,” he says. “Hip-hop gets a bad rap.”
