ATLANTA – Tylar Jones and Aden Liban bounced into a room at The Loft in Midtown on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019.
The encounter included a lot of handshakes, slang and inside jokes the two have formed over the years. The duo just finished their first rap performance together as Yung Charc and TyTheGuy in the state that they called home in high school.
“I was nervous at first, but I’m happy I did it,” Jones said. “I fell in love with it.”
Yung Charc and TyTheGuy only have two singles out, but the music videos already have over half a million views combined in three months. At The Loft nightclub, they performed the singles, as well as a handful of other unreleased music the two made together.
The artists are opening for DDG, the self-made YouTube celebrity who’s making the transition into the music industry himself. They’re all a part of a group of content creators who live in Los Angeles.
A year ago, however, this scenario wouldn’t have been possible.
“Last year, [Jones] and I was literally signing an application to the Air Force,” Liban said.
Jones confirmed Liban’s claim.
“Charc and I were about to join the military, bruh,” he said. “But then, it got to a point of ‘let’s do this s—.’ We didn’t have a choice.”
A couple of months later, the two took a chance and moved to L.A. with Poudii, another YouTuber from Gwinnett County, Georgia. The three content creators lived together for a few months before Jones and Liban moved into an apartment of their own once they could support themselves.
“Your friends don’t believe in you, man,” Jones said. “There’s somebody that always has something negative to say, or they want to hate on you. They don’t want to help you film, or do some s— when you’re down, but when you’re up, that’s when everybody wants to be your friend.”
The trio of Poudii, Blackcharcoal and TyTheGuy grew a community on YouTube with energetic, comedy-based vlogs using their own combination of Atlanta, L.A. and made up slang. One of the group’s most interesting catchphrases became “Yamboobai,” which originated from Jones mocking Poudii by saying “Young Poudii P” in his videos.
Now, Liban’s channel has over 300K subscribers and Jones has over 200K subscribers.
“Charc and I both grinded for this,” Jones said. “We put our foot in a pot, and we made it happen. Six years ago, I thought I would’ve graduated college at this point.”
The two are grateful for the position they’re in today.
“YouTube and the Internet changed my life dramatically,” Jones said. “I went from window shopping to being in that b—-, and buying what I want. I’m thankful that I can help my family out. Trump shut the government down. Say my parents had federal jobs, I make enough money to take care of my family. I’m forever grateful.”
