Today we’d like to introduce you to Hybred.
Hi Hybred, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
We are a Hip Hop/R&B Duo. We met in middle school (Cleveland School of the Arts 2006) where we both were vocal music majors. We performed throughout the country with Jazz Art Ensemble and R. Nathaniel Dett Concert Choir from 6th to the 12th grade. In 2012, we took every dime we had and moved to L.A. to pursue our education and careers in the entertainment industry. 18 & 19 years old in a new city across the country with no family, friends or connections, Everybody thought we were crazy but we just worked hard to stay afloat and made our marks in the city.
Maurice Ladon’: Back then, I had kind of put music to the side and started focusing more on designing clothes. I enrolled in Design School and I just started to carve out my own style. Before I left Cleveland, I was making custom prom outfits for several of my friends, including Kendrick. So once we got to Cali it didn’t take long before I started working with big brands like Target, Walmart, Micheal Costello, and Teen Vogue. I also design and create everything we wear down to the prints & pattern. I didn’t really start rapping until one of my friends asked me to sing on his song for his school project. I wasn’t really confident in my voice at the time so I jokingly told him “I will rap on the track before I would sing on one. “Once I wrote and recorded the track we sent it around to our friends and people started telling me I should really consider taking it seriously. So I started dropping songs on SoundCloud.
Kendrick Clevor: Music has always been a part of my life, singing, playing the piano, and making beats. So when we moved to LA the last thing I thought I would be doing is dancing and choreographing, but the universe definitely had other plans for me. While I was pursuing my degree in music at AMDA and Musicians Institute in Hollywood, I fell in love with dance! I literally was training 24/7, networking and dance quickly took hold of my life. I got signed to an agency, used my own personal style to create “Trap Grooves” and was teaching all around the world. I’ve had the opportunity to work for Iggy Azalea, Kanye West, Keke Palmer, Tyga, Meek Mill, Jennifer Hudson, Hayley Kiyoko, Ray J, B.E.T Awards and so many more. I created “Friday Night RAW” one of the hottest dance showcases in LA, and then an opened up “STUDIO 216” a multi-purpose entertainment facility in California. After all the dance experience, I started to miss creating music. Once I started writing again, I hit Maurice up to collab on a song called Love You Better. Before we put it out, we let a couple of close friends hear it and they were like, “Oww, yall should be a group” And we’ve been Hybred ever since.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Kendrick Clevor: I mean what’s life without a little struggle?
Maurice Ladon: Not “what’s life without a struggle” lol. I think we’ve had our fair share of ups and downs personally and musically. Its been a journey finding our sound and creating music that is not only quality but authentic to who we are.
Kendrick Clevor: We’ve spent so much money on studio time, video shoots, fabric for our clothes, etc. It just feels good to finally be able to put out a complete project. Even when we struggle, it doesn’t even phase us cause this is what we love to do. What we were born to do.
Both: What we BEEN doing!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We’re an up and coming singer/songwriter duo based in LA and ATL. We specialize in creating Hip Hop and R&B music from scratch. We write the entire song from the hook to the bridge and the backgrounds.
Kendrick Clevor: I even produced some of the beats on the EP. “Rida”, “Weight Up”, “Contemplating”, and me and my brother Christian from high school collaborated on the “Thang on Me” beat.
Maurice Ladon’: I call him Kenny Hancock Lol We are most proud of our 1st ever EP “Magnum” which debuted #9 on itunes R&B/Soul charts. We put our blood, sweat and tears into this project. Real music that we could be proud of. We had to put on many hats to put this all together. We had to pick/create the beats, write the songs, design the clothes, create concepts and direct our videos. Now that we are at the finish line it was all worth it. What sets us apart from other artists is that we have a wide range of music tastes, from Hip Hop, R&B, to Classical and Jazz Music.
Maurice Ladon’: The word of the day is VERSATILITY
Kendrick: We can make songs like “Nasty”, “Eat”, and “Positions” then turn around and make songs like “Waste of Time” and “Don’t Leave”.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Kendrick Clevor: My favorite memory is when we would wake up early everyday in the summer and perform around the city on a tour called “Showagon”. It was an annual tour every summer filled with kids from all over our city. Thats one of our first experiences actually making a choice to give up our entire summer to perform Monday-Friday.
Maurice Ladon’: You know summertime is sacred for kids. I think my favorite memory from our childhood is getting being a part of the Jazz Art Ensemble. We were a small group of no more than 20 singers. We would learn and perform Jazz standards around the Mid West. We learned all those intricate harmonies by rote that really opened our ear to real music.
Pricing:
- “Magnum” our EP is 8.99 on iTunes
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybredofficial/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hybredmusic
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HYBREDOFFICIAL
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3zTMA7E1gNq8k7MYH34pEw
- Other: https://www.predominantrecords.com/copy-of-hybred
Image Credits
Maurice Ladon’ (@MauriceLadon) Designed Clothing Kendrick Clevor (@CaptureMeKen) edited photos NAFisGod (@ngro_glypics) created Gold Magnum Cover Art Leah Lu (@beatbylu) MUA/Photographer for Magnum Cover Art Jaffar Richardson (@jafrich) Photographer for photo in the Gold and Black Outfit
