Team HDOE, @JodiDroxPape & @Pape2Trey1 packed the Beardsley 10/19/2013, Member of Muskegon's Hip Hop Talent Bank Making Bank.

I am hoping that HDOE won't mind if I clip text from their webpage.

 

#TeamHD,#HDOE is a brand representing the finest in Muskegon Hip Hop talent bank. please feel free to enjoy, the music and follow us on Twitter @JodiDroxPape @Pape2Trey1 and Mention us for a follow back. Also on instagram @teamhdoe

 

By the end of summer in 2011, Muskegon residents Jose "Jodi Dro" Loera and Jaron "Pape" Loera seemed to be well on their way to hip-hop stardom.

The duo, which performed as the group HD, opened for Mike Posner, Big Sean and LMFAO at Party in the Park. Their cover of the song "Buzzin" received radio airplay and was one of the most requested songs on local radio. They also opened Ludacris and T-Pain at Rock the Rapids that year.

 

The young men were riding high on their success, but they ended up taking a hiatus that lasted a few years.

 

"I guess we were so caught up in what we were doing ... we didn't make time to make new music. And then we just had a lot of stuff going on personally."

Now, 24-year-old Jodi Dro and 18-year-old Pape are back with a new record called "Homecoming" and slightly new name – HDOE, which stands for "HD over everything," they said.

 

HDOE began about four years ago, they said. Jodi Dro originally began making music with friends but later started working with Pape, his cousin.

"We just started making music together and we're family, so it took off like that," said Jodi Dro.

They described their music as "emotional" and "genuine." And while hip-hop has a reputation for a glorifying gangs and violence, they insist that they're "not like, gang-banging, drug-slinging rappers."

 

"That's the misconception with hip hop music in general," Jodi Dro said.

 

Instead, their music shares their experiences growing up in Muskegon. They've produced party songs and "songs for girls," they said, but they've also written lyrics that address the violence that has plagued Muskegon and claimed the life of their grandfather, Alvaro Loera, who was slain in April 2012. They said they used music to express themselves and process their feelings.

 

"It's our way of letting everything go," said Jodi Dro.

 

"It's a like a getaway," Pape continued.

 

HDOE Means HD Over Everything.