After childhood beginnings, USC students reunite in college to create new-school hip-hop duo
USC students Quan Greene and Mario “Mario Moretti” Jordan may have been childhood friends, but music is the force that brought them back together.
Greene and Jordan grew up in the same neighborhood in Winnsboro, near Columbia.
“He [lived] three houses down from me, so we were always good friends,” said Jordan, a third-year history and business student.
When Jordan’s family moved while the boys were in sixth grade, it seemed unlikely that the pair would ever meet again. But the two reunited during their freshman year at USC and began recording under the moniker Casual MisFits in the late summer of 2010.
“We both had the passion for music, so we kind of started naturally ... writing in the studio together. It was kinda just magic,” said Greene, a third-year psychology student.
Greene and Jordan said their music doesn’t fit into one specific genre.
“We have a little bit of everything. Some of it’s indie, some of it’s new-school hip-hop, some of it has a kind of reggae/island vibe to it,” Greene said.
Jordan used the band’s name to describe the duo’s sound.
“It’s a mix of a lot of things, but our style overall is casual,” Jordan said. “It’s music anyone can relate to. It’s really diverse.”
Greene said the band’s name came from feeling like outsiders due to their widespread fan base consisting primarily of Internet users.
“The kind of music we make is so far-reaching, and a lot of our fans are not local ... so we’re misfits in that aspect,” Greene said.
Greene lists Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Big Sean and Wiz Khalifa among his biggest influences, while Jordan has been inspired by Hootie & the Blowfish, Andre 3000 and Tupac.
Unlike many hip-hop artists, the Casual MisFits incorporate live instruments during performance, including drum kits and keyboards. The duo has been using iPads as beat pads for looped rhythms and sounds that contribute to the music’s texture.
And although the pair has been making music together for a few years, the two will be making their stage debut next weekend with a gig at Winthrop University on April 6.
“It’s something kind of local, but not too local,” Greene said. “We don’t want it to be a homecoming thing quite yet.”
The Casual MisFits are also embarking on their first tour this summer, hitting up 30 different summer camps across the United States, including stops in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, New York, Wisconsin and Michigan.
The guys are not signed to a label yet; instead, they have been relying on self-promotion to get their music out. The group’s first mixtape, “Last Day Home,” is out now through the website, casualmisfits.com, and Greene said he and Jordan plan to release a second one, tentatively titled, “GAS” (which stands for “Good-Ass Summer”), before the start of the tour.
Greene said balancing school and being a musician has been a struggle.
“You have to have a backup plan and something to fall back on, so you have to stay motivated and stay in school,” he said.
But still, Jordan said the band’s goals for the future have no limits.
“I’m thinking toward the top,” Jordan said. “I plan on making music all my life.”