Joshua Tyler Huie (born July 8, 1985), known professionally as Clever, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He has been a featured artist on ''Billboard'' charting singles by

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

Post Malone Austin Richard Post (born July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His music blends various genres including hip-hop, Pop music, pop, Contemporary R&B, R&B, Tra ...

, and

Juice WRLD Jarad Anthony Higgins (December 2, 1998 – December 8, 2019), known professionally as Juice Wrld (pronounced "juice world"; stylized as Juice WRLD), was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He emerged as a leading figure in the emo rap ...

and has recorded with

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

, and

Lil Baby Dominique Armani Jones (born December 3, 1994), known professionally as Lil Baby, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence following the release of his 2017 mixtapes ''Harder than Hard'' and ''Too Hard'' — the for ...

, among others. He toured with Juice WRLD on the "Death Race for Love" tour and has performed at

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

Rolling Loud Rolling Loud is an international hip hop music festival which has been held in Asia, North America, South America, Europe, and Australia. Established in 2015, it is "one of the biggest festivals in the world" according to ''Complex'', while ''Bill ...

Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

, and others. In 2021, Huie's debut studio album, "Crazy," was released, which received favorable reviews. As of March, 2024, he had over 650 million streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

Early life

Joshua Tyler Huie was born in Gadsden,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, on July 8, 1985. He began writing poetry at 11 years old and transitioned into writing hip-hop music at 13 years old. He attended Emma Sansom High School where he excelled in sports and had planned on pursuing baseball professionally but turned down several college baseball scholarship offers after deciding to pursue a music career. He started

battle rap Battle rap (also known as rap battling)Edwards, Paul, 2009, p. 25. is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults, wordplay and Diss (music), disses originating in the African Americans, African-Amer ...

ping locally at 14 years of age and at 16 he was part of a radio segment where he would freestyle battle callers live on the air. Huie cites

Jay Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named the greatest rapper of all time by ''Billboard'' and '' Vibe'' i ...

and

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

as musical influences. His stage name was derived from a

when he was 14 years old. While "battling," a win often is referred to as a "W," and a loss as an "L." His stage name, "Clever," originated from a lyric he used, "You can call me Clever, because I won't 'C' an 'L,' ever."

Career

Huie released his album "1nce More" in 2006 and battle rapped on several episodes of

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

which led to him performing on the BET battle rap show, "Spring Bling," which he won. He released various recordings including "Nobody Can Save You" featuring

SwizZz Justin Ritter (born September 28, 1987), known professionally as SwizZz, is an American rapper and songwriter. He is best known for significantly collaborating with childhood friend Hopsin, and being signed to their record label Funk Volume, wh ...

in 2013. In 2014, Huie co-wrote and recorded " Payday" (with

) and began writing music for other artists as well as working closely with

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

. In 2018, rapper

Lil Bibby Brandon George Dickinson (born July 18, 1994), better known by his stage name Lil Bibby, is an American rapper, singer, record executive. Beginning his career in 2011, Bibby released his debut mixtape, '' Free Crack'' in 2013. It was followed b ...

heard Huie's music and passed it along to fellow rapper

, who then shared Huie's music on his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

page. After speaking with Juice WRLD, Huie flew out to Los Angeles and began recording with him which led to them recording the single, " Ring, Ring" which charted at #5 on Billboard's "Bubbling Under Hot 100" on March 23, 2019. They toured together on the "Death Race for Love" tour in 2019. After Juice WRLD died on December 8, 2019, Huie stated that Juice WRLD's "co-signing" of his music opened a lot of doors for him and that he had a major impact on the trajectory of his music career. In 2019, Huie's single "Stick By My Side", featuring rapper NLE Choppa, caught the attention of rapper and singer

on social media, who would go on to sign Huie to his record label, Posty Co., in a joint-venture with Lil Bibby's label Grade A Productions and

Republic Records Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially ...

. Huie released his debut studio album, "Crazy," in 2021 which included the single, "Call Me Nobody," (featuring

and Huie's son Isaiah Lyric). In 2020,

contacted Huie on

asking him if he would like to record a song with him which resulted in the single, "

Forever Forever or 4ever may refer to: Film and television Films * ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice * ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama, based on the novel by Judy Blume * '' ...

," which charted at #24 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Huie recorded the single "Penelope" with William which charted at #1 on Finland's singles chart for 21 weeks in 2020. In 2024, he released a self titled country music EP which received favorable reviews.

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

Extended plays

Other ventures

Singles (collaborations) * 2024 - "Authentic" (with Rich Homie Quan) * 2021 - " Life's a Mess II" (with

and

) * 2021 - "Call Me Nobody" (with

and Isaiah Lyric) * 2021 - "Skittles" (with

) * 2021 - "Rolls Royce Umbrella" (with

) * 2020 - "

" (with

and

) * 2020 - " Real Life Stuff" (with

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD (group), ...

and

Julia Michaels Julia Carin Michaels (''Birth name, née'' Cavazos; born November 13, 1993) is an American singer and songwriter. She has received six Grammy Award nominations, including twice for Grammy Award for Song of the Year, Song of the Year and Grammy A ...

) * 2020 - "Apartments" (with NoCap and Rylo Rodriguez) * 2020 - "Penelope" (with William) * 2020 - "In My Hands" (with Zero 9:36 and

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and music producer who is the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has collaborated with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transplants ...

) * 2019 - " Ring, Ring" (with

) * 2019 - "Stick by my Side" (with NLE Choppa) * 2019 - "All In" (with

Polo G Taurus Tremani Bartlett (born January 6, 1999), known professionally as Polo G, is an American rapper. He rose to prominence with his singles " Finer Things" and " Pop Out" (featuring Lil Tjay). His debut album '' Die a Legend'' (2019) peaked a ...

and

G Herbo Herbert Randall Wright III (born October 8, 1995), better known by his stage name G Herbo (formerly Lil Herb), is an American rapper. He signed with the Chicago-based record label Machine Entertainment Group in 2011, at the age of 16. His debut ...

) * 2014 - " Payday" (with

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clever 1985 births Living people 21st-century American musicians 21st-century American singer-songwriters American guitarists Musicians from Gadsden, Alabama American hip-hop singers Alternative hip-hop musicians American male pop singers Pop rappers Cloud rappers