Kelvin Mercer

Kelvin Mercer (born August 17, 1969),[1] known professionally as Posdnuos and occasionally Pos, is an American rapper and producer from East Massapequa, New York best known for his work as one-third of the hip hop trio De La Soul. Through his work with the group, Mercer is considered to be one of the most consistent and underrated MCs of all time.[3] Beginning with the highly acclaimed 3 Feet High and Rising in 1989, Mercer has gone on to release nine albums with De La Soul.

Kelvin Mercer
Kelvin Mercer aka Posdnous of De La Soul at Gods of Rap 2019 in Berlin, Germany
Background information
Birth nameKelvin Mercer
Also known as
  • Posdnuos
  • Mercenary
  • Plug One
  • Sop Sound
  • Plug Wonder Why
  • Pos
Born (1969-08-17) August 17, 1969[1]
New York City, New York, U.S.
GenresHip hop
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsVocalist
Years active1988–present[2]
LabelsTommy Boy, Sanctuary, AOI
Associated actsDe La Soul
Websitewww.spitkicker.com
Kelvin Mercer aka Posdnous and Vincent Mason aka Maseo of De La Soul at Gods of Rap 2019 in Berlin, Germany

Cameos and album appearances
Year Album Notes
1997 Common's One Day It'll All Make Sense, on the track "Gettin' Down at the Amphitheater" with Dave
1998 Propellerheads' Decksandrumsandrockandroll, on the track "360° (Oh Yeah?)" with De La Soul
2000 Rawkus Records' Hip Hop for Respect with Various Artists
2002 Mint Royale's Dancehall Places and Pop Is..., on the track "Show Me"
2005 Boss AC's Ritmo, Amor e Palavras, on the track "Yo (Não Brinques Com Esta Merda)" with De La Soul
2005 Gorillaz' Demon Days, on the track "Feel Good Inc." with De La Soul
2006 Oh No's Exodus into Unheard Rhythms, on the track "Smile a Lil Bit"
2007 LA Symphony's Unleashed, on the track "Universal"
2008 Jake One's White Van Music, on the track "Oh Really" with Slug of Atmosphere
2009 Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip's re-release of Thou Shalt Always Kill
2009 Master Ace and Edo G's Arts and Entertainment, on the track "Good Music"
2010 Gorillaz' Plastic Beach, on the track "Superfast Jellyfish" with De La Soul
2010 Slum Village's Villa Manifesto, on the track "Scheming" with Phife Dawg, J Dilla and Vice Verse
2011 DJ Shadow's The Less You Know, the Better, on the track "Stay the Course" with Talib Kweli
2011 Official remix of Mac Miller's song "Of the Soul"
2013 Statik Selektah's Extended Play, on the track "Game Break" with Lecrae and Termanology
2013 Wrekonize's The War Within, on the track "Church Road"
2013 Yancey Boys' (Illa J and Frank Nitt) Sunset Blvd., on the track "Beautiful" with Botni Applebum
2014 Statik Selektah's What Goes Around, on the track "God Knows" with Bun B and Jared Evan
2014 Stalley's Ohio, on the track "Navajo Rugs" with De La Soul
2015 Étienne de Crécy's Super Discount 3, on the track "WTF" with Dave
2015 Hot Chip's Why Make Sense?, on the track "Love Is the Future"
2017 Gorillaz' Humanz, on the track "Momentz" with De La Soul
2018 The Black Eyed Peas' Masters of the Sun Vol. 1, on the track "All Around the World" with Phife Dawg and Ali Shaheed Muhammad

Aliases

All three members of De La Soul have used a number of aliases. The following are the most significant:

  • Posdnuos – Pronounced "pas-da-noos". The name may be a combination of the reversed words sop, meaning "leftover," and sound, a name Mercer went by while acting as a high school DJ. According to some sources, the fact that the words spelled backward are "sounds op [i.e., operative]" is intentional.[4]
  • Plug One – An early concept for 3 Feet High and Rising involved music being transmitted from Mars by three microphone plugs (each one representing a member of the group). Though this idea was abandoned, the titles "Plug One", "Plug Two" and "Plug Three" still became relevant on the album. Mercer's title of Plug One would eventually evolve into Plug Wonder Why, which has been shortened to Plug Won.
  • Mercenary – Derived from the last name, "Mercer". This name was given to him by DCQ, brother of Mos Def.[5]
  • P-Pain – Caricature of the rapper T-Pain. He uses this alias in the song "Supervillainz" by DOOM.
gollark: Oh, right, that's fair.
gollark: <@478798120650670091> Why would I DO that? WHY?
gollark: Using a single CC file would probably create problems with, er, atomicity or whatever.
gollark: Interesting idea but dealing with file handles would be irritating. I could just steal the code from Opus I guess and stick a note in the licenses.
gollark: I mean, sort of.

References
  1. "Posdnuos - Album Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  2. Greg Tate (November 23, 2019). "De La Soul". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  3. DJ Shadow (September 23, 2011). "DJ Shadow: The Internet Is Not Your Savior". Wired.com. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  4. "Posdnuos - MusicBrainz". musicbrainz.org. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  5. "De La Soul Interview". www.daveyd.com. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
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