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Kelvin Mercer
De La Soul - Gods of Rap Tour 2019 - Berlin (39 von 49).jpg
Mercer at Gods of Rap 2019 in Berlin, Germany
Background information
Also known as
  • Posdnuos
  • Mercenary
  • Plug One
  • Sop Sound
  • Plug Wonder Why
  • Pos
Born (1969-08-17) August 17, 1969 (age 55)
New York City, U.S.
Genres East Coast hip hop
Occupation(s) Rapper, record producer
Years active 1988–present
Labels Tommy Boy, Sanctuary, AOI
De La Soul - Gods of Rap Tour 2019 - Berlin (45 von 49)
Posdnuos and Maseo of De La Soul at Gods of Rap 2019 in Berlin, Germany

Kelvin Mercer (born August 17, 1969), also known by his stage name Posdnuos, Plug 1 and occasionally Pos, is an American rapper and record 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. Beginning with the highly acclaimed 3 Feet High and Rising in 1989, Mercer has gone on to release nine albums with De La Soul.

Cameos and album appearances

Year Album Notes
2000 Rawkus Records' Hip Hop for Respect with Various Artists
2002 Mint Royale's Dancehall Places and Pop Is..., on the track "Show Me"
2006 Oh No's Exodus into Unheard Rhythms, on the track "Smile a Lil Bit"
2007 LA Symphony's Unleashed, on the track "Universal"
DJ Jazzy Jeff's The Return of the Magnificent, on the track "Let Me Hear U Clap"
2008 Jake One's White Van Music, on the track "Oh Really" with Slug of Atmosphere
J-Live's Then What Happened, on the track "The Upgrade" with Oddisee
2009 Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip's re-release of Thou Shalt Always Kill
Master Ace and Edo G's Arts and Entertainment, on the track "Good Music"
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
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
Marco Polo's PA2: The Director's Cut, on the track "Glory (Finish Hard)" with A.G., Masta Ace, and Dion Jenkins
Wrekonize's The War Within, on the track "Church Road"
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
2015 Étienne de Crécy's Super Discount 3, on the track "..." with Dave
Hot Chip's Why Make Sense?, on the track "Love Is the Future"
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
2019 Grand Analog's "Mutations"
2020 Potatohead People's Mellow Fantasy, on the track "Baby Got Work" with Kapok
2022 Robert Glasper's Black Radio III, on the track "Everybody Love" with Musiq Soulchild
Phife Dawg's Forever, on the track "2 Live Forever" with Little Brother and Darien Brockington
Diamond D's The Rear View, on the track "Flyin' High"
Ibrahim Maalouf's Capacity to Love, on the track "Quiet Culture"
2023 Planet Hemp's JARDINEIROS: A COLHEITA, on the track "NUNCA TENHA MEDO"
Statik Selektah's Round Trip, on the track "Round Trip (for Dave)"
2024 Ana Tijoux's Vida, on the track "Tu sae" with Talib Kweli

Aliases

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

  • Posdnuos/Pos – Pronounced "poss-duh-noose". The name may be a combination of the reversed words sop, meaning "gift," 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.
  • 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 would be shortened to a homophone of the original, Plug Won.
  • Mercenary – Derived from the last name, "Mercer". This name was given to him by DCQ, brother of Mos Def.
  • P-Pain – Caricature of the rapper T-Pain. He uses this alias in the song "Supervillainz" by DOOM.
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