Kelvin Mercer

Who is Kelvin Mercer?

Kelvin Mercer is a rapper, producer, and one-third of the hip hop trio De La Soul. He is known more famously by his alias Posdnuos, or simply Pos. He was born in the Bronx, New York and grew up in East Massapequa, New York.

Mercer and David Jude Jolicoeur were childhood friends. They met Vincent Mason in the early 1980s while attending Amityville High School in Long Island, New York. Mercer's father was a jazz fan.

As a member of De La Soul, Mercer is generally regarded as one of the most consistent and underrated MCs of all time. He has imparted some of his hard-earned experiences in songs such as "Held Down", and "Trying People", from AOI: Bionix. On the latter, he raps: "We were supposed to rid the world of danger / These days we nod heads and small talk like polite strangers / It's natural to fall off, just land close to the tree / I'll be there if they need me to be".

Mercer is also known for his witty, double entendre-laden battle rhymes. "F*ck bein' hard, Posdnuos is complicated" from Buhloone Mindstate's "In the Woods". For example in "Down Syndrome" from 1996's Stakes Is High, he states: "I be a piece of the East Coast, so give a toast to Plug Wonder Why / Back in the day who soaked his words in ginger / So when I ran a phrase in June, you didn't catch it 'til December".