Da Mercenaries aka DMS are a Hip Hop duo from the North West of the UK, Warrington to be exact. Currently they are both 19 years old and are looking to bring their style to the UK urban music scene. The two members are called Yung B, the main MC in the group and Joy-Rider who is mostly the producer, but is also known to pick up the mic on occasion.
They started out making music about 5 years ago primarily as a hobby, but as they worked together they progressed and decided to take this a bit more seriously. They are making their tracks on a computer using Reason and Cubase in conjunction with a Yamaha keyboard, a Behringer Mic pre-amp and the ubiquitous Hip Hop mic, a Sure SM 58. They are proud to claim that al their tracks are original, written and produced by the duo themselves.
 Tracklist: 01. Eruption 02. Doing Our Own Thing 03. Cupid Shot Me |
In April 2005 they appeared on the Chromium Records compilation The Best Unsigned Album Ever…2 and in ate 2005 Rival Records selected a track of their to appear on the as yet un released Bedroom Beats: Underground Kings Mixtape.
So now they have this three track demo CD out, and on the back of that they are hoping big things will happen. The first track on the CD is Eruption, a purported floor shaker which is all about DMS ripping up a dance floor, but to me the sound is a bit dated and Yung B raps in a static flow, yes, he hits all the beats, but the flow is simplistic and combined with the synth bass and drum machine beat there is a bit of funk lacking.
Doing Our Own Thing is on a different vibe and gets going with a bit of a flute riff. The beat slowly increases in volume as the other instrumental elements are brought in. This is a deeper track expressing how Da Mercenaries feel about their place in UK Hip Hop hierarchy and they lay out their game plan for global takeover.
The final track, Cupid Shot Me, shows that the duo can cover a variety of subject mater and styles. This one is all about falling for a girl who already has a man and doesn’t realise what Yung B is thinking. Something that everyone feels at some point.
The crew have it hard as Warrington is not really recognised as a centre for good Hip Hop, but the lads have a wealth of material with plenty of free tracks available at the links below. Overall the duo has some skill, but on the strength of this material they haven’t totally rocked my world. Competent and promising, but not mind blowing.
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.myspace.com/damercenaries
http://www.unsignedbandweb.com/da_mercenaries