Mercedes Ladies

Mercedes Ladies is the first all-female Hip Hop group with a DJ. The group was founded in the mid-1970s in the Bronx, New York, by Sheri Sher, Ever Def, Zena Z, Tracey Tee, DJ Baby D (D'Bora), and RD Smiley. Their group later expanded to include MC Smiley and DJ La Spank.

Beginnings The group began as a social crew called The Mercedes Young Ladies, made up of teenaged girls who would go to Hip Hop jams together on Boston Road in the Bronx. They selected the name because of the association of the Mercedes brand with sophistication, and they wore matching yellow sweatshirts with the name in black velvet iron-on lettering. Some of the founding members met at Evander Childs High School, where rapper Sha-Rock also attended: Sheri Sher (Sheri Hines), RD Smiley (Rene Pearson), Little Bit (Deborah Carter) and Tracey Tee (Tracey Peterkin). The crew had fashion sense and presence, and they began to be shouted out by MCs at the jams. The group first performed at the schoolyard at 63 Park on Boston Road and 169th, with the L Brothers opening up for them. On April 11, 1980 they played head-to-head with another group of women MCs and DJs, Inner City Disco, at the Ecstasy Garage. In June 1980, Mercedes Ladies played at the Police Athletic League recreation center, a popular local venue for rap jams on 183rd and Webster Avenue, on the same bill as the Cold Crush Brothers, the Fantastic Five, Rayvon and Johnny Wa. Fab Five Freddy, Glenn Friedman, Debbie Harry, and Chris Stein of Blondie attended this show, and Fab 5 Freddy remembers that Mercedes Ladies, "three Black Girls rapping and rocking cowboy hats . . .made an impression on Debbie. She loved their vibe--we all did."

Throughout their time as performers, Mercedes Ladies dealt with the challenges of a male-dominated music scene and industry for equitable treatment, recognition of their skills, decent billing, and proper compensation for performances. Many women rappers came after them, particularly New York City artists such as Roxanne Shanté, Sweet Tee, and Salt-N-Pepa. Though the Mercedes Ladies never recorded their own full-length album or 12-inch single, some of their live sets were preserved on tape. The Mercedes Ladies are remembered for their style, live shows, rhymes, and self-presentation. They also contributed background vocals to Donald D's "Don's Groove" (1984), which was produced and arranged by Grandmaster Flash.

After splitting from the group, DJ Baby D toured with Rapper Kurtis Blow for about two years. They were one of the first male MC/female DJ duos.

DJ La Spank (Gail Windley) now goes by DJ Flame. She was also an MC/DJ for Inner City Disco. DJ Flame produces and hosts an urban gospel radio show called The Anointed Mic Check on the Harlem station WHCR 90.3 and has been the DJ for Kurtis Blow's Hip Hop Church at Greater Hood Memorial in Harlem for over 10 years.

In 2008, Sheri Sher published a novel called Mercedes Ladies based on the true story of the group's founding using the diaries she kept from that era. She is interviewed in the documentary On the Record (2020), an investigation into Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons regarding allegations by over 20 women of sexual abuse, harassment, and rape.

The Mercedes Ladies were inducted into the Hip Hop Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2019, the New York Department of Cultural Affairs cited Mercedes Ladies' contributions to Hip Hop as integral to the culture and history of their South Bronx neighborhood, Morrisania. The group was featured in the documentaries 5 Sides of a Coin (2003), My Mic Sounds Nice: The Truth About Women in Hip Hop (2010), directed by Ava DuVernay, She Will Be Heard (2017) and The First Ladies of Hip Hop (2023).