Mercenaries Feat RMR ‎- Rhymorator - 1994

12" - 1994 - Mercenary Records  

Here is the 12" released on Mercenary Records in 1994 by the duo named Mercenaries from Bronx, NY consisted of Rashiid Hewitt a.k.a RMR (one half of the legendary underground group Strickly Roots) and Craig Burrus a.k.a Chaz Rich.

RMR : "Chaz and I met in the Bronx through a gentleman who is now deceased. Chaz heard me rap and wanted me to join his group Nu Sounds, we were signed to MCA records and made an album. The subsidiary Uni-Records that we were signed under was dropped in a merger and we subsequently were released from MCA. Between 1991 and 1994, I banded together with another friend and created the group called Strickly Roots. There was some turmoil with the management so I left and help to found Mercenary Records with Chaz and an other gentleman, and I led the group as the artist."

Promo Photo courtesy of Chaz Rich 

This wax is composed of 3 tracks. The first one and the lead single is "Rhymorator" featuring RMR and produced by Cedric "Big Ced" Thornton. I can't blog the youtube video of "Rhymorator" certainly due to copyrights but you can check it here. The video was Produced, Directed and Edited by Wayne J. Keeley, and was shot in their neighborhood, Lafayette Housing Projects, Bronx NY. 
The other tracks of the record are "Bounce" featuring RMR and produced by Lamont "LP" Porter and co-produced by Big Ced, and "Stick Up, Stick Up" featuring RMR & Chaz Rich and produced by Yogi a.k.a Yogi Bear. 

RMR : "Ced was and is still a friend of mine from the early 80’s.  I asked Ced to create the music for me to rap on, because he was a dope producer and a friend. That’s the way our neighborhood worked back then. LP and Yogi were from my neighborhood too, a lot of talent existed there. Yogi was in the rap group CRU and he was one of Puffy’s Bad Boy producers.

There is no album after that 12" because we were financing everything out of our own pockets and the major labels were trying to offer us deals that for lack of better words (Pimp contracts) and instead of becoming a victim of that predatory environment I decided to leave the industry and open up a few businesses, raise my kid up in a quiet environment and ride off into the sunset with the money and mind my business. lol. But I’ve never stop writing and have ghost written for people that I can’t mentioned, but the money was beautiful."

To be honest ... there is no chance to dig this good wax in a record store nowadays, but you can still break your piggy bank and buy it online for less than a hundred dollars... 

Mad Props to RMR (thanks for your time and for the interview), Cedric "Big Ced" Thornton and Chaz Rich.