How did you come up with Mercy Gang? Well originally when we first got the concept of making the group, the members included Maine the Medicine, Hefty Metal, and Sway-Savage(No longer a member). We were all with AMG music. MC Los had taken to calling us The Mercenaries, and out of that Maine came up with Mercy Gang. We all met at The Hive Studio with Dep J. Sway was doing af eature for Maine, I (Hefty) rolled and we just all clicked fast. Maine didn’t even hear me spit before we were talking about all doing music together. How long have you all been in a group?Its been a lil less than 3 years since the concept of Mercy Gang started taking form. The original lineup consisted of Maine the Medicine, Sway-Savage, Paulie Baggz, Ace Ducketts, and Hefty Metal. A couple tracks were recorded but nothing was being pursued seriously yet. Then Hefty and Maine dropped their solo mixtapes and were lucky enough to open up for Adlib. Adlib gave Hefty the opportunity of joining the BattleAxe Warriors and opening slots on his shows throughout the Pennsylvania area. Although the fliers said Hefty Metal, Maine was at every show sharing and rocking the sets with me. As the shows kept coming I knew that although we were gaining a fan base and respect as solo artists the talent in the group was undeniable. Ace Ducketts had moved due to family reasons, so it was us four for awhile. Recently Sway and us parted ways, but not with any animosity. He is doing his solo music and we still support him as he supports us. We are still BaxWar Brothers. Last but not least we had met DJ Merc a little over a year ago, loved his skills and passion. We got to the point where we felt a DJ was the next step in taking Mercy to the next Level and there you have it. Maine the Medicine, Paulie Baggz, Hefty Metal, and DJ Merc forms MERCY GANG.
What artists inspired you to become involved with hip hop? (Hefty)-I cant
say it was one or a couple of artists that were the influence, id say growing
up in Brooklyn I just fell in love with the gritty side of hip hop. I listen to
many styles of music, I use to sing in metal bands, rock bands. I never
liked pretty music, I always loved the angst, the music that had something to say. The music that embraced you for the worst life had to offer. (DJ Merc)- Mix Master Mike, Beastie Boys, DJ Premiere & Gangstarr, The Roots, Mos Def, Eminem (P Baggz)- Twiztid, Biggie, Big Pun, Sticky Fingaz, Wu Tang Maine- Run DMC, Eric b and Rakim, my inspiration and my cousin Sudan.
Where can we see your videos and music?Well first off you can find us at facebook.com/mercygang that’s the best place to contact us. Our videos are on YouTube our channel is Mercy Gang TV. You can find our mixtape Mercy Gang Volume 1 on DatPiff.com. Our latest release The Uncaged EP is available on bandcamp.com, and you can find other music from us on soundcloud.How do you separate yourself from other artisits?We have never been one to worry about what other artists are doing, we just work hard and continue trying to win over fans with every stage we attack. One thing is definite you will never see Mercy live and be bored. We love the live aspect and we
leave it all on that stage every time. So I guess our live performance is what seperates us, we are very confident in that aspect of our group. As far as anything else we make the music we enjoy, the styles that made us fans of hip hop with our own unique twists. You would think it would be hard blending all of our different styles but that was actually the easiest part of this group, we all blend well.