page_title: Black Merda
section_title: Reunion
hierarchical_section_title: Black Merda / History / Reunion
caption_attribution_description: Photo Of My Band Black Merda 2008
context_page_description: Black Merda is an American rock band from Detroit, active from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s and reuniting in 2005. The core band members are guitarist/vocalist Anthony Hawkins, bassist/guitarist/vocalist VC L. Veasey, and guitarist/vocalist Charles Hawkins, plus original drummer/vocalist Tyrone Hite. Hite was a native of Detroit; the Hawkins brothers and Veasey were all born in Mississippi and came of age in Detroit.
context_section_description: In 2005, the Funky Delicacies label released the compilation disc The Folks from Mother's Mixer, collecting all the songs from the two original albums, Black Merda and Long Burn the Fire. Thanks to the new attention brought by this compilation and a cult following that showed a growing interest in the obscure black rock of the early 1970s, the Hawkins brothers and Veasey reunited in 2005. (Hite had died in 2004). The reformed Black Merda has played at several festivals in Detroit and the surrounding region as well as New York's Central Park SummerStage concerts series and The Ottawa Blues Festival in 2006.
  A compilation of rarities titled The Psych-funk of Black Merda was released in 2006. The band has since released the albums Renaissance (2006) and Force of Nature  (2009).
  The long-delayed appreciation for Black Merda's influence was further reflected in 2005 when rapper Ja Rule sampled their 1972 track "Lying" as the backing track for "Exodus Intro" on his Exodus album. In 2007 The Detroit Metro Times named the 1970 track "Cynthy-Ruth" as one of The 100 Greatest Detroit Songs Ever! Further recognition was garnered when "Cynthy-Ruth" was featured in the HBO documentary The Nine Lives Of Marion Barry that aired in August 2009. Kanye West sampled "Cynthy-Ruth" for use in the track "Teriya King" on the 2009 album Serious Japanese that he produced for Japanese rappers the Teriyaki Boyz. The band was featured in the Spinner.com article "In Living Color: 20 Important Black Rockers Past and Present" in 2010. "Take A Little Time," the single from the 2009 album Force Of Nature, was featured on the Mojo Magazine compilation Heavy Soul in 2010. Their self-titled 1970 debut album was chosen as one of "Detroit's greatest hits that should have been" by the Detroit Metro Times (November 10, 2010, Music Issue).
caption: Black Merda in 2008 (L-R Charles Hawkins, Anthony Hawkins, VC L. Veasey)
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