On May 29, 1999, during an interview Mercedes discussed how she got signed to
No Limit, clarifying she was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and was in her second year at
Xavier University in
New Orleans when
No Limit group
Kane & Abel saw her perform
Shirley Murdock's "As We Lay" in a talent show. Impressed by her performance, the No Limit group invited Mercedes to join them in the studio, where she subsequently met No Limit owner
Master P. The label CEO asked her to sing "and I’ve been with them ever since" stated Mercedes. On June 29, 1999, Mercedes would release her debut album entitled
Rear End it would be released on
Master P's
No Limit Records; as was typical for No Limit's releases at the time, the album featured other No Limit performing artists such as
Mystikal,
Mac,
Mia X,
Silkk the Shocker and
Master P.
Rear End was reasonably successful, peaking at No. 34 on the
Billboard 200 and No. 12 on the
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. After releasing the album, Mercedes reportedly retired from the music business less than a year later to attend law school. ==Discography==