Although Hip-Hop and its disciplines were male-dominated in Hip-Hop's embryonic days, there were women putting in work at the beginning. There is MC Sha-Rock who is widely known as the first female MC as well as early MCs like Lisa Lee, Pebblee Pooh, Pepsi, MC Debbie D, DJ Wanda Dee, and a host of other female MCs, DJs, and B-Girls.

There was one crew that consisted of only female MCs and DJs — The Mercedes Ladies. Below is our exclusive interview with DJ Baby D and DJ RD Smiley of the legendary all-female Hip-Hop clique.

First Ladies

"We started as just a social crew," says DJ RD Smiley, who refers to herself as DJ number 2 of the group. "We hung out, had meetings, went to jams together, and wore shirts with our names on them. We later became a crew of DJs and MCs. We then morphed into a singing group, and that's when it went left. The original members of the Mercedes Ladies as a Hip-Hop Crew are DJ Baby, myself, RD Smiley, and there were three MCs - Zina Z, Eva Def and Sheri Sher."

Later iterations of the group include DJ La Spank, now known as DJ Flame who joined the already formed group in 1979 and left in 1980. "Before 1978, we were just a crew that hung out," Baby D explains. "It was RD Smiley the founder, Sheri Sher, Lil Bit and Tracy T. In 1978, we became the first all-female Hip-Hop crew. We carried our own crates of records, connected our own equipment, and even climbed the fence at 63 Park to plug the system in at our first jam. We did all of this with no help from the men."

The Beginning

"Eva Def, Sheri and Zina Z were already together, and then I came and it became a crew," Baby D explains. "I was at [Grandwizzard] Theodore's house and our manager, Trevor, came and got me and introduced me to the girls. I was a bit intimidated because these girls were much taller than me, and they were staring me down. This was in the spring of '78, and it was at 63 Park where we made our presence known. Trevor also managed the L. Brothers [Grandwizzard Theodore, Mean Gene and Cordie-O], and I remember asking him who was gonna carry the crates of records. He replied 'Y'all are'."

RD Smiley interjects with an interesting perspective about the motives of some of the men, including Trevor at the time. "They wanted us to fail," RD Smiley says. "We were supposed to be like the second leg of the L Brothers, and that's who Trevor was really concerned with. They really wanted us to fail at first. Trevor had managed an all-female group in Jamaica, and he wanted to try it in The Bronx. But I think that he initially saw us as another group to juggle, and we were females at that. He watched us, and he saw that we were really getting good. We weren't there trying to get boyfriends — we were watching, learning, and trying to get better."

Grandmaster Flash

RD Smiley says that her influence to become a DJ came early and from block parties.

"I was 12, and they had these block parties on 165th street and Caldwell and Boston Road," RD Smiley remembers. "They used to bring out the canons and we were playing hopscotch. It was dark, and [Grandmaster] Flash was on, and he was back spinning. I remember stopping to watching him, and all I saw was this hat and these hands moving. I watched him and I counted. He spun the record back and he messed up on the twelfth time. I'll always remember that. I was just a kid, so I laughed and said, 'Ha, ha, he messed up.' He was spinning "Its Just Begun" by Jimmy Castor, and he was repeating the words "just begun." That was '76 going into '77. I saw him later up close at Evander High School when I was 16. He was cutting and back spinning. I remember thinking at the time that he was making the turntables instruments. That's what made me fight to be a DJ. Flash was really a genius."

Baby D talks about her first time seeing Flash.

"My sister was in the Black Panthers and then she joined The Black Spades [street organization]," Baby D remembers. "It was 1976, and I was somewhere where I wasn't supposed to be. I heard this music, and I went to see who it was — it was Flash. I told my girlfriend who was with me that I wanted to be the female version of that man. I also told my boyfriend that, and him and about five other guys started cracking up, and that pissed me the hell off! I told Lil' Rock of the Bugout Crew, and he said that he had turntables and equipment in his mom's basement. He offered to show me the fundamentals, and it started from there. I actually started DJing at that point, then I joined The Mercedes Ladies. Those guys laughing were really my motivation to do this!"

Sabotage

As women in a male-dominated field, The Mercedes Ladies faced misogyny and sabotage.

"I remember at our first jam at 63 Park, I was told by Trevor that I needed to lose weight," says RD Smiley. "I was still in crew mode, not group mode, so I went off and asked him who he thought he was talking to. As a result, he began to sabotage me. Every time I got on the set, he would tell me to stand by while he changed the pitch. He did that at least three times, and it wasn't until we played for Ritchie T at the T-Connection that I realized what he had been doing. His money man and two other people told me about how he had sabotaged the set."

Rap Records

The Mercedes Ladies never released recordings as a group, but they have made records individually.

"We never had good management or anyone to really put money into us. We didn't have our own equipment and we were always jumping on someone else's set," said Smiley. "It felt like we were orphans in a way. Then Zina and Eva Def left the group because they were fed up. Two girls replaced them and their mother became our manager, and we became a singing group. That's where it really went down hill."

Baby D echoed RD Smiley's sentiment. "We should have stuck to what we were really good at, and that was MCing and DJing," Baby D says. "I left and made 'No Sense' on West End Records with Spyder D, and the Mercedes Ladies singing faction of the group sang back up on 'Donald's Groove' by Donald D.:

As far as the very first Rap records, Baby D admits that she thought they would be a fad. "When I heard 'Rappers Delight,' the first thing that I noticed was that Hank was saying Caz's rhymes," she remembers. "I didn't think that it would last until later in the '80s."

RD Smiley says that she knew. "I knew once it got to wax it would be big. That's why I felt pressure like we needed to come out," she says.

Baby D says that she feels The Sequence gets unfairly left out of history. "The Sequence was the first all female Rap group to release a record and it's crazy how they get left out," she says. "They go from Sha Rock and straight to Shante and Queen Latifah when they cover the timeline. With all of the 50th anniversary celebrations you would think that the Mercedes Ladies would get talked about, but I was talking to Scorpio from The Furious 5, and he told me 'out of sight out of mind.' He encouraged us to get out here and tell our story."

Baby D explains that she initially kept her previous life as a Hip-Hop pioneer hidden from her family. "I was stationed in Hawaii and my husband didn't believe who I was," she explains. "I called LL [COOL J] and told to him that my husband didn't believe who I was. I put him on the phone with LL and he was in awe!"

RD Smiley and Baby D have released new music, and they want the world to know that they are still doing what they love. Their newest release is "Hearin' It, Feelin' It" featuring Gene-Yes.

Baby D sums up their enduring legacy, "The pioneers are still here and we still have it."