Merda was recorded but was not released until 2005, under the title Mary Don't Take Me on No Bad Trip from the TuffCity/Funky Delicacies record label. Fugi also introduced the band to Marshall Chess, who was interested in working with rock and experimental acts. Marshall signed Black Merda on Fugi's recommendation alone. Black Merda’s debut album was released in 1970, and the band briefly became known as leaders among the burgeoning black rock and heavy funk scene that also included up-and-comers Funkadelic and The Bar-Kays. The album suffered from a lack of promotion due to management changes at Chess Records. Disillusioned, the band moved to California to back Fugi once more, as well as Eric Burdon and War. The band later returned to Detroit, but without Tyrone Hite, who decided to stay in California. Black Merda began work on their second album without an official drummer, with session drummer Bob Crowder being hired just before recording. The album Long Burn the Fire was released in 1972 by Chess subsidiary Janus Records, with only Veasey and the Hawkins brothers pictured on the sleeve. The band's name was changed to Mer-Da on the front cover of the album in an attempt at greater accessibility. The second album also suffered from poor promotion, and the band members later broke up and returned to more orthodox session work in soul and R&B. Reunion 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