Rapper-Skateboarder Mercury Takes Us on a Tour of Atlanta’s Local Skateparks

Spotify celebrated Go Skate Day on June 21 at Underground Atlanta. The Skate Noise Junk Park event invited creatives from the local area and beyond to enjoy the city’s thriving skate community while spotlighting “Skate Noise Atlanta,” an electric, summer-ready playlist curated by skate collective EC Melodi. Rapper, DJ and skateboarder Mercury appeared as one of the event’s performers. Paying homage to the spots that had a formative impact on her youth and introduction to the music scene, Mercury reconnected with Hypebeast to spotlight some of her favorite skateparks in Atlanta.

Born Kennedy Malone, Mercury moved from Memphis, Tennessee, to Atlanta, Georgia, at nine. In high school, she started experimenting with music and picked up her first skateboard after a friend introduced her to the basics. Atlanta showed her thriving, diverse representations of Black creatives and young professionals leaving their mark on the culture. Connecting with other aspiring musicians online, she began to publish her beats on SoundCloud, starting with the rowdy track “Slob on My Kat,” released in 2020.

In many ways, making music is like skating. Some tricks simply don’t land, but there’s an addictive quality to fine-tuning your flow until something does. Mercury’s music reflects this process in real-time, from her evolving Memphis influences to the experimental, acid-washed fuzz of Merctape and Tabula Rasa. Art and music intertwine with skating, allowing her ideas to roam freely as she absorbs and processes the world around her.

Mercury first brings Hypebeast to the Historic Fourth Ward Skatepark, one of the first parks where she learned the 101s of skate culture and began connecting with other girls who skate in the local area. Atlanta’s skate community had a key part in designing the multi-use athletic field and skate park, located near the Atlanta Beltline, boasting myriad outdoor amenities for practicing enthusiasts, health nuts and a robust playground experience for kids. Next up is Little Five Points, a bohemian, eclectic area known for quaint vintage shops, eateries, independent bookstores and local pubs lining the main strip. Lil’ Five, as the locals call it, is also where kindred spirits meet to skate, talk shop and enjoy the city’s creative pulse.

Taking a break from the concrete, Mercury returns to Edgewood’s Church, a campy bar and restaurant she frequents often with friends. Its familiar charm and cramped red booths bring her back to the communities that first introduced her to Atlanta’s counterculture and friends of friends who championed her artistic vision and desire to explore music. Orbiting these spaces, Mercury found the inspiration to make beats, experiment with her fashion and start honing her lyricism. Coming of age in Atlanta gave her a unique perspective and showed her authentic representation in creative spaces. This same sense of freedom motivates her to push the bounds of her artistry, whether on the mic, the mixer or concrete.

See Mercury’s local recommendations in the video above. For a dose of energy this summer, check out Spotify’s “Skate Noise Atlanta” playlist.