If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then perhaps Guerilla Black’s flow would have made the late Notorious B.I.G. blush. From his onset in 2004, fans couldn’t help but compare the rapper’s vocal tone (and overall look) to Biggie.
And during the Verzuz battle between Beenie Man and Bounty Killer on Saturday (May 23), even Nas was momentarily fooled.
After a brief set up, Beenie dropped his 2004 collaboration with the rapper, “Compton.” Nas immediately lit up in the comments, writing, “BK … Biggie RIP” with a bevy of exclamation points.
Moments later, he realized the blunder and hilariously wrote, “Oh shit, that ain’t BIG.”
Guerilla City, Guerilla Black’s major-label debut via Virgin Records, peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 200 and has sold roughly 200,000 copies to date. However, after a lukewarm response to the overall quality of the album’s subsequent singles, he was dropped from Virgin.
Fellow Compton rapper The Game mercilessly took a shot at Black on the title track of his 2005 multi-platinum debut The Documentary, rapping, “I take all the credit for puttin’ the West back on the map/If you ain’t feelin’ that, guess I’m Guerilla Black.”
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Black attempted to claw at relevance with a new flow on his independently released 2008 mixtape The Black Tapes Vol. 1 but the jig was up in 2013 when he and four others were arrested in 2013 for a credit card fraud scheme that swindled over 27,000 credit card numbers from a group of Seattle businesses.
After pleading guilty to fraud and theft charges, Black was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
Upon his release sometime in 2022, he will be placed under five years of supervision.
Revisit the Beenie Man-featured “Compton” below.
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He couldn’t make songs, and sounding exactly like B.I.G. was the kiss of death. It was like listening to B.I.G. with none of his personality on the mike.
Really? I thought he sounded dope, and his album was enjoyable.
No, didn’t like it. Sounded like a watered down version of B.I.G.
Yeah he sounded like biggie but the album wasn’t the worst … there’s a couple songs that could be on the hype playlist … what we gonna do feat Nate dogg … that shit is fire … the beat alone … and you can never go with Nate Dogg on the hook
It was a gem, no arguments. Maybe if that were the second single instead of “You’re The One” with Mario Winans, he’d be remembered more fondly.
I always heard of cuz but never heard a single verse from him until just now. Yoooo… He DOES sound like BIG.
Wow, so he committed hip-hop fraud and literally got time for fraud later on. He wasn’t like Shyne, who just had a similar voice but didn’t rap nothing like Big. He was a full impersonator. He lived in Mississippi before he moved to Compton and had independent projects rapping and sounding exactly like Mystikal but I guess that one didn’t work for him.
Bite Biggie’s whole voice and flow and then get locked up on some unrelated shit. He followed in Shyne’s footsteps for REAL!
I remember first hearing “You’re the One” back in 04, and thought it was one of those posthumous Biggie songs. And having Mario Winans with that Bad Boy R&B sound made it sound more like one.
I really liked Guerilla Blacks sound honestly. It was like a west coast biggie, but to me, he sounded different, and not an imitation, like Kasinova Tha Don does to Tupac. I’d like more Guerilla Black music when he’s out of jail finally.
Let’s not act like this guy was the first or last bitin MC though. Ever heard of Tha Realest? Ali Vegas comes to find. And he was nice, but he couldn’t decide if he wanted to be Nas or Jay-Z and he never found his own style. Action Bronson. He can’t just sound like Ghost THAT much by happenstance. Dana Dane was a Slick Rick biter. He gets a slight pass because he was in a group with him, but still, he bit his British accent and everything. Fat Joe. He’s tried to sound like mad different rappers in his career. Remember Bathgate, or Los. Both basically Jay-Z impersonators. And there’s about a thousand fake Lil’ Waynes.
Angelous sounded exactly like Jay too
Remember Sacario back in 2002? Thought that was Jay too.
Kendrick sounded just like Wayne for a minute
And don’t leave out that Jay worked hard to emulate Big L and Biggie, to create his own version. If neither of them died, Jay likely wouldn’t have gone too far.
Don’t forget Jay was basically Jaz-O 2.0
The dude Angelous sounded just like Jay. Even bit one of his songs. There is also a Drake impersonator I heard a few years ago. It’s a niche in the rap game.
Tha Realest might have made it except he took that I wanna be Pac shit to the extreme, even taking on his beefs and beefing with his other rap successors like Ja Rule and Master P for no reason. It just got weird. But first time I heard him on the Gang Related soundtrack, he sounded similar but had his own thing and a different name. Then he came back later on this I’m 2Pac reincarnated shit, and it just was sad to watch because dude did seem to have talent.
When it comes to impostors nothing beats that Death Row Chronic 2000 lol you had Tha Realest (2Pac), Top Dogg (Snoop Doggy Dogg), VK (The Lady of Rage) and Milkbone (Eminem). Also: Action Bronson, Your Old Droog, I get it you can have a similar voice but they stole the flows and everything. Fuck that. Guerilla Black is not the worst when you look at this list. He had some nice songs
Miilkbone didn’t sound nothing like Em. Actually, dude was on the scene years before him.
He actually did sound exactly like Eminem in the song Presenting Milkbone on that album with the rhyme scheme and the syllable accenting pretending to be Marshall.
You need to get your ears checked bruh. The only similarity between them is the obvious one.
Lol, broke ass Nas was broke ass ears if he thought that poor man’s Biggie was the real thing. That’s disrespect to the black Frank White. A real hip hop head like myself would’ve known from the start. And don’t let this distract you from the fact that Biggie himself said that King HOV was better than him. It’s the ROC in here!
Look at these hatin ass niggas. You call Nas broke this dude has investments that the next generation of 1000 people in your bloodline won’t come near by… We don’t care what Biggie thought of course he will big up a brooklyn cat… Illmatic > Ready To Die. Fake ass Biggie threw subliminals to Pac he knew he wasn’t about that life and couldn’t fuck with him. Get yo ass outta here Brooklyn fool.
Dayum lowkey this was a diss. This dude is such an Biggie imposer Nas thought he was Biggie for a moment. This shit is hilarious!!
I believe Nas should be cancelled for this.
Cancelled ,u should be the one to be cancelled
Lmaooo that nigga Nas be smacked off the henny
Back when Guerilla Black was hot I remember someone played me some of his stuff from before he was signed and he sounded more like Mystikal. Just spent the past 20 minutes trying to find it and I guess it’s been scrubbed from the internet or just lost by the fact that people lost interest, but the album was called Ya Neva Seen it Com’n and he called himself Big Cizzle at the time, I was able to ascertain that much.
Look on U-tube for CIZZLE – Wearing No Draws
What about G0rilla Zoe ? wasn’t he the dude who sounded like biggie? i’m confused!
No, it’s this guy, Guerilla Black. Zoe was in Boyz in the Hood and from the South. I mean just hit the play button here, and you’ll see how much alike he sounds. Of all of the guys who sounded like somebody, he about hit the nail on the head best.
Guerilla black was dope. Miilkbone was just as good as the old Eminem. Mad slept on. Guerilla deserves another chance too.
Nas still the GOAT