His
flow is undeniable. His lyrical stories contain the depth of a
James Baldwin novel. His sly humor is as biting as a Chris Rock
stand-up routine. His insight is as dead-on as that of a college
professor. That’s right, Guerilla Black has it all on the
microphone.
After
heating up the streets of Southern California with his “Hood
Affiliated Mixtape Vol. 1,” the Los Angeles rapper has set
out to make one of the most mind-blowing debut albums that hip-hop
has ever seen.
Producers
such as Jazze Pha (Big Tymers, Aaliyah, Nappy Roots, T.I., Bow
Wow, Trick Daddy), Carlos Brody (The Notorious B.I.G., Lil’
Kim, Nas) and Mario Winans (R. Kelly, P. Diddy, 3LW, Mr. Cheeks)
are among the producers already enlisted to make Guerilla Black’s
debut album a landmark release.
One
song sure to garner Black plenty of attention is “Guerilla
Nasty,” a driving Jazze Pha-produced cut that showcases
Black’s verbal gymnastics and has the type of irresistible
beat that other rappers will use on their mixtapes. Black’s
pounding, braggadocio heater “Uh Oh” has already earned
spots on the radio, while the funk-drenched “Land Of The
Lost” is heating up the underground circuit. The success
of “Guerilla Nasty,” “Uh Oh” and “Land
Of The Lost” are setting the stage for Black’s debut
album, which will arrive after the Los Angeles-based artist has
conquered the mix tape world.
“The
industry just isn’t the same,” Black explains. “A
lot of cats, they’ll throw an album out there and cats don’t
really think that you’ve got an album. My thing is to give
people 50 mix tape joints so that when I do come with my album
the fans will feel me on a much bigger level. It’ll be like
I’ve done one album but I’ve got three albums worth
of material out there.”
Fortunately
for Black and his fans, Black has a wealth of material to draw
from. Born in Chicago, his family moved to Mississippi before
he hit puberty. After one of his uncles boasted of the promise
waiting in the West, Black’s mother moved the family to
California. They settled in a Long Beach shelter before making
a home in Compton.
Black’s
brother, who had already been writing raps, urged his younger
sibling to do the same. It lit a spark. “I just started
rhyming here and there, keeping a bar here, two bars there,”
Black says. “Before I knew it, I just had raps. I just started
logging them in my brain on a daily basis.”
Black
eventually got a record deal but was so distraught with the way
it unfolded that he temporarily gave up his rap dreams. “It
was a hard thing for me to do, turn my back on something that
I really, really love,” he says. “I love rap. I love
to hear someone spit verses.”
Black
returned to the streets and lost his young bride to meningitis
all in the same stretch. Despite these devastating events, Black’s
brother was again about to change his life. Black’s brother
had kept rhyming and encouraged Black to do the same. On his birthday,
Black’s brother invited Black to the studio. The results
were astounding. “They pulled up a track and I ran through
it,” Black says. “There was only three of us in there,
but the other guy must have run out and told everybody what I
was doing. Then, it seemed like there was 30 cats up in the spot
by the time I hit the second song.”
Word quickly spread to Virgin Records Vice President of A&R
Pete Farmer, who signed Black to a deal at Virgin Records. But
rather than just rhyme about trendy topics, Black chose to revisit
some of the most fulfilling and the most heartbreaking parts of
his life in his rhymes after watching his wife die in UCLA Harbor
Hospital.
“Everything
after then I started rhyming was about my life. I had watched
all these people die since I had gotten here and you can love
all those cats in the streets, but it’s nothing like your
wife or someone you cherish and loves you unconditionally. When
I lost her, that messed me up for real.”
After
this tragedy, Black channeled all of his energy into to his lyrics,
which are among the sharpest, most spectacular rap has ever experienced.
Get ready. He’s coming.
Source
WUSL-Power99 - Fuente WUSL-Power99