“He look like Big, he sound like Big. Yo, I’m B-L-A-C-K, nigga ya dig?”  It is no secret that Compton’s newest sensation, Guerilla Black, is the closest thing to the Notorious B.I.G. reincarnated.  Guerilla Black utilizes Biggie’s flow, voice and wordplay perfectly.  Black even pronounces and stresses words in the same manner that the late great Christopher Wallace did.  These are the comparisons that Guerilla Black will be forced to live with the rest of his career, no matter his success.  However, a good way for Black to silence all the critics is to succeed with his debut album Guerilla City.  Unfortunately, those critics may not go away, as Black fails to deliver an original and creative album.

     The main problem plaguing Guerilla City is the album’s contrived commercial attempts.  Guerilla Black tries hard to duplicate the usual mold of hot club bangers and radio friendly singles, but fails to posses the creative flare needed.  The Rodney Jerkins and Rick Rude produced “Trixx”, is a lame stripper anthem that suffers from watered down lyrics and a lame hook.  Jazze Pha’s repetitive and simplistic keyboard beats on “Guerilla Nasty” and “Girlfriend” are prime examples of forced radio efforts that fail to blend with Guerilla Black’s husky delivery.  “You’re The One” takes a page out of the Bad Boy’s formula for making hits, as Mario Winans provides a perfect hook and beat.  However, Guerilla Black continually sounds uncomfortable and misplaced over his commercial attempts.  Lyrically, Black tends to dumb down his lyrics as well, which is never more evident than on the aforementioned track.  “Late night eating Haagen-Dazs, watching Un-Cut, and me sitting there playing with your butt.”  

      While Guerilla Black never finds his feet on his radio friendly attempts, Black does slightly redeem himself with his hardcore street anthems.  The Carlos Broady produced “Hearts Of Fire” ironically utilizes the same Bob Marley sample as Shyne did on “Quasi O.G.”, but remains impressive nonetheless.  The track is one of Black’s better lyrical performances, as he delves into the difficulties of the Hip Hop industry.  To no one’s surprise, Guerilla Black’s finest efforts on his debut album are the ones that mirror Big’s sound the best.  The title track “Guerilla City” sounds like a vintage East Coast track, as Red Spyda laces Black with one of his best beats in recent memory.  Similarly, Fredwreck does the same on “What We Gonna Do, the album’s best track.  While Fredwreck has always been the West Coast’s most underrated producer, he proves his worth with his haunting production.  With Nate Dogg doing his usual work on the hook, Guerilla Black’s Biggie influenced rhyme style comes through full effect with his cadence on lines like, “I’m just gonna play my position, like a gen-er-al, and do dirt down to the min-er-al”.  

      Even though Guerilla Black shows flashes of greatness, his debut release suffers from formulaic radio attempts, weak hooks, and watered down lyrics.  While Guerilla Black goes hard on a couple of tracks, for the most part he concerns himself with producing that one big hit he needs to boost his career.  In the end, Guerilla Black may sound like Big, but he certainly does not know how to make an album like him.