Desiigner and Future
New York rapper Desiigner has achieved massive success with his first official single, Panda, which is enjoying heavy airplay as well as racking up a lot of streams and views on the Internet. Despite the overwhelming level of success he has received for the single the rapper has been accused of copying Atlanta rapper Future’s style. Anyone who has listened to Future before can immediately recognize the similarity. When I first heard the track I thought it was Future. This has sparked a lot of conversation on rappers biting other rappers’ styles. Below are other rappers whose flows sound too alike.
Guerilla Black and the Notorious B.I.G.
Guerilla Black sounds very much like the late Notorious B.I.G. His look, flow and voice match Biggie’s so much that when he first came out some conspiracy theorists thought Biggie has come out of hiding, i.e. he did not really die. Black himself is aware of his similarity with Biggie. His first mixtape released bears the title N.O.T.O.R.I.O.U.S. B.L.A.C.K.
Cormega and Nas
Cormega and Nas bear similarities in their flow and lyrical style. That is one of the things that sparked the beef between the two Queens emcees. Who copied who is unknown. This is hip hop and people have pride so the chances of the truth coming out are slim. At this stage I don’t think anyone really cares though. After you listen to Cormega for a while you come to realize that he is his own unique emcee with a mean pen game. The similarities are mostly at surface level.
Loon and Mase
The funny thing about these two emcees is that they were both on Puffy’s Bad Boy label. They both have a laid back, almost nonchalant flow. Mase had hit after hit early in his career and established himself as a witty, laid back emcee that’s easy to listen to. Loon’s career never really took off unfortunately. he eventually left bad Boy and joined Islam. If the two were to go back and forth on a track you’d probably end up getting confused about who’s got the mic.
Ja Rule and DMX
A lot of Ja Rule and DMX’s early work sounded way too similar. Both have deep, husky voices and came with the hard street rap early on, though DMX contained more conscious lyrics. Both rappers gained their fame more or less within the same time frame so there was confusion as to who was who in their early careers. Not surprisingly the two rappers had a beef which didn’t go too far. The beef was partly fueled by the fact that X felt that Ja Rule was jocking his style. Nower days it’s pretty easy to tell who is who. After all their subject matter is different and Ja Rule got into music that’s more commercial and pop oriented. Both rappers had great careers and achieved great financial, critical and chart success.
Action Bronson and Ghostface Killah
Ghostface was initially flattered by Action Bronson biting his style but eventually that turned into annoyance. Annoyance turned into beef. You know that the similarity is too much when the originator of the style is confused about whether he’s hearing himself rapping on a track or someone else; something Ghostface admitted to. He said he heard an Action Bronson song and for a second thought it was himself but he could not remember when he had written the verse Action was spitting.
Shyne and Biggie
Belizean rapper Shyne was signed to Puff Daddy’s label, Bad Boy Records, which happens to be the same label that one of hip hop’s greats, The Notorious B.I.G. was also signed to. Although they were there in different times you can clearly hear many similarities in the vocal delivery and flow of the two emcees. Shyne is a sick rapper in his own right, but the question is did Puffy sign him on purpose so as to make money off the similarity with Biggie; sort of like a continuation of the work the rapper began? Who knows. Shyne’s career was cut short due to a jail term. He still makes music and has featured on several projects in recent years including making two appearances on Matisyahu’s fourth studio album Spark Seeker as well as featuring on the Red Café song Ridin Round.
