Angelous
By far the most Jay-Z sounding rapper of any of the Jay-Z sounding rappers. Not only did Angelous rhyme similar to Jay-Z, but his voice was eerily similar to Shawn Carter. In fact, back in the day, many thought that Angelous was just some invented moniker online and was actually Jay-Z. Angelous did mention that in past that after fans were comparing him to Jay-Z, that he purposely added Jay-Z sounding ad-libs in his rhymes and specifically made songs to sound like him. After a while though, Angelous got so frustrated that people couldn’t differentiate him from Jay-Z, and the only thing they remembered about him was that he sounded like Jay-Z. Some mixtape DJs have mashed up tracks by the two, as the two never did record together. Go and listen to some of them and see if you can tell who is Jay-Z and who is Angelous.
Sacario
For the old heads out there, you may remember Sacario from his feature on Hot97 radio personality Angie Martinez’s 2002 album. Yup, that album is almost 20 years old, so if you remember it, you are an old head. After that feature, Sacario did sign his own record deal with Elekktra Records and recorded a few solo songs for his debut album. Sacario sounded so similar to Jay-Z that in fact, some of those solo songs ended up on p2p networks like Kazaa and Moprheus listed as Jay-Z songs. Even though Sacario never did get a record released, he does set himself apart from everyone else on this list by having a very successful career producing, creating films and ghostwriting for big name artists.
R.O.C.
So So Def Record’s version of Jay-Z. You may not know this, but the New Jersey rapper was even credited with ghost writing some of the 1998 hit “Money Ain’t A Thang”. Of all the artists on So So Def Records, R.O.C. was by far the most talented rapper. R.O.C. was the most talented rapper by a mile. He spent years on the label ghostwriting for Jermaine Dupri and showed up on many of the So So Def remixes between 1997 and 2003. R.O.C. did record a full album in 2000 and Kanye West produced the first single that was never officially released.
Bathgate
Here is an interesting one: Brooklyn rapper Bathgate was supposed to release a debut album in September of 2001. A single titled “Bump That” was released with an accompanying video, but the album was never released. To the few that actually heard the unreleased album titled, “Dear Rich America: My Story To You”, have said that the album sounded very similar to Jay-Z’s “Blueprint” album released in the same month. The truth is, Bathgate was able to secure beats from both Just Blaze and Kanye West during the same time they were also producing for “The Blueprint”.
NOE
The Dipset/Brydgang version of Jay-Z. The interesting thing about NOE was that early in his career, record labels were rejecting him because he sounded so much like Jay-Z. They felt a new young artist that sounded similar to Jay-Z wouldn’t interest anybody. Why listen to someone who sounds like Jay-Z when you can just listen to Jay-Z? It took a few years to get his foot in the door, but once NOE linked up with Jim Jones and Brydgang, the young Maryland rapper received nothing but praise from people that heard him rap.
Grafh
Another Jay-Z sound-alike that surprisingly didn’t get a solo album released either. For those of you who don’t remember Grafh was, Grafh was a Queens mixtape rapper who made ALOT of noise during the mid-2k days. In 2004-2005, Grafh was one of the most popular and hyped new rappers out there. Grafh did finish an album titled “Autografh” in 2007, but that never was released. Grafh collaborated with the biggest producers and rappers of the time, so go around and look for some of his old material, it’s actually still pretty dope.
HD
Here is another Brooklyn rapper for you that sounds like Jay-Z. If you were to rank every rapper on this list as to who sounds like him the most, HD definitely falls in the top three. If you have never heard of him, go on YouTube and listen to some of his tracks/freestyles. As soon as HD’s tracks start, you can hear just to how close he sounds to Jay-Z just from his talking and ab-libs.
Esoteric
The white version of Jay-Z who hails from Boston. Maybe not so much in flow, but listen to some of Esoteric’s verses and you can definitely hear a guy who sounds very much like the GOD-MC. Esoteric has been around rapping underground since the early 1990s. And still today, almost twenty years since the start of his rapping career, Esoteric is still at it at the age of 48.
Foxy Brown
If there is any female out there that sounds like Jay-Z, it is definitely Foxy Brown. In fact, Jay-Z did help Foxy Brown on some of her very early songs when she was just 16 years old. When Foxy Brown popped up on Jay-Z’s “Aint No….”, Foxy wasn’t even old enough to drive. If you listen to “I’ll Be” from 1997, you can hear definitely hear Jiggaman’s influence in her bars. In fact, if you glance at the credits from her first two albums, “Ill Na Na” and “Chynadoll” Jay-Z is credited on a lot of tracks.
Amil
When it came down to choosing the last person on the list, it came down to Amil or Fabolous. After much debate, we picked Amil in the last spot of rappers that sound like Jay-Z. And the reason we picked Amil ahead of Fabolous or anyone else, was because Jay-Z himself and the Rocafella Records staff groomed her and wanted her to become the female version of Jay-Z. Their goal was to have Amil be the most popular female rapper in the game and the second most popular artist on the label behind Jay-Z. They set her up with Jay-Z guest appearances, Beyonce guest appearances, had Jay-Z ghostwrite for her, had Rockwilder and Just Blaze produce her songs, the label did everything they could to make her as big as a possible. Those were the expectations that were made for her. In the end, Amil was said to have a poor attitude, a poor work ethic, would waste studio time and really did not have the ambition that the other Rocafella artists had.
Picasso Baby 