Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo are two former G-Unit members who, in the 2000s, as part of the New York collective, topped the charts regularly. With hits such as ‘Stunt 101’ and ‘Wanna Get to Know You’, the crew, led by 50 Cent, were a formidable force.
Unfortunately, by the mid-2000s, as 50 Cent began to transition into media and movie-making, the collective slowly dissipated. However, the rest of the members still remained close, and Tony Yayo continued his great friendship with Lloyd Banks.
Banks definitely had a smash hit with ‘Beamer, Benz or Bentley?’ in 2010 and has had a fairly successful solo career independent from G-unit. However, it has been many years since he has been a relevant figure in hip-hop.
Regardless of his relevancy, in an interview with DJ Vlad for Vlad TV, Tony Yayo (real name Marvin Bernard) spoke about Banks and how he believes that he is a hybrid of the legendary MCs 2Pac and Biggie Smalls.
Yayo explained that it has to do with Banks’ attitudes towards the music industry, disclosing, “Banks is a show-and-prove type of guy. He’s like anti-industry. That’s just who he is, but when it comes to material, I go to the studio, he’ll play me 100 records. It’s like his bars is something like Biggie, but he write like a 2Pac.”
2Pac was known for his anti-establishment rhymes that reflected his upbringing as the son of an active Black Panther Party member. Biggie also had an anti-music industry streak in him by defying the male beauty standards of the 1990s and becoming an unexpected sex icon.
In other Tony Yayo news, earlier this year, he released his 12-song LP The Loyal, which featured appearances from the likes of Nems, TyDaG, Pressa, and fellow G-Unit crewmate Lloyd Banks.
Yayo took to Instagram to thank his fans who had been waiting three years for the project, declaring, “Thank you to everyone who has supported throughout this journey and all of the people who made this possible.”
