Guess Who (rapper)

Laurenţiu Mocanu (born August 24, 1984),

better known by his stage name Guess
Who is a Romanian rapper. He began his
career as a member of the rap group
Anonim along with group members Zekko
and Griffo, and later launched a
successful solo career in music. He is one
of the most successful artists from the
new wave of Romanian hip hop and has
gained considerable appreciation and
mainstream attention in his native
Romania following the release of his first
solo album in 2009 called Probe Audio
(Sound Checks). Guess Who gained
popularity as a solo artist in 2007 when
he leaked three tracks he had recorded
for his solo album on the Internet. The
feedback was overwhelmingly positive and
his cynical and ironic approach to writing
quickly earned him a large fanbase. Even
though he repeatedly delayed for over
two years releasing his first album, the
Romanian audience received it well and he
even gained attention from high level
Romanian music executives when his video
for the first single Tu (You) was aired on
the Romanian music channel 1Music.
His first album, Probe Audio was released
and sold independently from his official
website under the Okapi Sound umbrella,
a collective of Romanian hip hop artists
who had been working together producing
music since 2007. Only promoted on the
Internet, the album moved an impressive
number of units, drawing attention from
large Romanian labels. He eventually
signed a contract with Cat Music to re-
relase his album with the sports
newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor (literally
 'The Sports Newspaper' in Romanian)
together with labelmate and music
partner Spike, who released his
sophomore effort in 2009.

Guess Who was born Laurentiu Mocanu in

Bucharest, Romania in 1984. As a child, he
enjoyed sports and even played soccer
for the Bucharest-based club Steaua.[1]
Even from that early age he became
interested in hip hop music and eventually
started performing with his friends
creating the hip hop group Anonim in
1999. They caught the attention of
Romanian hip hop group Paraziţii after
they entered a contest organized by 20
CM Records where they recorded a demo
song over an instrumental produced by
Cheloo for Paraziţii and released on one
of the group's albums as a track called
'Actiunea Instrumentalul' (The
Instrumental Operation). They eventually
signed a contract with 20 CM Records
and released their debut album in 2005.
As Paraziţii are one of the most
proeminent hip hop acts in Romania,
Anonim were heavily promoted and toured
extensively to promote their album. The
group went quiet in late 2006 and Guess
Who resurfaced alone in 2007 on
Paraziţii member Ombladon's solo album
singing the chorus in the lead single,
'Noapte Buna, Bucuresti' (Good Night,
Bucharest). Shortly afterwards, Mocanu
left 20 CM Records and started working
with Agresiv, a team of producers who
were already gaining notoriety for their
work with various Romanian artists.