Black phosphorus (BP) stands out among two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors because of its high mobility and thickness dependent direct band gap. However, the quasiparticle band structure of ultrathin BP has remained inaccessible to experiment thus far. Here we use a recently developed laser-based microfocus angle resolved photoemission (μ-ARPES) system to establish the electronic structure of 2–9 layer BP from experiment. Our measurements unveil ladders of anisotropic, quantized subbands at energies that deviate from the scaling observed in conventional semiconductor quantum wells. We quantify the anisotropy of the effective masses and determine universal tight-binding parameters, which provide an accurate description of the electronic structure for all thicknesses.