For Z-Ro, who first appeared in the corners of DJ Screw's chain of drizzling, endless mid-1990s classics (most of which are now conveniently repackaged and available at your nearest Best Buy-- start with the 3xCD June 27), and has released five albums already on Rap-A-Lot, the whole world is starting to sound like it's closing up shop. Case in point is Z-Ro's sixth on Rap-A-Lot, Crack, which is drab, shabby and more than a little lonely ("I smoke purple stuff alone in my room"). It can't make its terrain of solipsistic gangsters and Houston beltway-sulk hum with emotion or its layers of horns and hi-hats shake with any color.
Z-Ro produces eight of the album's 15 tracks, and leans on heaps of previous compositions. The raided discs include the last two Trae albums and Trae and Z-Ro's two collaborations, 2003's A.B.N (Assholes by Nature) and this summer's downpour of noir, It Is What It Is. The samples are all tamped down and strip-mined in their reincarnations on Crack. "Here We Go" features an inexplicable pan flute and a lifeless snare. The would-be ladies-jam "Baby Girl" reeks with clumps of digital sparkle and hubby-talk: "She follow my lead/ And respect the fact that I wear the pants."
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But for all his confession Z-Ro brushes his breakthroughs aside. As soon has he resonates with real sentiment-- on divorce: "I don't give a fuck as long as my child knows me"-- the album swoops back into dropsied howls about those suspicious club hos and these disrespectful young corner boys. Where, say, Scarface, may hold a mournful note for an extra beat, Z-Ro instantly flips into a stream of pithy taunts and complaints. The effect is dulling, frustrating, and more than a little repulsive.
Z-Ro will release Meth, the fourth album in his four-years-running hard drugs series (following Crack, Cocaine and Heroin) on September 20th. Two of its tracks, scrubbed of curses, were released over the weekend. On "Never Had Love," Ro sings from the back of his throat on a chunky guitar beat. For a bridge, he twists the Diana Ross-sampling "Mo Money Mo Problems" chorus, saying, Y'all already know what they want from me simply to see me b-r-o-k-e and d-e-a-d. He's not calling-a-girl-from-the-club lonely, or worried-we-won't-stay-friends anguished. He's knocked down much deeper, and trilling about it plain: Feelin like the world don't need me homie/ Seem like my none of my daughters hardly see me homie. In type, Ro's aim is blunt, but better to click play and bear full witness to the truth in his timbre. Bonus goodie "Southern Girls" is on the other end of the emotional spectrum, where everything in the kitchen tastes great.
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Z-Ro is well-known for his introverted, sometimes gloomy persona (he has been open both in song and in interviews about his periodic bouts with depression), and his ability to shift seamlessly between rapping and singing, often in a single line. Above all, he is known for his unbelievably prolific output: in the two decades following his 1998 debut, Look What You Did To Me, he released twenty-one official solo albums, seven more albums as part of groups like Guerilla Maab and ABN (Assholes by Nature), a dozen mixtapes, and still found the time to drop guest verses or sing hooks on well over a hundred tracks by other artists, including Southern luminaries like Rick Ross, Scarface, Bun B, and Slim Thug.
Since then, Z-Ro has grown into a Houston-area legend, a true institution who seems content to count his stacks, drop a new album every single year, and pop up whenever an old friend like Scarface needs a hook delivered with a particular bluesy menace:
Crack is the twelfth solo studio album by American rapper Z-Ro. It was released on September 16, 2008 via Rap-A-Lot Records, Warner Bros. Records and Asylum Records. Production was handled by Mr. Lee, Bigg Tyme, J. Moses, Cory Mo and Z-Ro himself. It features guest appearances from Lil' Keke, Mike D, Trae, Paul Wall and Slim Thug. The album chronicles the life story side of Z-Ro, like most of his albums. He stated that the streets would be hooked to the name of it. The chopped and screwed version of the album was done by Michael "5000" Watts and released on October 28, 2008. 2ff7e9595c
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