In the beginning there was zero. The foundation began out of a righteous need to educate the masses, uplift the people through sound and beats while providing the ultimate soundtrack of urban struggle. Never denying the ills of our community, Hip Hop has remained a major determinant in the success of all who love it. Some would even call the incessant love hate relationship embedded in the genre an addiction.
When the crack epidemic hit the streets in the 80's there was an undeniable contribution to its glamorization in the media through songs and avenues meant for those who understood the impact, those who profited off of the impact and those supplying the product. Like Hip Hop, crack changed the rules in the middle of the game.
While we here at Streetcred.com don't promote the use of illegal substances of any kind, there's a distinct correlation between addiction and Hip Hop. The sticky rapid fire grit from Biggie, the militant truths of Tupac, the hustle that is slapping b*tches and peeling paper served up by Pimp C, we're addicted and loving every minute of it.
Houston artist Z-RO has taken this concept and flipped it into the ultimate marketing tool. With his latest album "Crack" dropping on Rap-A-Lot records September 23, 2008, Z-RO has pissed off Wal-Mart and the big names with album imagery depicting a man smoking a crack pipe while Z-RO is characterized through the smoke. No sweat to this Houston rottweiler, the fiends are still knocking on his door. As Mr. West would say, "put this CD on your tongue, yeah that's pure man."
In this interview the Houston native takes Streetcred writer Maxine on a journey through his hood and talks about why Mike Jones is a poodle, Barack Obama, selling "Crack", Rick Ross, his favorite rapper and more.
Z-Ro on Mike Jones:
"Don't nobody f*ck with Mike Jones in Houston...Mike Jones, he got to be the poodle right now...Mike Jones wear a wife beater all the time...he ain't got a motherf*cking muscle under that shirt."
---
Maxine Ross: So you know they aren't trying to sell your record in Wal-mart right?
Z-RO: Yeah, well we actually changed the album cover so that it would sell in places like Wal-Mart. They changed it from the image of the crack pipe to a picture with the image of a mirror that's cracked.
MR: Do you feel like you had to compromise your concept for major retailers?
Z-RO: They still get the point it's just on the interior rather than the exterior. I had to make that change so that people even have access to the record and the record sales and everything.
MR: Compromising artistic integrity is something many rappers have had to deal with lately, particularly Nas and his recent album and you with your latest release. What does artistic integrity mean to you?
Z-RO: It means to me, everything. You gotta have that. Freedom is already limited as it is so you gotta have that.
MR: What do you mean by that?
Z-RO: I'm saying like, let's discuss the album cover. My freedom was to put the crack pipe up there. I KNOW it's there with the subliminal message but due to the Wal-Marts, Blockbusters, crying saying they want to sell the product but they draw the line if something is too edgy. Some of our freedom was taken. I wanted to use the crack cover.
MR: Do you feel like the people you are making your music for understand the image and what you were going for?
Z-RO: They are going to appreciate it more than regular music and other music consumers.
MR: How do you still represent Hip Hop while those making the decisions don't understand the work?
Z-RO: The work speaks for itself; I mean you gotta a very very very valuable promotion tool. You gotta have the strong marketing package. Even if the cover was black, the album was still gon crack whether I call it weed or what; it's still going to have that crack. My personal opinion and Rap-A-Lot's personal opinion, you get a taste of the album and that first hit, it's like crack. You get your first hit then you coming back tomorrow it's goin down again. They get a taste of the album and it's like real crack.
MR: Tell me who's on the album. Any guest appearances?
Z-RO: Production wise on the album we have Mr. Lee of course, Big John doing a lot of the production on there. A couple tracks from Tone Capone. I think I did maybe 3 records on there also.
MR: What's different about this album?
Z-RO: All of my previous records are dark and foreboding because that was the situation and the position I was in at the time I packaged the record. Now? It ain't too dark right now!
MR: Sometimes life imitates art right? There's been so much talk around Rick Ross and music credibility. How important is credibility to you?
Z-RO: It's the most important thing because that's all I got when you really look at it. All of us, real talk, that's all we got is our own story. If you not going to tell your own story correctly, who is? I don't want motherf*ckers walking around when I'm long gone having the wrong perception of Z-RO.
MR: What do you want the perception to be? Who do you represent?
Z-RO: I represent the underdog just like my man Pimp C used to say…the ones doing it better than everybody else and getting paid less than all the other people. See where I'm coming from? The underdog got to have a leader. Like New Orleans, they got Baby and they got Wayne. You got n*ggas that rap that'll knock your ass out, n*ggas that rap that'll shoot that thang on you. We gotta tell our story correctly.
MR: Are you saying Rick Ross isn't telling his story correctly?
Z-RO: I look at it like this, we listen to Rick Ross, we listen to the glamour, we listen to all the fancy things that's going on, Rick Ross is doing it. We love when Rick Ross does his thing. Whether it's all bogus or whether it's true, it's not on me, I'm just a fan of the music. Don't get it twisted, also for me, guys around my age bracket, we remember the REAL Rick Ross. We remember the motherf*cker that was on his money for real, us OG n*ggas, we gon identify with the OG name off top and give it a pass. The real Rick Ross.
MR: Based off the strength of what you know about him.
Z-RO: The REAL Rick Ross.
MR: Do you find any comparisons?
Z-RO: Not really. I've always done my own thing and walked my own way and done my own style of rap.
MR: Who from Houston has influenced you?
Z-RO: To tell you the truth, it's this guy, K-Rino. That's where I draw the line and my hat comes off for. Over here in the states they not on to my boy like that but when this dude opens his mouth it's like having a fly ass college professor that is rapping the lesson to you instead of talking it to you.
Not a shoot em up bang bang rapper. He's of the Nation, black unity, f*ck the cops, everybody that's on that real sh*t, he's delivering gospels. Don't anybody give this man credit so I gotta open my mouth up. Every time I hear his music I get inspired to write me another hit you know?
MR: Do you have responsibility as a rapper to be conscious about what you put out or it is like Jay said "only entertainment!"
Z-RO: You could say that to a certain extent but in reality, I got a daughter. I'm not going to expect Lil Bow Wow to raise my daughter. I'm going to expect the school she goes to and me and her mother, it's our responsibility to teach our daughter.
MR: Sometimes the music is around more than the parents.
Z-RO: I feel like, you know, the influence is there to a certain extent. If a child hears something that is simple enough and repetitious enough they'll catch on and stay in they brain and they gonna store it in the front part of their brain. If you are really raising your kids and being a parent and I don't mean just picking up your kids on the weekend...stuff like that don't hold in my household. I make sure my kids are educated and my daughter know to listen to her father and her mother and that her mother and grandmother aren't going to have her believing any and everything. With rappers, half of the responsibility lays on us but if you not raising your kids and putting something good back, it ain't doing nothing. If you ain't putting out anything good then ain't nothing coming back.
MR: Do you speak for the people in the struggle?
Z-RO: Classic struggle, I gotta do classic struggle. Any given time, you gon have money and drugs on the album, it's drawing people in. You always going to have people struggling and people who ballin. I speak the truth for the ones who are less fortunate. Even though I'm not struggling, I can speak on the struggle because I've experienced it. Keep delivering that beat cause I know you know, his job gone, they rep your sh*t that keeps them going. God gon break you down before he can use you. I got a lot of that going on with the album man.
MR: Right so the way Jeezy is trying to help cats get through the Recession, you're providing art to get people through the hard times too.
Z-RO: Like the clarity. People can listen to the song and be like, hey man; he's talking about my life. I can say that because that's my story too.
MR- So what are you listening to, what's on your iPod?
Z-RO: On my iPod right now? The whole truth, I got 7 K-Rino albums, only one Z-RO record on my iPod and that's the new one.
MR: To switch topics, what are your thoughts on the elections?
Z-RO: Man, to tell you the truth, I want Obama. Put him up there in the white house and turn it black! Real talk, we ready now, we ready for a brother up there on Capitol Hill!
MR: Are you doing anything in your community to organize people around politics or are you just supporting it in your own circle?
Z-RO: Both kind of. I still can't vote for another three and a half years.
MR: And that's because…
Z-RO: Because of…my motherf*cking jail trip! [laughs]
MR: So you are doing what you can?
Z-RO: I'm a felon. I'm trying to get the message out to motherf*ckers that do have the right to vote don't just sit there twiddling your thumbs. It's gas, it's f*cking Iran. It's hard because you gotta choose between getting this goddamn baby food or you know, getting a damn diploma. We need help on that.
MR: And you think Obama is the one?
Z-RO: I'm listening to him, just because he's black is not the reason I'm voting for him.
MR: But it helps.
Z-RO: Yeah! It's a very strong help. I've been listening to how people attack him and they know they lost already.
MR: So Obama 08.
Z-RO: Yeah! I'm for the underdog. Even though he's over us, he's still the underdog, under it all, he's still a n*gga.
MR: Tell me your favorite Hip Hop moment.
Z-RO: My favorite hip-hop moment? At the 2004 Source Awards Miami when the whole Cash Money, Rap A Lot just rushed the stage man. I really felt that because there was a lot of issues where a lot of people that was beefin with Cash Money and Rap-A Lot and we came together.
MR-: Were you at the Ozone Awards this year?
Z-RO: I was.
MR: Did you see Mike Jones get snuffed?
Z-RO: I mean, I didn't see him get snuffed but I was there. I caught the after effect. In my opinion it was uncalled for. It was not my business but it was not good for the city.
MR: Do you think it was some infighting sh*t or a rapper that has an album coming out and needed press against a rapper that has been out and sold a bunch of records but doesn't have that much credibility?
Z-RO: Nah. We know what the bullsh*t was about and I don't want to put everything out but the reason they got physical was a bullsh*t ass reason. Mike Jones for one; if I was talking to Trae I'd be like, you 240 pounds, motherf*ckers is like a rottweiler in this. Mike Jones who used to be a big n*gga is now a little guy. Maxine, let me break this sh*t down for you OG style when you fighting a pit bull it would piss the rottweilers off if you was to bite a poodle.
MR: What? What does that mean?
Z-RO: I mean that's real talk though. When a pit bull is biting a poodle you piss the big dogs off.
MR: Wait, who is the pit bull and who is the poodle?
Z-RO: Sh*t everybody know. Mike Jones, he got to be the poodle right now. I'm not talking about him I'm just…in the rap game Mike Jones is the last person to put your hands on. What are you saying if you jump on Mike Jones? He not gon punch you back. He not gon kick you he ain't even gon spit at you.
MR: You don't think he would fight back?
Z-RO: I mean number 1 he gon be super duper decked down with security. After one or two punches it's gon be over and done with. Mike Jones, he is hated out here. Everybody in Houston know Mike Jones is hated.
MR: Why is that? He says it's because he has more money.
Z-RO: Don't nobody f*ck with Mike Jones in Houston. He f*ck with mainstream and industry rappers. A lot of Houston rappers is f*cking with a lot of dudes they didn't used to f*ck with but it's because of Bun (Bun B). Mike Jones not gon start no trouble with nobody. Real talk Mike Jones wear a wife beater all the time, I ain't trying to talk about him, that's my n*gga and sh*t, but he ain't got a motherf*cking muscle under that shirt. How the f*ck he not gon fight Trae back?
MR: But I think he said Trae snuffed him. Like it wasn't a fight.
Z-RO: Right, see that's what I'm saying a pit bull on a poodle pissing the rottweilers off.
MR: Right, but wait, who are the rottweilers then? If Mike Jones is the poodle then…
Z-RO: The rott are just simply all the real n*ggas standing by watching this sh*t. Out of all the people you could have snuffed at the Ozone Awards…real talk you snuffed the friendliest rapper in America! This n*gga gave his phone number out on a song and sh*t, his real phone number. Mike Jones don't want trouble with nobody. He trying to keep making songs and making money and that's it and staying relevant.
MR: So you saying Trae was basically picking a fight with someone that wouldn't fight back?
Z-RO: That's my opinion.
MR: Like, he wouldn't have snuffed you for example.
Z-RO: Hell f*ck no. Ain't gon being no snuffing with Z-Ro...some boxing and some falling on the floor.
MR: Oh goodness, well I'm not trying to box with you. What else do you want to tell people about the album?
Z-RO: Real talk. It's like big fun music. Feel good music. The best of sh*t. Ain't no sh*t a motherf*cker can smoke PCP to, that sh*t is gone. Crack...it's already packaged.
MR: Where can cats hit you up?
Z-RO: The Rap-A-Lot MySpace page, the album's coming September 23, 2008, it's going down.
MR: Lastly, since you named the album Crack, if we were to drug test you right now, what kind of substances would we find?
Z-RO: Sh*t! Right now? You best just say they gon get Kush right now. I'm just smoking good weed you know Maxine, just smoking that good weed.
When the crack epidemic hit the streets in the 80's there was an undeniable contribution to its glamorization in the media through songs and avenues meant for those who understood the impact, those who profited off of the impact and those supplying the product. Like Hip Hop, crack changed the rules in the middle of the game.
While we here at Streetcred.com don't promote the use of illegal substances of any kind, there's a distinct correlation between addiction and Hip Hop. The sticky rapid fire grit from Biggie, the militant truths of Tupac, the hustle that is slapping b*tches and peeling paper served up by Pimp C, we're addicted and loving every minute of it.
Houston artist Z-RO has taken this concept and flipped it into the ultimate marketing tool. With his latest album "Crack" dropping on Rap-A-Lot records September 23, 2008, Z-RO has pissed off Wal-Mart and the big names with album imagery depicting a man smoking a crack pipe while Z-RO is characterized through the smoke. No sweat to this Houston rottweiler, the fiends are still knocking on his door. As Mr. West would say, "put this CD on your tongue, yeah that's pure man."
In this interview the Houston native takes Streetcred writer Maxine on a journey through his hood and talks about why Mike Jones is a poodle, Barack Obama, selling "Crack", Rick Ross, his favorite rapper and more.
Z-Ro on Mike Jones:
"Don't nobody f*ck with Mike Jones in Houston...Mike Jones, he got to be the poodle right now...Mike Jones wear a wife beater all the time...he ain't got a motherf*cking muscle under that shirt."
---
Maxine Ross: So you know they aren't trying to sell your record in Wal-mart right?
Z-RO: Yeah, well we actually changed the album cover so that it would sell in places like Wal-Mart. They changed it from the image of the crack pipe to a picture with the image of a mirror that's cracked.
MR: Do you feel like you had to compromise your concept for major retailers?
Z-RO: They still get the point it's just on the interior rather than the exterior. I had to make that change so that people even have access to the record and the record sales and everything.
MR: Compromising artistic integrity is something many rappers have had to deal with lately, particularly Nas and his recent album and you with your latest release. What does artistic integrity mean to you?
Z-RO: It means to me, everything. You gotta have that. Freedom is already limited as it is so you gotta have that.
MR: What do you mean by that?
Z-RO: I'm saying like, let's discuss the album cover. My freedom was to put the crack pipe up there. I KNOW it's there with the subliminal message but due to the Wal-Marts, Blockbusters, crying saying they want to sell the product but they draw the line if something is too edgy. Some of our freedom was taken. I wanted to use the crack cover.
MR: Do you feel like the people you are making your music for understand the image and what you were going for?
Z-RO: They are going to appreciate it more than regular music and other music consumers.
MR: How do you still represent Hip Hop while those making the decisions don't understand the work?
Z-RO: The work speaks for itself; I mean you gotta a very very very valuable promotion tool. You gotta have the strong marketing package. Even if the cover was black, the album was still gon crack whether I call it weed or what; it's still going to have that crack. My personal opinion and Rap-A-Lot's personal opinion, you get a taste of the album and that first hit, it's like crack. You get your first hit then you coming back tomorrow it's goin down again. They get a taste of the album and it's like real crack.
MR: Tell me who's on the album. Any guest appearances?
Z-RO: Production wise on the album we have Mr. Lee of course, Big John doing a lot of the production on there. A couple tracks from Tone Capone. I think I did maybe 3 records on there also.
MR: What's different about this album?
Z-RO: All of my previous records are dark and foreboding because that was the situation and the position I was in at the time I packaged the record. Now? It ain't too dark right now!
MR: Sometimes life imitates art right? There's been so much talk around Rick Ross and music credibility. How important is credibility to you?
Z-RO: It's the most important thing because that's all I got when you really look at it. All of us, real talk, that's all we got is our own story. If you not going to tell your own story correctly, who is? I don't want motherf*ckers walking around when I'm long gone having the wrong perception of Z-RO.
MR: What do you want the perception to be? Who do you represent?
Z-RO: I represent the underdog just like my man Pimp C used to say…the ones doing it better than everybody else and getting paid less than all the other people. See where I'm coming from? The underdog got to have a leader. Like New Orleans, they got Baby and they got Wayne. You got n*ggas that rap that'll knock your ass out, n*ggas that rap that'll shoot that thang on you. We gotta tell our story correctly.
MR: Are you saying Rick Ross isn't telling his story correctly?
Z-RO: I look at it like this, we listen to Rick Ross, we listen to the glamour, we listen to all the fancy things that's going on, Rick Ross is doing it. We love when Rick Ross does his thing. Whether it's all bogus or whether it's true, it's not on me, I'm just a fan of the music. Don't get it twisted, also for me, guys around my age bracket, we remember the REAL Rick Ross. We remember the motherf*cker that was on his money for real, us OG n*ggas, we gon identify with the OG name off top and give it a pass. The real Rick Ross.
MR: Based off the strength of what you know about him.
Z-RO: The REAL Rick Ross.
MR: Do you find any comparisons?
Z-RO: Not really. I've always done my own thing and walked my own way and done my own style of rap.
MR: Who from Houston has influenced you?
Z-RO: To tell you the truth, it's this guy, K-Rino. That's where I draw the line and my hat comes off for. Over here in the states they not on to my boy like that but when this dude opens his mouth it's like having a fly ass college professor that is rapping the lesson to you instead of talking it to you.
Not a shoot em up bang bang rapper. He's of the Nation, black unity, f*ck the cops, everybody that's on that real sh*t, he's delivering gospels. Don't anybody give this man credit so I gotta open my mouth up. Every time I hear his music I get inspired to write me another hit you know?
MR: Do you have responsibility as a rapper to be conscious about what you put out or it is like Jay said "only entertainment!"
Z-RO: You could say that to a certain extent but in reality, I got a daughter. I'm not going to expect Lil Bow Wow to raise my daughter. I'm going to expect the school she goes to and me and her mother, it's our responsibility to teach our daughter.
MR: Sometimes the music is around more than the parents.
Z-RO: I feel like, you know, the influence is there to a certain extent. If a child hears something that is simple enough and repetitious enough they'll catch on and stay in they brain and they gonna store it in the front part of their brain. If you are really raising your kids and being a parent and I don't mean just picking up your kids on the weekend...stuff like that don't hold in my household. I make sure my kids are educated and my daughter know to listen to her father and her mother and that her mother and grandmother aren't going to have her believing any and everything. With rappers, half of the responsibility lays on us but if you not raising your kids and putting something good back, it ain't doing nothing. If you ain't putting out anything good then ain't nothing coming back.
MR: Do you speak for the people in the struggle?
Z-RO: Classic struggle, I gotta do classic struggle. Any given time, you gon have money and drugs on the album, it's drawing people in. You always going to have people struggling and people who ballin. I speak the truth for the ones who are less fortunate. Even though I'm not struggling, I can speak on the struggle because I've experienced it. Keep delivering that beat cause I know you know, his job gone, they rep your sh*t that keeps them going. God gon break you down before he can use you. I got a lot of that going on with the album man.
MR: Right so the way Jeezy is trying to help cats get through the Recession, you're providing art to get people through the hard times too.
Z-RO: Like the clarity. People can listen to the song and be like, hey man; he's talking about my life. I can say that because that's my story too.
MR- So what are you listening to, what's on your iPod?
Z-RO: On my iPod right now? The whole truth, I got 7 K-Rino albums, only one Z-RO record on my iPod and that's the new one.
MR: To switch topics, what are your thoughts on the elections?
Z-RO: Man, to tell you the truth, I want Obama. Put him up there in the white house and turn it black! Real talk, we ready now, we ready for a brother up there on Capitol Hill!
MR: Are you doing anything in your community to organize people around politics or are you just supporting it in your own circle?
Z-RO: Both kind of. I still can't vote for another three and a half years.
MR: And that's because…
Z-RO: Because of…my motherf*cking jail trip! [laughs]
MR: So you are doing what you can?
Z-RO: I'm a felon. I'm trying to get the message out to motherf*ckers that do have the right to vote don't just sit there twiddling your thumbs. It's gas, it's f*cking Iran. It's hard because you gotta choose between getting this goddamn baby food or you know, getting a damn diploma. We need help on that.
MR: And you think Obama is the one?
Z-RO: I'm listening to him, just because he's black is not the reason I'm voting for him.
MR: But it helps.
Z-RO: Yeah! It's a very strong help. I've been listening to how people attack him and they know they lost already.
MR: So Obama 08.
Z-RO: Yeah! I'm for the underdog. Even though he's over us, he's still the underdog, under it all, he's still a n*gga.
MR: Tell me your favorite Hip Hop moment.
Z-RO: My favorite hip-hop moment? At the 2004 Source Awards Miami when the whole Cash Money, Rap A Lot just rushed the stage man. I really felt that because there was a lot of issues where a lot of people that was beefin with Cash Money and Rap-A Lot and we came together.
MR-: Were you at the Ozone Awards this year?
Z-RO: I was.
MR: Did you see Mike Jones get snuffed?
Z-RO: I mean, I didn't see him get snuffed but I was there. I caught the after effect. In my opinion it was uncalled for. It was not my business but it was not good for the city.
MR: Do you think it was some infighting sh*t or a rapper that has an album coming out and needed press against a rapper that has been out and sold a bunch of records but doesn't have that much credibility?
Z-RO: Nah. We know what the bullsh*t was about and I don't want to put everything out but the reason they got physical was a bullsh*t ass reason. Mike Jones for one; if I was talking to Trae I'd be like, you 240 pounds, motherf*ckers is like a rottweiler in this. Mike Jones who used to be a big n*gga is now a little guy. Maxine, let me break this sh*t down for you OG style when you fighting a pit bull it would piss the rottweilers off if you was to bite a poodle.
MR: What? What does that mean?
Z-RO: I mean that's real talk though. When a pit bull is biting a poodle you piss the big dogs off.
MR: Wait, who is the pit bull and who is the poodle?
Z-RO: Sh*t everybody know. Mike Jones, he got to be the poodle right now. I'm not talking about him I'm just…in the rap game Mike Jones is the last person to put your hands on. What are you saying if you jump on Mike Jones? He not gon punch you back. He not gon kick you he ain't even gon spit at you.
MR: You don't think he would fight back?
Z-RO: I mean number 1 he gon be super duper decked down with security. After one or two punches it's gon be over and done with. Mike Jones, he is hated out here. Everybody in Houston know Mike Jones is hated.
MR: Why is that? He says it's because he has more money.
Z-RO: Don't nobody f*ck with Mike Jones in Houston. He f*ck with mainstream and industry rappers. A lot of Houston rappers is f*cking with a lot of dudes they didn't used to f*ck with but it's because of Bun (Bun B). Mike Jones not gon start no trouble with nobody. Real talk Mike Jones wear a wife beater all the time, I ain't trying to talk about him, that's my n*gga and sh*t, but he ain't got a motherf*cking muscle under that shirt. How the f*ck he not gon fight Trae back?
MR: But I think he said Trae snuffed him. Like it wasn't a fight.
Z-RO: Right, see that's what I'm saying a pit bull on a poodle pissing the rottweilers off.
MR: Right, but wait, who are the rottweilers then? If Mike Jones is the poodle then…
Z-RO: The rott are just simply all the real n*ggas standing by watching this sh*t. Out of all the people you could have snuffed at the Ozone Awards…real talk you snuffed the friendliest rapper in America! This n*gga gave his phone number out on a song and sh*t, his real phone number. Mike Jones don't want trouble with nobody. He trying to keep making songs and making money and that's it and staying relevant.
MR: So you saying Trae was basically picking a fight with someone that wouldn't fight back?
Z-RO: That's my opinion.
MR: Like, he wouldn't have snuffed you for example.
Z-RO: Hell f*ck no. Ain't gon being no snuffing with Z-Ro...some boxing and some falling on the floor.
MR: Oh goodness, well I'm not trying to box with you. What else do you want to tell people about the album?
Z-RO: Real talk. It's like big fun music. Feel good music. The best of sh*t. Ain't no sh*t a motherf*cker can smoke PCP to, that sh*t is gone. Crack...it's already packaged.
MR: Where can cats hit you up?
Z-RO: The Rap-A-Lot MySpace page, the album's coming September 23, 2008, it's going down.
MR: Lastly, since you named the album Crack, if we were to drug test you right now, what kind of substances would we find?
Z-RO: Sh*t! Right now? You best just say they gon get Kush right now. I'm just smoking good weed you know Maxine, just smoking that good weed.