Z-Ro - Drankin' & Drivin'

Z-Ro released Look at What You Did to Me in 1998 and has since been one of the most underrated acts in the rap game.

His deep voice has become the back drop to many classic songs, working with Scarface, Pimp C, Do or Die, Bun B, Devin the Dude as well as continuing to work with Texas favorites like K-Rhino, D-Reck, Big Moe, Big Pokey and as part of the legendaryScrewed Up Click. Z-Ro has always been an artist not afraid to speak his mind or live with his heart on his sleeve. With his unique and identifiable voice, if it was the earlier part of the century Z-Ro would have been closer to an artist like Muddy Waters or Otis Redding, singing about life’s ills rife with emotions of depression, anger and daily struggles. Although he’s been in the game for nearly 20 years, he still hasn’t hit his ceiling and hasn’t received the mainstream attention many fans believe he’s worthy of.

Back with a new mixtape which dropped yesterday [Friday, July 15] Drankin’ & Drivin’, Z-Ro is ready to take his career to a new level with his own company One Deep Entertainment. We caught up with the “King of the Ghetto” rapper to talk about his history, the album and his view on the current state of Hip Hop.

You’ve been doing this for a long time, from ABN to Rap-A-Lot. What motivates you other than the money to keep making music?

Every time I turn around I see another song, a new situation that needs to be spoken on, I feel like it’s my duty to keep doing it for the people who expect me to do it.

No offense, but you were Drake before Drake (but obviously much more ‘hood) with the singing and rapping. How did you develop the singing voice?

I’m not gonna lie I did that [sing] a little earlier, you know, before life started taking over. I did some whatever back then, it was a tenor voice. I probably sang for like a month or two. But as far as doing it for Hip Hop, for rap, that’s funny because I couldn’t afford to pay people I wanted on my songs to sing on them. So I had to sing myself. so I just taught myself how to hold a note and make a little harmony. When you’re poor you gotta make a way, so I started doing it myself. I really wanted to have the guys around the corner in Houston: Big Moe, Mr. Blue, but they wanted money for their services, so that’s how it came about.

So through needing hooks you discovered you had the voice?

I didn’t even know if I had the voice, but I was just going to do it anyway. I would do it whether they jam it or not since it’s all I got, so I’m going to utilize it.

You have always been so open with your emotions, and bucking trends with songs like “I Hate You *****” or “If That’s How You Feel.” How are you able to keep it so authentic? When it seems like most rappers build up their persona?

My persona was there, I didn’t have to create one. A lot of guys that’s just how they are. It could be all a facade, but there could be some real stories the real guys who are actually about what’s coming out of their mouth. You don’t like me? I do it for the people who like me. And a lot of people don’t dig me and that’s alright I don’t dig them either. But I think that’s the persona. I’m a stand alone guy. I didn’t just decide to be an ******* like people say I’m an *******. I just use that, I don’t think I’m an ******* I think I’m really forward but the majority think I’m *******. So I’m like yeah I’m an *******, if I can attract ******** around the world get a following. There must be some ****** up people out there in the world ’cause I got a lot of fans. So I guess you know that’s what that is.

Tell us about this hard opening song on your new set. “Devil *** City” what things are going on in Houston that prompted the title?

Devil *** City. I think that could be the title for every city in America right now and outside of America. The devils are taking over. Devils can be white people, they can be Black people, they could be police. They could be prosecutors, judges you know, “women-men,” fake *** homeboys, fake *** women. You know wherever you look right now to the left to the right, or up or down, you’re going to see some **** that trying to oppress you. Everywhere I’m at is oppression. It tries to keep down a lot of my brother’s and sisters. It tries to tear me down as well but I think because of the fact I’m doing my own thang, I’m in my own lane, I’m not really competing with anyone. The oppression really doesn’t affect me the way it effects everyone else. Devil *** city, they trying to hold my people down, they trying to hold me down. Worst of all the devil has my own people trying to hold my own people down. If that ain’t the devil I don’t know what is. To make us hate our reflection where we give a s*it about cops killing us, they been killing us since they we were kids. Somebody has to make us do the s*it, so like that old song said, “The Devil Made Me Do It” and I’m not necessarily talking about Satan either.

How much of that is due to the media, media-created violence as far as effecting people’s mentality and recreating what they see?

I’d say 75 percent, in my judgement. Media is programming. A lot of people don’t just take words for what they are. I mean these people are trying to program you. Television program you, dumb you down to their vision. Programming. Then they’re telling you a vision that programs you. Even if something on the TV is not even true, most people are like gullible believe it and say, ‘if it’s on Fox it’s got to be true, if it’s on ABC it’s got to be true, if it’s on ESPN it’s got to be true,’ but these are people at the end of the day. There’s no one among us perfect that wouldn’t do something f*cked up. If the government bodies want people to think a certain type of way, all you have to do is just say it on one of these big channels. Take DJ Screw for example, everybody wants to be all caught up on ‘oh man he was a syrup-head and died of an overdose’ the man had a heart attack. They’re not going to sit up there and say what type of son he was, or what type of brother he was, or what he did musically for his people and the community, or everybody he was rapping with in Houston. They’re going to demonize him off the set. I think it’s 75 percent of what we hear, the other 25 percent just some dumb s*it people like to talk. They do it with me all the time, so ‘he’s this and he’s that.’ *************s don’t know me. If you heard it somewhere like he’s an *******. S*it I don’t even come out the house like that but most people hear that I have a hard exterior, or that I got an attitude, or I’m an ******* but then they don’t even try to see for themselves; who am I really. They’re just like ‘oh s*it I heard he’s this he’s an ******* so I’m going to sneak a picture.’ It’s crazy man so I say 75 percent.

You have Krayzie Bone on the project, who like you early pioneered the singing and rapping. How did that track come together?

Obviously man I had to be a big Bone Thugs-N-Harmony fan. They came out bussin’ the gat with the singing and rapping s*it. What we had down here in Houston was a group by the name of Street Military. And they had cats in the group like KD The Kidnapper, and Pharaoh, who is sadly serving a 50-year sentence for some bulls*it that they say he did. They was rapping fast and it was kind of like you had a lot of **** to say and you only had 16 bars do it in. Pharaoh would get on that ************ and say three bars of s*it in a bar and a half. Just going, everybody at my neighborhood South Park back to Missouri City, even on the Northside we was on that. The Bone came out and they was doing the same s*it except they had harmonies to it. I had already sung in the choir and a youngster and then that s*it came out it was like ‘damn these ni*gas “Me killa me killa” [singing]. They going off on all this murder s*it, ‘meet you at the crossroads’ naturally I was a fan.

And then I got my manager to tell them I wanted to do a song. Then from that came a tour. B-Real fromCypress Hill, Myself, Slim Thug and Bone Thugs-N- Harmony. Texas Takeover 3 was the name of it. On the tour and to my surprise Lazyie was like you’re dope, I got some harmonies you can kill. ThenKrayzie was like ‘put your number in my phone. let’s get to it the time is now, let’s get to work’. And that’s it blew me away that they even knew who the f*ck I was. I’ve never felt like a rapper before so that made me feel like damn. And from there we just had conflicting schedules and what not but you know I did the song. My homeboy got smoked by some ***** ************* and I did a song about it. I sent to Krayzie and he put his **** on it and sent it back, and I was like we got a classic on our hands that’s how it came about.

You have the skills, why do you think the mainstream radio has never really picked you up? Is that because you don’t pursue it or just the natural course?

I’d say it’s kind of different. My machine has never been total down here until right now. I’ve dipped and dabbled with a couple of publishers, dipped and dabbled with a lot of record labels. I finally got my own imprint and creative control to do my own thing. And I don’t have anyone telling me I can’t do this or I should do that, or you know it’s kind of like I’ve been in prison ever since the jump. Period. The problem is Houston is different that New York or places like that. That have record labels on every corner and I don’t need backyard record labels. The Sony’s, the Columbia’s, the Universal’s whatever the case may be. You don’t have that s*it here, so when you are here and it’s like ‘I don’t do anything else but this.’So it’d be different if I was still hustlin’ still trying to sell some greens, or some dope, or some PCP or whatever it was back in the day. I only do this, so when you only do this, you gotta do this like a *************. And I have been hot in Texas for a long time but unfortunately the people I dabbled with, from the smaller labels to the bigger labels, can only push me so far. And I’d say with a minute amount of money, small capital there’s only so far that you can go. People used to always tell me ‘you want to take this s*it to the next level, you got to get up and get on that plane go out’ and I know this is correct, but if you don’t have money to do that **** if you’re still living in the hood. Its kind of f*cked up, but you gotta leave your s*it and every time you you come back your **** is broken into. It’s really the life I was singing about in my songs. I wasn’t just dropping euphemisms on ni*gas, I was telling the truth. So you kind of get in the mode of ‘I got to stay here hold the fort down’ leave this ************* on the weekends go to where ever I’m paid to do a show and come right the f*ck back. Don’t spend the night nowhere because you don’t know what the f*ck going on at your house; if your kids are cool, like it was a really f*cked-up situation. And to top it off these *************s will tell you you got to get out of town go do this s*it but you got no bread to get out there. So I had to really do shows save up some **** and start spreading out like that. I really wasn’t helped on any of the labels I was on. Yes I wanted to be on mainstream. Not just to make mainstream music but yes I wanted to be on those mainstream radios, those awards shows. I wanted to do all that s*it ’cause I felt like I belong there. And people wasn’t really doing the job their job title said. Some managers don’t manage to manage to do anything at all. Some record labels only want to recoup then get their 15 percent and don’t want to press up anymore s*it. At this level a ************* want to invest in longevity, down here it’s like ‘I need to pay the light bill’ so it’s f*cked up.

What song in your catalogue means the most to you?

At this moment I would have to say “I Miss My Mama” song with Mike Dean. Because naturally I got a whole lot of important matters songs that are clearly promoted on my last album Solid but I miss my mommy. You know you only get one of those, you only get one mama. I had do everything myself. Mother’s Day was ****** up and your parents ain’t coming to the PTA. It was a reflection on like damn I see all these other ************* talking **** about their moms like ‘maybe if you only knew.’ I was never able to have one of these, that one right there kind of touches my heart.

What do you think of the mainstream artists of today’s era? And what would you like to hear more of?

Personally I would kind of want to hear you know more of the real s*it, you know Hip Hop is a party now. Rap is a party. It’s kind of like everybody’s moon-walking and s*it. Ain’t no problem with that, but personally I want to hear is more of the older s*it, probably because I’m older. And I’m coming from a generation where even if he was lying he was saying something. Now it’s just a lot of syllables, moans, grunts and s*it. Music now it’s just a bunch of heeee [singing] and that’s a song. I don’t understand it, but it’s not for me to understand. It’s not my element, the fans did that. I just think if at the same time if people out here to get grunt and moan and make money. I love that better that these *************s out here hitting somebody over the head and take his **** from him so I’m all for it.

Outside of rap who are some of your favorite artists?

Sam Cooke. It’ll probably trip you out ’cause it’s not a lot of rap. Sam Cooke, Jodeci was one of my favorites, Musiq Soulchild, Anthony Hamilton, The Hamiltones I like a lot of this old s*it, man. Soul.Babyface. I do a lot of that. A lot of people don’t know most of my s*it is a remix, vocal remix musically and when those marry each other you really got some **** going on. They’re really already hits and I don’t want to steal nobody’s s*it, that’s why I change it up so much, but it’s mostly R&B when I do my thing