 Down-South:
How does
it feel finally gettin a break to be heard on a national level?
Z-Ro: Shit, it don’t really feel like nothin to me it
just worked out.
Down-South:
How’d the deal with Rap A Lot come about?
Z-Ro: Just different people hearin my music
and knowin who I am and how long my track record is and Lil J finally bumped in to me
somewhere on the southwest side and chopped it up and now we in business now.
Down-South: What’s the new solo gonna be called?
Z-Ro: I’m jugglin around a whole lot of ideas right now and
I’m not certain on which one but it’s either gonna be called Dealin With A Lot
or just plain old Z-Ro The Crooked.
Down-South: You got any songs recorded so far, what you tryin to hit em with on this
cd?
Z-Ro: The same shit I been hittin em with over the years, I got
a bunch of songs just like Trae got a bunch of songs, Doug got a bunch of songs, we all
just work. Ain’t nothin changed we just on a bigger scale right now workin with more
known producers now and a bigger sound but as far as the music, it ain’t really
changin as far as where it’s comin from.
Down-South: Are either you or Rakesh gonna do any of the production on the album?
Z-Ro: I doubt it. I usually leave things in the past, I
don’t like to retract myself unless I’m dealin with my kinfolks. There is always
gonna be another Guerilla Maab album, thats the only thing I hold onto and everything
else, the people I work with, some I do stuff over with but for the most part if I do
somethin with somebody I want to hesitate to call it a one hit wonder but as far as me and
Rakesh we ain’t gonna be doing nothin.
Down-South: Speaking of the new Guerilla Maab is there anything in the near future with
a new release?
Z-Ro: That is always gonna be in the near future, as soon as one
drops you can be lookin for another one to be comin within the next few months that
ain’t never gonna stop. It’s like a nigga hair growin, when you cut that shit
off its gonna keep growin within the next few weeks we always gonna come with another one.
 Down-South:
A lot of people
felt Life had a different sound to it than your other albums were you tryin a new sound
out or was it just the mood you were in at that time?
Z-Ro: All music is inspired by moods and as you get older you be goin through
different things in your life. Like Z-Ro vs. the World I was a young nigga and I had my
own set of problems but I wasn’t dealin with a whole lot like what I’m dealin
with right now on the Life album. Whatever I go through in life its gonna be reflected in
my music. I had a whole lot of grown man shit on there vs a whole lot of play time party
music cause that was somethin that was goin on in my life right then and there ya know.
Down-South: Is it flattering when people bring up the best in H-town and you and Face
or you and Pat are most likely to be brought up?
Z-Ro: It’s flattering to a certain extent but you always
gonna make the best in hard times. Just like the song I did, hard times in general,
I’m not the best to myself, just another nigga out here doin somethin to get his
money. Hard times inspired me to do what I do so I’d say its flattering to a certain
extent but I don’t let that shit go to my head I expect it but I don’t act on
that shit.
Down-South: A lot of people been wonderin what triggered you to go at 50 Cent like you
did?
Z-Ro: Well I’ll ask you a question, If somebody say
somethin negative about somebody you fuck with thats not violent you’d have to be a
punk to sit there and be like “Oh you talkin bout my brother or you talkin bout my
partna, yeah he’s a punk” cause naw thats not how we handle business down south.
If a nigga got a problem with Trae then a nigga got a problem with Z-Ro and vice versa.
Way back he had that song where he was ridin on everybody in the industry I guess to try
to fit in to this shit, but a nigga like me and a nigga like Trae and Guerilla Maab, we
didn’t need to beef with nobody to get a name out here, our talent said our shit. So
when you get to fuckin with my people you fuckin with me ya know what I’m sayin. And
you don’t wanna fuck with me cause I don’t give a fuck about this rap music,
cause this here is just somethin to do in between cases, in between goin to jail so
it’s just somethin to make some money. If a nigga fuckin with mine then a nigga is
fuckin with me and he was fuckin with mine. Then he went and got on tv talkin down on Rap
A Lot and shit. It’s all good but when you get on tv sayin a mans business was
started by drug money and shit and then in the next couple of weeks customs come all out
to the label and start emptyin out the mothafuckin cash registers and lookin all in the
computers for evidence after somebody sayin mothafuckas borrowin money from drug dealers
to jump start their company I mean goddamn, when you all on your tape talkin about all the
crack and shit you sell. To me, you a hoe ass nigga for that shit and if ain’t nobody
gonna say nothin about it, Z-Ro goddamn sure gonna say somethin about it cause I
don’t give a fuck. If people don’t like it or if they don’t like me they
can come see me straight up.
Down-South: You threw somethin out on a song about goin to a hotel to see 50 what all
happened with that?
Z-Ro: Well shit ain’t nothin really go down cause ya know
how some mothafuckas got security guards that got security guards got security guards but
ya know when a mothafucka scary like that its very seldom you gonna meet up with him. But
down here he was at the hotel and like I was just sayin a nigga like me, if you say
somethin about mine I’m not just gonna sit down from a safe place and talk shit about
your ass, I’m comin to see you ya know what I’m sayin. Whether it be whatever,
whether it’s a fight, a gun fight, or just a conversation ya know, whatever it is
I’m down with it. I took my ass up there ya know cause I wanted to see the nigga and
see whats on his mind and why the fuck you runnin your mouth like that. And I
couldn’t get to the nigga so ya know with a nigga like that I just tried to get his
attention and see where the dude mind was at. But I couldn’t get to him cause there
so many mothafuckas up there and shit and all these little hoes blinded by his little
muscles and shit but they ain’t seein what the fuck is really goin on. This nigga is
#1 hatin on us, this nigga sayin somethin about Texas I don’t give a fuck you hatin
on the whole mothafuckin state. We got our own sound down here, we don’t mimic
anybody else and its goin down here everyone tryin to mimic us right now. I don’t see
how you can try to talk about mothafuckas from here and then come here and try to kick it
and shit cause you’ll fuck around and get your ass kicked. Don’t come down here
with that bullshit straight up.
Down-South: It’s kinda old news but I got to ask you to speak on that Screw Did
That song.
Z-Ro: Well shit, cause he did that plain and simple, the song is
self explanatory. The mothafuckin style of music is called screw, its not called DJ D, its
not called DJ Bone, its not called Watts its called screw music. It always say chopped and
screwed by, it don’t say chopped and watted or chopped and D’d or whatever the
fuck else. That man did that shit and I was upset cause when a mothafucka die, why you
gonna start talkin shit then? That shit is so ph standard to me, like when a mothafucka go
to jail or some shit and then he wanna open his mouth, he a hoe. As soon as a nigga come
back from jail he ain’t got nothin to say no more. These niggas not real no more out
here, everybody out here fabricatin and shit realness, they don’t know what realness
is about. Its self explanatory a mothafucka got in a magazine talkin bout he heard screw
and he thought it was alright, he was cool but he really started diggin it when he took it
to another level and he elevated it. That mothafucka didn’t elevate shit but his
weight. Fat mothafucka, thats the only thing he elevated right there was his mothafuckin
weight. I don’t got no problems with nobody at Swishahouse but I got a problem with
the mothafucka that started that shit, Michael 5000 Watts. He needs to retract his
mothafuckin statements and thats my opinion, he needs to get his ass back in Murder Dog
magazine and apologize for what the fuck he said and if he don’t he can just expect
to get rolled on on every mothafuckin thing I do and thats why me and Point Blankk did it.
Down-South: What are some of your favorite tracks you have done or most meaningful to
you?
 Z-Ro: Off the Life album, that It’s Gonna be Alright, off that King of the
Ghetto, I Finally Found Me, vs. the World, that Nigga From the Hood but I like all my shit
I don’t have no bullshit. Like sometimes when I’m happy I got nicer songs and
sometimes I’m aggravated I got aggravated songs where I talk about mothafuckas. In a
whole I like all of my shit, I don’t dislike none of my shit all of it is my favorite
to me.
Down-South: To you, who do you feel some of the best in Houston are right now?
Z-Ro: Dougie D, Trae, Z-Ro and really I just have to stop right
there.
Down-South:
You still got your own label?
Z-Ro: Yeah, Ridgemont 4 Records, Guerilla Maab Entertainment and
thats just me Trae and Doug ya know. We just fuck with us, Trae jam Z-Ro I jam Trae, Doug
jammin Trae ya know, we just jam each other cause as long as we jammin and competing with
each other and we united and we on top of our game. Can’t exclude Big Steve, Fat Pat,
they were definitely some pioneers in H-Town, Keke, ESG, Slim Thug, I just listen to
everybody. Really right now H-Town don’t really have no bullshit. Ain’t nobody
talkin bout man hold up with syrup in my cup right now, we got some subject matter.
Everybody has topics that they talkin about, whether it be September 11, or all these
bullshit ass viruses or whatever the fuck, we real niggas and we get up and watch the
mothafuckin news and report to the streets. Guerilla Maab, we report to the streets just
like eyewitness news. I’m feelin everybody in
H-Town right now.
Down-South:
You gonna
hit em with any more solo S.L.A.B. releases like Gangstafied?
Z-Ro: Oh yeah of course we had Gangstafied volume 1 and if
I live long enough I’ll have Gangstafied volume 40 or whatever the fuck. Whatever we
started, that shit is gonna be in existence for a long time it ain’t goin nowhere.
Down-South: Who are some of your influences growin up you would say?
 Z-Ro: Willie D, most definitely Willie D, I got my nutz from
listenin to that nigga. He don’t give a fuck about sayin shit and I respect that dude
so much, if he got a problem with ya or think you a bitch, rest assure that you gonna be
called a bitch all through that mothafuckin song. Pac, Klondike Kat, the whole Killa Klan.
That nigga Kat, goddamn, thats like the older version of me, he can make beats, reggae,
rap, sing, whatever the fuck you need this man to do he don’t need to go pay nobody
else to be on his shit he do it. I think I get my uncanny ability from Kat, tongue flippin
and shit from Pharaoh, deepness from Flea, ethnic style from K-Rino, beats from Icey Hott
and bein a goddamn fool from my nigga Nutt RIP to him. The Fakkulty, them boys, RIP Malik
and you got Lil B and that Kook. There is no bullshit down here right now.
Down-South: Is the rumor about the new Geto Boys with you Bun B and Slim Thug true?
Z-Ro: I’ma say right now that holds about a half a glass of
water. Really right now we like prospects, we draft picks right now. It’s like my
nigga Slim Thug, I can’t say for sure but I really think he is gonna do his own thing
cause he got a whole lot of shit goin on right now. Most definite right now would be me
and Bun B cause we already over there at Rap A Lot workin together and doin a whole lot of
shit together. Slim, he got his own album and shit, he got a whole lot of people he puttin
out and I think he had said somethin about he is too busy right now tryin to be Lil J than
workin for him so thats gravy right there when a nigga workin like that. Thats a super
work ethic right there and I gotta shout out to the Thug for that shit. So like I say it
could be and it could not be ya’ll just gotta wait and see.
Down-South: Why do you think aside from Flip H-Town just hasn’t blown yet?
Z-Ro: When back in the day and the East and West was beefin with
each other and shit and New York mothafuckas started workin with the other coast and they
was jammin this and jammin that. No one was showin us no love cause when rap was really
just blowin up on the scene there wasn’t really a whole lot of people in Houston doin
shit. Like if you was in Africa right now you wouldn’t go over there and expect to
here Z-Ro come across the radio, its like they got their own thing over there. Houston, we
always been famous for our dope sellin and shit and killin mothafuckas. This ain’t
the place to come to look for peace and serenity down here. A lot of reporters and
magazine writers scared to come down here cause they know they will fuck around and get
robbed or shot downtown lookin up in the air like a tourist. You come down here and get
your ass kicked and go home broke, go home with another story to tell. You came down here
to get an article on rap music and you gotta go back and tell a mothafucka how a nigga
whooped your ass and took your shit. A lot of mothafuckas was scared and on a general
level thought we didn’t have nothin to talk about. They thought all we talked about
in Houston was how many yellowbones we was gonna fuck or how many candy red or candy blue
slabs we could drive and how much dope we could sell. But thats not the facts, we got shit
to talk about too, we go through problems just like
mothafuckas all around the world. We get arrested, we get killed ya know what I’m
sayin, we got problems with bitches, our broads got problems down here with hoe ass niggas
just like Chicago, New York or whatever. Everybody everywhere got problems and we just
wasn’t looked at as a musical state until about the time Geto Boys and Street
Military came out, those were really the two most profound groups in Houston at that time.
I’m not really gonna try to talk down on nobody name, but these record labels always
got these CEO’s with them deep pockets and them short arms and shit know what
I’m sayin. They got a nigga thats destine to go diamond and shit but wanna give a
mothafucka $1000. We got a whole lot of talent down here thats still undiscovered,
mothafuckas already 30 and 40 years old and barely heard of that could get up right now
and fuck the billboard charts up. Like these CEO’s got a mothafucka and promote them
not to the full but just a little bit or not how they should be like locally but not
regional. Takin a nigga from here to Arkansas but fuck that a nigga need to eat,
don’t take me to Arkansas, nigga take me to Atlanta and take me to everywhere you can
take me, wherever the fuck a plane can go, thats where the fuck we need to go. That was
our main problem down here in Houston, these punk ass CEO’s that don’t know how
to handle business and these punk ass dope dealers tryin to watch their money cause they
scared now cause the feds on they mothafuckin tail I ain’t gonna say no names or
nothin, Presidential, but thats how shit go.
Down-South:
Speakin of Presidential whats the situation with that right now?
Z-Ro: Shit, the same situation I just explained. They looked at
me and they were like Z-Ro got a name for himself so lets run with it. Everything was
smooth at first and then Straight Profit tried to jump back in the picture actually just
Den Den. None of the rest of their shit was sellin so I guess a nigga needed some money or
somethin he came in that bitch sayin I owe them another album. If you was me and a
mothafucka walk in your studio tellin me you can’t drop another album cause you owe
me another album I’m gonna be like well alright then bitch, show me a mothafuckin
contract that says this versus alright man go on and drop your album, man fuck that shit.
A nigga gotta have a business mind in this shit cause this is very lucrative, there is so
much money to be made, can’t nobody be half steppin. Cause when you half steppin you
fuckin with a nigga self worth, pride, and more importantly his living arrangements. Them
niggas didn’t handle their business right over at Presidential, I refuse to fuck wit
em. They wanna sue a nigga for $160,000 but they got another thing comin. There’s a
whole lot of shit goin on right now where the fan blowin shit back in they face, just like
if you piss in the wind, whats gonna happen? It’s gonna get back on your clothes and
you gonna be lookin weak with that stain on your shit and lookin less than G. These
mothafuckas lookin less than G out here and they playin themselves.
Down-South: Is there anyone you would really want to work with that you haven’t?
Z-Ro: You know, he dead and gone, all of em are dead and gone. A lot of these
mothafuckas out here they get beside themselves right now cause of their fame or their
spot in the limelight and they hoes. A lot of em be havin attitudes like they don’t
have to take a shit like everybody else or they bleed green or some shit know what
I’m sayin. Fuck that, I would have liked to have done a song with Pac, I would have
liked to do a song with Fat Pat and thats the only people I wanted to fuck with. As far as
mothafuckas that are livin, I’d like to do somethin with Snoop and the other would
have to be Scarface but I’m fuckin with him right now so thats already been
released.Thats really about it I just wanna keep fuckin with my kinfolks Trae and Doug,
thats what the fuck is goin on. I just keep workin with them niggas and I’m satisfied
I don’t need nothin else.
Down-South: I asked Trae this and I’m gonna ask you, what do you think the effect
of Screw’s passing had on H-Town?
Z-Ro: That was the day H-Town died. This man never had a hateful
bone in his body, the man would get on his tapes and extend love to everybody. You see him
in the streets and it would be one love to everybody, if you was a white boy, fuck it, one
love my nigga, whatever the fuck your street was he didn’t give a fuck he didn’t
discriminate against nobody down to his music. He had mothafuckin Guns N Roses, Ja Rule or
whatever the fuck it was. The nigga was a musical connoisseur. When he passed man Houston
still ain’t right. Now you got all these fake ass screw niggas out here tryin to be
him and ain’t, now you got all the niggas tryin to come out of hidin and shit now
cause they figure their competition gone now. So it had a very profound effect on Huoston
when he passed. Every corner, grown ass niggas, killers and murderers and mothafuckas
that’ll slap the skin off your mothafuckin ass for passin gas around them were on the
corner teared up, it hurt. It was routine it was just mechanical everyday. I mean you get
up every mornin, brush your teeth and go get your drank from the drank house, go get his
weed from the weed house, and if you on cocaine go get your snort sack and throw the screw
in. You get in your car and you ride, you ain’t got no particular place to go, but
you got that screw in your ear so you drivin like a mothafucka, it was just a routine. And
when he passed it was like goddamn all we got left is these mothafuckin tapes and these
cds. The whole mothafuckin city was sad except for these punk ass police and these punk
ass judges and prosecutors that work down over at 1201 Franklin, fuck all of them. But
shit, probably undercover they was jammin that nigga too. But it fucked H-Town up and
H-Town still ain’t the same.
Down-South: Is there any certain way you would explain your style?
Z-Ro: Shit man, its just how I’m feelin right now. I might
feel like I got a whole bunch to say, the track might be like 3-5 minutes average, and you
only got 3-5 minutes to say somethin and thats where that tongue flippin shit come in
sometimes. Other times a nigga might be feelin a little slowed down and do some slowed
down shit and other times like Eminem said sometimes I feel like fuckin singing so I
fuckin sing. Whatever my mood is, thats what is gonna come out of my mouth. I don’t
think I have a style, I just have ideas.
Down-South: How did you hook up with Daz?
Z-Ro: Well shit, I
was on KMJ so he was tryin to do whatever with the CEO of KMJ and lookin for some more
ways to make money and shit fuckin with Southwest Wholesale. They hooked up some type of
way however I don’t know, but I recieved a phone call one night and it was like come
up to the room cause I want you to meet somebody blah blah and I went and met the nigga in
the room and the nigga said he wanted to pay me and Daz to do an album together so we
didn’t quite do an album but we did like 6 or 7 songs for him but that was it, it was
aight.
Down-South: Shit man that was basically all I had anything you wanna add to that?
Z-Ro: Keep buyin Z-Ro and keep buyin Guerilla Maab
and be on the lookout for Trae’s new shit but he’s right there he can tell you,
Dougie D’s new shit, keep buying S.L.A.B. keep supportin that, and keep supportin
Gangstafied and support Houston music. And last but not least, these mothafuckas might
think you last in the race but when the smoke clears, we’re gonna see whose the last
mothafuckin man standin.
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