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.

by: Pat Ice © Down-South.com