-RO interview:Speaks on SlimThug,Stayin Undaground,Watchin Swishahouse,Screw's death

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caff

Sicc OG
May 10, 2002
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Z-RO interview:Speaks on SlimThug,Stayin Undaground,Watchin Swishahouse,Screw's death

I hear you’re in a feisty mood today.
Yeah, I’m in a saucy mood right now. I’m feelin’ myself right now. I ain’t masturbating, though.

That’s good to know. So since you’re in a saucy mood, tell me why Z-Ro is the greatest rapper of all time.
sh!t, you know. I can’t tell you that it’s because I bring the real. I can’t tell you it’s because I’m a ghetto preacher, because that’s everybody’s story. It’s just because when I start my sh!t off, I finish it. I ain’t gonna jump from sh!t to sh!t without concluding the first sh!t. I ain’t gonna open the door before I close the last one. I give muthafuckers the complete sh!t.

Did you come into the game through DJ Screw?
I really started doing this sh!t on my own, back when a muthafucker had to pay to open up for somebody. I had a clique called the Boomerang Clique. This was back when artists like Too Short, 2 Live Crew, and Bone Thugs & Harmony were comin’ through. Back when that sh!t was crunk. When I met Screw, I was already puttin’ it down. He was a real-a$$ cat. He put me where I needed to be. He was definitely one of the reasons why Z-Ro popped off.

When Screw passed, how did it affect you personally?
Man, he was a friend. I was like, “fu@k rap.” My partner is dead, my friend is dead. I ain’t even wanna do this sh!t no more, to tell you the truth. These bit@h-a$$ niggas down here are so selfish. Selfish-a$$ CEOs with short arms and deep pockets. Muthafuckers don’t wanna break bread. Screw was like a confidant in hard times. He showed me it was gonna be alright. That sh!t actually shut me down for a long-a$$ time. That sh!t just hurt. I couldn’t do music for months. fu@k a sound room, fu@k a microphone. I was on some straight ridin’ sh!t. That’s when that gang sh!t really took an influence in my life. I always been Crippin’ but sh!t, I was just representing for the hood. When Screw went in the box, I really got Crip crazy and muthafuckers really started gettin’ it.

What inspired you to come back to music after that?
It’s real, real, real hard to stop doing something when everybody else around you is lovin’ you when you do it. I don’t give a damn if I’m pleasing the people next door or not, but as I’m getting older and older, you know, that grown man sh!t catches up with you. You’ve got responsibilities. You’ve got rents and mortgages and car notes and sh!t. It’s either keep on with the penitentiary chances out here doing that sh!t, or stick to something that’s gonna keep me free a little bit longer. I had to get my focus together and really buckle down so I could have a chance at having a life out here.

People say that Screw died from a codeine overdose. When he passed, did you stop sipping as heavily? Did it change people’s attitudes about the drug?
Obviously, to a person outside that didn’t really know what was going on, if they’re smart they would be like “Damn, if that killed dude, let me stop using.” But just to clarify all the bullshit that’s been going around, let me tell you this. Codeine, man, that’s a downer. That’s that sh!t that’ll put you to sleep and sh!t. When they did the autopsy, what they found in the codeine sample was some ice. That’s some ol’ white boy speed type sh!t. That’s an upper. Somebody slipped something in my nigga’s drink. Only a bit@h-a$$ muthafucker would do some sh!t like that. A stand-up cat is gonna murder a nigga to his face. Whoever did that was a muthafuckin’ coward, but it musta been somebody close to us cause Screw didn’t fu@k with too many cats. Somebody slipped something in my man’s drank that made his heart blow up from the inside. So, I mean, I’m drankin’ now while I’m doin’ this muthafuckin’ interview. Ain’t nobody tapped my muthafuckin’ drank.

What’s the benefits of sippin’ lean?
For a dude like me, I been doing this sh!t for a while, so I don’t even feel the lean off that sh!t no more. I don’t drink heavy now. Back in the day it was custom for you to show up at Screw’s house with eight ounces or a pint and do a dub. That was all your favorite songs slowed up on the tape plus a freestyle from your favorite artist from H-Town or the surrounding areas. I used to put a pint of that sh!t in a two-liter and not share with nobody. Now I drank probably like two ounces in a twenty ounce.

Does it relax you, help you to chill out?
It’ll have the effect of a Xanax or some sh!t. Just don’t go driving. If you drink a whole pint and go driving, you fu@k’ with your life. I don’t know, I mean, I wouldn’t tell nobody to drank the sh!t, but everything we do nowadays kills us in the end. I wouldn’t be biggin’ up the sh!t, though, I wouldn’t be tellin’ other people to sip drank.

There’s a lot of Houston artists blowing up on the national scene. Is there any sense of jealousy that you aren’t really recognized yet on a mainstream level?
Nah, it’s not that at all. I understand totally what’s going on right now. It’s just that some sh!t is radio-friendly and some sh!t ain’t. Maybe I could cuss on this interview with OZONE, but sh!t, if I’m fu@k’ with that dude on MTV, I can’t say “damn” or “sh!t” or none of that sh!t. A nigga like me, I’m not gonna check my language to please the next muthafucker. I’m gonna keep my sh!t gutta. That’s why you can’t send Z-Ro to award shows, because on my way up to shake Magic Johnson’s hand, I’m gonna stop and slap the sh!t out of your favorite rapper. That’s why I’m not up there on the stage. But can’t nobody with a deal right now see Z-Ro. They can’t see me on the streets, and they can’t see me with a fu@k’ mic neither. These niggas with deals know they can not fu@k with Joseph McVey. The only thing that’s different is that they’re dressing up the image of a dope dealer and packaging that sh!t and making that sh!t look good for corporate America to buy it. Me, I ain’t gonna kiss nobody’s a$$ for no commercial play, cause the niggas down in the bottom buy my sh!t. There’s a ghetto everywhere, and them ghettos support Z-Ro. I been driving the same cars these niggas be driving on TV, and after the video shoot I don’t have to give it back.

How many copies did your last album sell?
I don’t check that sh!t. Z-Ro pays attention to show money, cause that’s the money, period. I don’t give a fu@k what your rap label is giving you; it ain’t gonna see your show money unless you just a lazy-a$$ nigga.

Your album is doing very well in Texas, but do you think that outside of Texas you’re being slept on because it’s not promoted on a mainstream level?
As far as promotion it could be a little better, but for the most part, it’s good. As far as going to cities and sh!t, we do our traveling thing and then come the fu@k back to the crib. I do me. I don’t cater to what other muthafuckers want. If I was to change up anyway then I wouldn’t be Z-Ro no more. We just do that gangsta real-life grown man music.

Outside of rap, what kind of music has inspired you?
I just like music period. I listen to a lot of gospel music. I fu@k with rock & roll every now and then, but mostly I listen to religious music.

It seems like you’ve got a problem with a lot of rappers.
sh!t, I ain’t got a problem with nobody. I mean, aside from me always boosting DJ Screw cause the bit@h-a$$ nigga Watts ain’t do it. I ain’t beefin’ with him, though, I just think he’s a bit@h-a$$ nigga. And he knows that I think he’s a bit@h-a$$ nigga. When I see him in public he walks by me, but I’m not beefin’ with him. If I was beefin’ with him I woulda shot him up like six months ago. I deal with niggas as they come.

When I interviewed Watts a few months ago we discussed Screw music, and he gave Screw credit for creating the genre. He didn’t say anything that seemed to be disrespectful towards Screw. Do you think it’s possible that you misunderstood something he said or took it out of content?
Nah. Of course Watts paid homage to Screw in your interview because he knows I’m in his a$$ like a G-string. He’s not gonna say disrespectful sh!t on TV and in the muthafuckin’ magazines now because he’s watching his a$$. A bit@h-a$$ nigga will always bow down if he knows he can’t beat you. It’s either ride with you or get stomped the fu@k out. Right now, Watts knows he’s wrong, and Mike Jones knows he’s wrong for making little bullshit-a$$ statements like Screw ain’t never exist on this muthafuckin’ earth. Like I said, Screw was my partna beyond some music sh!t. Anytime a muthafucker slows some sh!t down and calls it Screwed and chopped, I tell them, “bit@h, that sh!t is slowed down and chopped.” That’s all I’m sayin’. That’s why a muthafucker is gonna jump on TV and say “Big ups to DJ Screw,” because he knows the Screwed Up Clique is watching his bit@h-a$$.
 

caff

Sicc OG
May 10, 2002
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If you’re not willing to compromise to reach a more mainstream audience, does that mean you’re not concerned with mainstream success? Do you want to be on TV and touring the world?
I mean, who wouldn’t want to be on TV and touring the world? But it’s all about understanding who I am as an artist. Artists, especially good artists, are faced with this situation every single day. This sh!t gets old. All the clubs in Texas, Louisiana, and the surrounding areas, I know their club employees’ names by heart because I’ve done so many shows there. The average nigga, especially if he’s a good artist, wants to see some new territory. But sometimes the sh!t these muthafuckers want you to do is just downright degrading. If you’re a real nigga like me, I was always taught that pink was for a punk-a$$ nigga. Muthafuckers are wearing pink shirts and sh!t. I ain’t gonna do that. It’s just certain sh!t I ain’t gonna do. I ain’t worried about the next nigga.

So you’re not concerned with what other people, or the mainstream rap listeners, think about you.
Whether I put out a song that says “I hate you, bit@h” or “I love the hoe,” I’m into pleasing myself with everything I do. Right now, the sh!t I’ve been doing has me living well off. I’m living better than everybody else in the hood. I ain’t livin’ like the muthafuckers from How I’m Living, but I ain’t in the hood no more. I understand why I’m not on the next plateau and I’m cool with that. Suge Knight and Death Row was the best example of muthafuckers bein’ like, we ain’t gotta dress up sh!t to get rich. Suge Knight is gonna slap muthafuckers. He got a whole lotta cuss words for the camera. They gonna have to bleep out the cuss words, and they gonna have to blur out the a$$-whuppin’ from the video. I know if Suge and Pac could do that sh!t, I don’t have to change to make it. If I stay at this level, I’m cool, cause I’ve got a following. Them Z-Ro fans are some faithful-a$$ fans. If I go out tonight, I’m cool with my 16 records.

It anger a necessity for you as an artist? Like, when you’re mad, does it inspire you to go in the booth and just let loose?
To tell you the truth, I have more problems in every day life with hood niggas. Rap niggas don’t fu@k with me. Them hoes are fake are something. I don’t never get into it with a rap nigga, cause a rap nigga knows I’m gonna beat his bit@h-a$$ up. My beefs be with niggas in the trap and sh!t, or Blood niggas and Crip niggas. My sh!t is on some street sh!t. Sometimes the proper way to vent that sh!t out is whupping that microphone’s a$$ one or two good times. I ain’t had to do too many beef songs, though. When you ride on one nigga the right way, they all fall in line. I don’t need no beef.
There’s another rapper out of Texas who’s been sending some little sideways remarks at you. What’s your response to that?
I don’t even know who you’re talking about.

I didn’t wanna say names, but I heard that Slim Thug recently referred to you as “some dude named Z-Ro.”
Oh, yeah, yeah, I remember that. Well, sh!t, if he can say that sh!t to my face then it’s on. I ain’t gonna lie, you can run your mouth for twenty years but don’t put your hands on me, because I will come to your block and bit@h slap you, no matter how short or tall you is. I’m gonna put it dead on your bit@h a$$ without no help. It’s a reason if I’m coming for you. No matter who you may be, or who you may know. To me, disrespectful sh!t is if a nigga says, “fu@k that nigga, I’m gonna whoop that nigga.” If the nigga do it like that, then the nigga gotta wear a vest even when he’s in his crib. I ain’t gonna tell you no lies. Niggas in the H know what to say to piss me off, that’s why they don’t say it. Niggas wanna be fly, you know, spread your wings, ruffle your feathers. Come to me in my face and say some sh!t and direct that sh!t at me with a nag. See how long you’ll be standing up after that. And y’all can print that.

Why do you think Slim would have a problem with you?
See, I got this song with Paul Wall and Lil Flip on it. Lil Flip says a line about someone’s platinum being fake or something, but he ain’t place no nag on his sh!t. When you just throw something out there and don’t place a nag on it, there’s gonna be a whole lotta muthafuckers who hear that sh!t and think you talkin’ ‘bout them. So, you know, the nigga Flip threw a rock out there and the nigga Slim thought he was talking about him. And I’ll tell you on the cool right now, I ain’t gonna tell you who he was talkin’ ‘bout. I’ll let Flip tell you that. But I will tell you that he was not talking about Slim Thug. That’s real talk right there. He wasn’t talking about Slim on the song, but you know, Slim responded. It’s cool to play and all, but I guarantee niggas don’t want me up in they head.

Well, it seems like you have issues with a lot of artists in Houston. Is there anyone with a major deal that you do feel is representing the city properly?
Everybody I come across says that [Lil] Flip is representing us wrong. But the thing is, everybody who says that sh!t is a rapper who’s broke and don’t nobody know sh!t about them. So yeah, I’m gonna say that my man Flip is holding that sh!t down how the fu@k it’s supposed to go down. He doing what the fu@k he supposed to be doing. He fu@k’ with Sqad Up and a whole lot of local niggas. Flip is fu@k’ with Houston. He from Houston. He ain’t flyin’ everywhere else, tryin’ to give a nigga from Timbuktu a deal. He fu@k’ with Cloverland. Niggas were shittin’ on him back then because he didn’t have sh!t, but now that he’s got sh!t everybody thinks he owes them something. Dude is a family man. He’s raising his family but he’ll still put his G suit on and go out on the streets and do it like he supposed to do it. So, I’m gonna say Flip is holdin’ it down. Dude is at home right now doin’ homework with his daughter. That’s real.

What can we expect from your new project with Trae?
You can expect a whole lot of pain-driven sh!t. I ain’t gonna lie, this album here, there’s a whole lotta things poppin’ on this muthafucker. There’s a whole lot of nags and a whole lot of drama on this bit@h. It’s also a whole lotta laid-back sh!t on this album too. It’s gonna be a grown man album. We got tracks produced by Trae and I, a whole lot of in-house sh!t.

What other projects do you have out right now? You just did a mixtape with Lil Flip, right?
Yeah, there’s the mixtape with Flip, Kings Of The South. We working on the second volume to that, Kings Of The South Vol. 2. I’m on Sqad Up’s new sh!t, and I got a track on Flip’s new album. I ain’t rappin’ on it, I just did the beat. I got my new sh!t, Let The Truth Be Told. I’m finna release the Crip side to that album, Let The C Be Told. Some Blood niggas are gonna pick that sh!t up and listen to it too. That’s coming out on King Of The Ghetto Entertainment. And of course I’m still fu@k’ with my own niggas, Houston pioneers. I ain’t have to go out side the 713 area code to get no jammin’ a$$ song with no hot-a$$ niggas. I’m still fu@k’ with my niggas. Keep supporting down South rap. There’s real sh!t down here.

- Julia Beverly & Wally Sparks
 
Aug 26, 2002
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WWW.YABITCHDONEME.COM
#3
mayyyyyynnnnnnnnneeeeeeeee.............

for all these dudes that wanna know...why im a Z-ro fan...
this is why...

I’m gonna keep my sh!t gutta. That’s why you can’t send Z-Ro to award shows, because on my way up to shake Magic Johnson’s hand, I’m gonna stop and slap the sh!t out of your favorite rapper. That’s why I’m not up there on the stage. But can’t nobody with a deal right now see Z-Ro. They can’t see me on the streets, and they can’t see me with a fu@k’ mic neither.
the boy is rawwwwwww...

quit sleepin on him..
he doesnt hold back shit....

BTW...THANKS FOR THE INTERVIEW...VERY GOOD READ...


5000
 
Oct 14, 2004
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Didnt knwo much about Z-Ro but after reading this I have attained a whole lot of respect for the man and Iam DLing some Ro right now.