EVEN IN THE NIGHT

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/ZRo-25Lighters.mp3]

Z-Ro – 25 Lighters

an epic screwed freestyle joint from another overlooked Southside rapper, Z-Ro. This is from Crack, an album which finds the much loved and respected Southern rapper in usual low spirits exploring themes such as isolation (there’s something about Z-Ro’s loner persona, being from the lone star state, lone star state of mind?), crime, fake friends, and selfish women with a few bright, joyful moments—but it seems overall, still uncompromisingly gloomy like much of his previous works.

5 Comments

  1. lots of folks are (surprisingly) surprised when they find out that, in terms of artists with a cynical/dark/depressing tone, houston’s got some cultural capital (from trae to bill hicks to jandek…).

    great track, but i do kind of think z-ro’s fallen off a bit, consistencywise, in the last year or two. i find trae’s new album quite a bit sharper, lyrically.

  2. Ro is a beast when it comes to off the top freestyling. even tho that nine minutes at regular speed is about five and half mins. “Mo City Don Freestyle” is also great.

    & you’re right Crack is not his greatest work, though , for me it’s between Let The Truth Be Told and Look What You Did…

    not familiar with the other artists you mentioned, will check tho.

  3. hahaha…you’re right, i forgot about the whole regular speed thing. still though!

    as far as the other artists, i mean, bill hicks is a comedian and jandek’s a folky. dark, cynical, depressingish.

    trae, though, is z-ro’s frequent partner in crime, from ABN (assholes by nature) to SLAB to basically all the stuff screwed up click has put out in recent years. maybe i’ll post something of a primer soonish on La Mancha.

  4. I’m aware of Trae, ABN and SLAB— T’s Life Goes On is exceedingly colder than Crack.

    Watched/listen to some clips of Jandek… brilliant blues, You Walk Alone.

Comments are closed.