The Official Z-Ro "Crack" Thread.

[Black Excellence]

shit jammin..knock t.i out the deck this mornin...that 25 lighters freestyle,lonely and made..my shit 4 08..

til landing gear n chico dusty drop...

hate this aint gone do shit tho...

moms n pops had them hoes since wed.. half the niggas some parts of texas..got em..some of sold out ..

LOL

[Rudki]

As a big fan of Ro's music, its very dissapointing COMPARED TO earlier shit, and even Let the truth be told and Im still livin'.......but im diggin the tracks alot I do like on here, like 25 Lighters, and "Tired"

[K.Dub]

Did I listen to the same album as you all did?

I like this!
Amateur/wack beats? Fuck no.
And I like Ro's rapping too!

[Blood$]

after the second listen I really got into the album, shit is hella dope... I copped it yesterday and have bumped it a few more times since

for those who were disappointed, I recommend giving the album another spin or two to see if your opinion changes

[K.Dub]

after the second listen I really got into the album, shit is hella dope... I copped it yesterday and have bumped it a few more times since

for those who were disappointed, I recommend giving the album another spin or two to see if your opinion changes

For real

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

be hot as fuck but wasted cause no money to work with which means wack beats. these beats aint the zro style.

that nikka need to get on the internet then cuz the best beats out today are cheap ass internet producer beats..  Do your research...

[3rd Coast]

after the second listen I really got into the album, shit is hella dope... I copped it yesterday and have bumped it a few more times since

for those who were disappointed, I recommend giving the album another spin or two to see if your opinion changes

For real

wont do it..kuz they judge albums after 1 listen n call em classics..

[K.Dub]

after the second listen I really got into the album, shit is hella dope... I copped it yesterday and have bumped it a few more times since

for those who were disappointed, I recommend giving the album another spin or two to see if your opinion changes

For real

wont do it..kuz they judge albums after 1 listen n call em classics..

lol

[ABN]

i just ordered it and the ABN album. i´m pretty happy that CDON are selling their shit now coz just a year ago you couldn´t actually buy RAL albums over here coz they don´t have international distribution. but CDON are importing shit on their own now and that´s great. i´ll probably order 10 Trae/Z-Ro/G-Maab projects in the near future.

[krzieg]

i was very impressed with both the ABN & Ro's solo project. I wasn't expecting 'Crack' to be classic top 2 bottom but there r plenty of bangers on there.

25 lighters is my fav 2.
i like the track with Mike D 2.

[Blood$]

yeah I really like "25 Lighter" now, same with "Eyes On Paper" and "Mo City Don"

fuck it, I still been bangin' the whole album at least a few times a week 

[Elano]

Z-Ro:Crack
[Rap-A-Lot; 2008]
Rating: 4.7

Foreclosure is nipping at hip-hop's heels. Though it doesn't look it thanks to a broad, impressive list of releases from this and last year-- led by, in no specific order, Bun B's crowd-pleasing II Trill, Trae's wrenching Life Goes On, Devin the Dude's uncanny Waiting to Inhale and Scarface's lion-in-winter MADE-- even Houston's once evergreen Rap-A-Lot records is a house going to seed. Trae left the label in May. Devin has fled too, and already dropped a new full-length disc-- with Razor & Tie of all places.

For Z-Ro, who first appeared in the corners of DJ Screw's chain of drizzling, endless mid-1990s classics (most of which are now conveniently repackaged and available at your nearest Best Buy-- start with the 3xCD June 27), and has released five albums already on Rap-A-Lot, the whole world is starting to sound like it's closing up shop. Case in point is Z-Ro's sixth on Rap-A-Lot, Crack, which is drab, shabby and more than a little lonely ("I smoke purple stuff alone in my room"). It can't make its terrain of solipsistic gangsters and Houston beltway-sulk hum with emotion or its layers of horns and hi-hats shake with any color.

Z-Ro produces eight of the album's 15 tracks, and leans on heaps of previous compositions. The raided discs include the last two Trae albums and Trae and Z-Ro's two collaborations, 2003's A.B.N (Assholes by Nature) and this summer's downpour of noir, It Is What It Is. The samples are all tamped down and strip-mined in their reincarnations on Crack. "Here We Go" features an inexplicable pan flute and a lifeless snare. The would-be ladies-jam "Baby Girl" reeks with clumps of digital sparkle and hubby-talk: "She follow my lead/ And respect the fact that I wear the pants."

Z-Ro's hook is that the intimacy in his raps-- perpetually commemorating a handful of dead collaborators and friends, worshiping solitude and seemingly dismissing all worldly pleasures (except, of course, kush, candy paint, and lean)-- dips into weakness. On Crack he scoffs at dancing on "If That's How You Feel": "My body don't move like that, so Im'a chill/ Im'a play the wall, leaving all to dancing to y'all." He'd prefer it if no one called and no one spoke; four wheels are typically all the company he needs.

But for all his confession Z-Ro brushes his breakthroughs aside. As soon has he resonates with real sentiment-- on divorce: "I don't give a fuck as long as my child knows me"-- the album swoops back into dropsied howls about those suspicious club hos and these disrespectful young corner boys. Where, say, Scarface, may hold a mournful note for an extra beat, Z-Ro instantly flips into a stream of pithy taunts and complaints. The effect is dulling, frustrating, and more than a little repulsive.

Z-Ro at least had his strengths catered to on 2005's Let the Truth Be Told. There, the underrated long-time Scarface producer Mike Dean laid out a chain of warmer, blues-inflected guitar and drum loops for Z-Ro's moans. Dean is totally absent from Crack and other veteran Houston producers like Mr. Lee can't summon any suitable nostalgia, which makes Z-Ro seem even more alone. All the shining lights of the Houston scene sport something ineffable: Scarface's transcendent violence; Devin's beat-poet-leer; Trae's whorls of emotional concision; Big Moe's druggy, violet sunshine. Z-Ro has always been satisfied playing the brassy, noncommittal grump. That's a fine enough role to play, but as the world around him downsizes and constricts, he's clamming up, retreating home and phoning it in.

(pitchfork)

[Blood$]

^  at that review, but w/e everybody has an opinion