LOCAL Houston | The City Guide JANUARY 2015 | Page 55

Local January 2015_FINAL_002houston 12/18/14 4:20 PM Page 55

Z

...IS FOR Z-RO

The self-proclaimed “KING OF THE GHETTO” rose out of the Missouri City
neighborhood of Ridgemont in the Mid-’90s rapping at 100 mph and
singing big, soulful melodies that channeled his life’s pain into a homegrown genre. As a member of DJ Screw’s Screwed Up Click, his prolific nature (paralleled only by South Park Coalition rapper K-Rino)
flourished, and he has released at least an album a year (as a solo
artist and with the groups Guerilla Maab and ABN) since his 1998
debut, Look What You Did To Me. He is well known for collaborative
efforts with rappers from all affiliations (even squashing a longtime
beef with Northside rapper Slim Thug for an album in 2013), and his
fans know how to find him no matter what nickname (Rother Vandross,
Relvis Presley) he’s wearing. In fact, it is said that true Houston rap fandom includes being able to recite the lyrics to his 2004 classic “Mo
City Don” in their entirety, as his fans are known to do at his concerts
– sometimes prompting the rapper to turn the microphone towards
them and let them go at it a capella.
By Lance Scott Walker | Photography by Peter Beste

january 15 | L O C A L 55