Z-Ro Turns a Mirror Toward Himself on ‘Melting the Crown’

Z-Ro doesn’t leave much to interpretation. His songs are almost always tragically or hilariously to the point, and often both. On his latest album Melting The Crown, the Houston underdog balances the ups and down with the help of a new instrument-forward production team. The new record is a follow-up to last year’s The Crown, and this time around Z-Ro gave similarly short notice of its release. Quietly implicit in both cases has been the rapper’s official departure from his longtime label, the tenacious Houston institution Rap-A-Lot Records. Z, who prefers the more cumbersome but appropriately-eccentric handle The Mo City Don for himself these days, confirmed as much to XXL recently. He also hinted that his departure from the label has freed him up creatively and here at least that seems to have opened up an outlet for as much singing as rapping.

Z-Ro also credits Beanz N Kornbread, who produced much of the tracklist, with the album’s musicality: “They play instruments, they’re not just playing keyboards and a drum machine,” he says. “They’re doing everything: the flutes, the bass, the guitars. It’s like church messing with Beanz and them.” The pairing is fitting, both when Z-Ro is his rapping self as well as when he’s singing. “Don’t Stop Now” sets the tone early with a soul-tinged rhythm guitar as the backdrop for Z’s uncomfortably personal rant at a new baby mother. “I wish you would die/Bitch, I know you had that baby trying to ruin my life,” he sings in his smoothest baritone to open the first verse. Later, while digging at the ex, he sings, “Take this $213 and see if that’s gon’ take the place of her having a father.” Like anyone, Z turns a miserable mirror on himself with his cruelest thoughts for others; that he’s doing it all out loud sometimes endears in a traditional sense but just as often paints himself as hard to like but vulnerable all the same. Elsewhere though it’s hard not to mourn with him through songs like “Miss My Mama,” a heartfelt tribute that opens up into a memorial for more than just Z-Ro’s mother.

The Kirko Bangz feature is executed well but its melody and possibility at a commercial run are squandered by novelty. (The whole song, “Porcupine,” is is a crude reference to the guys’ expectations of female grooming standards.) Rick Ross shows up early in the album for the only other feature and the project’s second single, “Keep It Real.” The song is the album’s most obviously catchy and also carries two of Z’s best verses.

Nearly 20 years into his career, Z-Ro has proven that even if his music recalibrates itself his character is the real draw anyway. The album is as prone to spark a laugh as it is to induce a cringe or outright pity for the artist. That vulnerability (and crassness) is the foundation on which Z-Ro has built his relationship with fans. Melting The Crown stays true to the promise and is easy-going enough to attract some new ones along the way. —Jay Balfour

Related: Z-Ro Says There's No Unity in the Houston Rap Scene