Z.RO

Z.RO, born Robert Earl Davis Jr., came up in Houston's rap scene in the late 90s. His debut album 'Look What You Done Done' arrived in 1998 with the single 'Mo City Don,' and he followed it with records like 'King of the Ghetto' and 'Let the Truth Be Told' over the next several years.

His songs often dealt plainly with difficult subjects, and titles like 'Life Is A Bitch,' 'I Hate U Bitch,' and 'Hustling All I Can Do' give a sense of his direct, unvarnished style. He worked with a loose Houston collective sometimes called the H-Town All-Stars, which included rappers like Lil' Keke and Scarface.

Legal troubles were part of his story, including a federal drug charge that led to prison time in the early 2000s. He kept recording after his release, putting out albums like 'Till Death Do Us Part' in 2005. The raw quality of his writing about street life and personal struggle connected with a particular Houston audience and left a body of work that still gets referenced locally.