Houston, Texas emcee & singer/songwriter Z-Ro celebrating another winter with his 28th studio LP. A member of the Screwed Up Click collective, he’s been holding it down for 3 decades already whether it be the Rap-A-Lot Records debut & my personal favorite in his discography The Life of Joseph W. McVey or his output as part of the Guerilla Maab & later the duo ABN. He dropped both The Ghetto Gospel & Call Me Rother last year, venting 53 weeks later that he feels Unappreciated.
“KKK” begins with a bluesy trap intro airing out his grievances towards crooked cops in light of it already being half a decade since his SUC brethren Big Floyd was murdered until “Famous Again” goes for a cloudier trap vibe instrumentally talking about his detractors giving him free promo because they have no motion. “I’m Tryin’” blends soul & gospel wanting his people to know that he’s been doing his best in case this is the last we’ll hear from him while the summery “So So” tells us the way he’s been feeling.
As for “Do Less”, we have Z-Ro continuing to jump over atmospheric trap beats talking about minimizing his output if it turns out people don’t appreciate everything he’s doing while “Would’ve Known” swaps out the cloudiness in favor of more gospel influences pondering if he would’ve still done the shit he did if others were already aware that he’d be gone. “Ro Come Bacc” brings back the soul suggesting for people to never return if they ain’t feelin’ him no more just before “Me Against All Y’all” aggressively channeling his inner 2Pac.
“Gotta Maintain” pushes the 2nd half forward reminding himself of keeping his composure because the rest of the world doesn’t want to see him shine while “Heart of a Hustler” featuring Lil’ Keke has my favorite guest appearance of the 4, talking about the grind always being in their hearts & instrumentally fusing soul with trap. “I Swear” featuring Kook has an admirable theme of betrayal & the latter also delivering a solid verse, but I can’t say the same regarding Yella Fella’s contribution to “Don’t Judge Me” despite the subject matter.
The song “On My Side” gets Unappreciated’s final moments blending the Houston sound with dirty south aesthetics talking about keeping a firearm close to him while the funky trap hybrid “Do You” assures the world that success is making sure your loved ones are good as opposed to having a private-gated estate. “Too Much Patron” finishes up advising to be left alone because he’s in his zone smoking the most potent weed he could get his hands on & drinking tequila.
Call Me Rother still has moments that I’ll go back to every now & then but a lot like his ABN partner-in-rhyme Trae tha Truth put out a late career highlight with the love letter to his daughter Angel on his birthday this summer, Z-Ro has done the exact same thing except he’s reiterating the statement of him becoming Unappreciated in recent memory hinting at retirement once again like he did thorough the last album of his I enjoyed this much initially did: No Love Boulevard.
Score: 4/5
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