You donвЂ™t argue Z-Ro in mixed company the same way you donвЂ™t argue A.I. Z-Ro, in the comparative sense, is like Allen Iverson in that way.

She can sing вЂњyou wonвЂ™t catch me runningвЂќ and youвЂ™ll immediately backdoor with вЂњlosing the way that I lose, I get gray hairs,вЂќ wonвЂ™t you? You want to load your imaginary AK at this very moment. Quick, you can hear SadeвЂ™s вЂњCherish the DayвЂќ at this very second. But a world without a Z-Ro solo album? Impossible. Ro is a legend, one of those erstwhile figures that seem to be eternal just because you know their presence. You know Z-Ro is going to rap his ass off you know he's going to serve the public exactly what theyвЂ™ve been hooked on since the earliest of days, when he was cutting his teeth on Screw tapes. Common reaction? An exasperated push of the words вЂњLast one.вЂќ HereвЂ™s the thing: Nobody truly believes Z-Ro is hanging his microphone up for good.ДЄfter all, heвЂ™s still tag-teaming with Mike D for the sequel to Two the Hard Way and putting the final touches on Ghetto Gospel with Beanz N Kornbread, the production duo responsible for his most effortless radio single in вЂњThese Days.вЂќ Prolific and Z-Ro are synonymous, about as close bedfellows as baked chicken and rolls from the Hartz Chicken on Fondren and Main. So when Z-Ro announced that next monthвЂ™s No Love Boulevard would be his official solo-album swan song, it became his most talked-about moment on social media. Responding to complete strangers who aren't with it yet is tiresome. In other words, Z-Ro is at a career point where people who know Ro, know Ro. Online, Ro heads will flock to stream his latest works and not do their part to spread his name to other, more nubile ears. Z-Ro understands that regardless of how potent he is as a rapper, an elder statesman with the dry humor and wit of a comedian, heвЂ™s essentially putting out albums to serve a certain base and thatвЂ™s it. Save Heroin, all of them arrived in September or October. RoвЂ™s highest-charting album, 2008вЂ™s Crack, is arguably the high point (no pun intended) of his unofficial вЂњon drugsвЂќ series, in which he released albums titled Crack, Cocaine, Heroin, Meth and Angel DustВ within a five-year span. Of his 20 solo albums beginning with 1998вЂ™s Look What You Did to Me, Rotha Vandross has clocked no higher than No. Z-Ro's preoccupation with numbers needs to be recognized.

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