Review Summary: And I thought I had problems...
We’ve all heard the overused cliché “Life is a b*tch.” Despite its lack of dexterity in its often unsupported form, it’s a statement that resounds firmly within everyone. Whether your wife divorced you, or you’re $10,000 in debt, life has seriously screwed over everyone at one point or another, and Joseph Wayne McVey is no exception. The rapper we know as Z-Ro has had more than his fair share of knockdowns, disappointments, and miseries. Whether it be his problems with the law, society, or his personal life, Z-Ro has just been dealt a bad hand, and on
Let The Truth Be Told, he expresses this with a melancholy passion.
The lyrical aspect of this album is best described by Z-Ro himself. On ‘Another Song,’ he states, “
I'm sorry for not havin’ any songs about happiness or bein’ in peace and sh*t like that. See, I can only display my personal feelings and experiences, and so far I ain't felt what happiness feels like and experienced anything but hard times and heartache.” Having been in the positions himself, Z-Ro tells tales of senseless violence, minority suppression, and the atrocities of poverty via the art of political rap. In a three-pronged attack of sadness, Z-Ro supports his gloomy lyrics with dreary, soulful soundscapes complimented by his deep, hopeless voice and his brooding, half-singing style of rapping in a seeming attempt to induce tears.
Let The Truth Be Told may not make you dance, or may not make you smile, but its vivid, sad, and pure, and that’s really all Z-Ro wanted.
