Marz

Marketing was always a problem for Bobby "Marz" Zlatko, one of the more promising artists not to emerge from the rap-rock boom. His solo debut, 2000's Lung Fu Mo She, sounded like hip-hop made with four guitars and a sledgehammer. Alternative Press called it a cross between Tupac and Ministry -- which made perfect sense, considering that the rhymer played guitar on the Chicago industrial godheads' Filthpig. Marz's initial promotional push billed him a Ministry affiliate, and then a second wave of press releases tried to rebrand him as a "Chicago rapper." Next, he contributed tracks to the Insane Clown Posse's Dark Lotus project, and right when he seemed poised to find a niche, a dust-up over the performance of Marz's then-publicist prompted a falling out between him and the Juggalo nation, precipitating his fall from obscurity into oblivion.

Marz then signed to Korn singer Jonathan Davis's Elementree label, where electronic-influenced hot properties went to die. By the time Marz's Gorilla Pimpin' album was finished, the label was dead in the water, and the disc never received a major-label release. Despite working with Peter Gabriel -- yes, that Peter Gabriel -- and Ruff Ryder Swizz Beats, Marz quit producing to concentrate on a career as an indie rhymer. On the new TGZ Nation mixtape, he spits ghetto-dialect rhymes over big-money beats jacked from artists such as Jay-Z, which sound thin compared to the 100-track instrumentals that made his debut such a devastating listen.