Growing up in the shadow of a military base in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the limelight of the music business seemed like a far-fetched dream for a young man sharing a one-bedroom apartment with his mother and older brother. Zachary Cole Rochford was born on January 28th 1986 to a single mom, Valarie, who was kicked out of her grandmother’s house shortly after his birth at just 19 years old.

Zachary, or Zach as he was almost immediately known, was his mother’s second baby out of wedlock with her older boyfriend Daryl Rochford. Throughout Zach’s childhood Daryl was in and out of his son’s life until he started kindergarten when he made a permanent outro in the form of a move to New Orleans with a new girlfriend. Daryl battled addiction and was in and out of lock up throughout all of his adulthood, a pattern that continues even today. Despite the lack of resources Zach’s mom worked hard, sometimes doing three separate gigs, to make ends meet for hr family. Their life wasn’t glamorous but it wasn’t long before they made the upgrade from apartment to trailer. Most people would’ve been less than impressed by the come up but to Zach it was the first time he felt like his family had a real home and from that point forward things began to stabilize for the young family.

Music ran in the family on Zach’s paternal side – his father dripping with aspirations passed down by his own father who died an accomplished local jazz musician in Charleston. While Zach didn’t grow up around his father he felt the music in his blood from a young age and his mother helped to encourage and foster a broad appreciation. Aside from the arts Zach also took a strong interest in both academics and athletics growing up – he adored reading anything he could get his hands on and played both basketball and football through his senior year.

In the shadow of his rebellious older brother Zach was often considered “the good kid” from the block, determined to make something more for himself and his family it was never an option to him to stay in Fayetteville and he spent many long nights in his bed staring at the ceiling and scheming all the different ways he planned to get rich.

Zach’s ninth grade English teacher in part discovered his gift for writing and wordplay after she assigned a winter poetry project and was impressed by her pupil’s gift for storytelling and effective imagery. She encouraged him to keep writing and even acted as editor on some of the first rhymes he put together. The transition from writing poems to writing lyrics for a beat felt like a natural progression – combining his love of music and storytelling to create something that spoke to the culture he was growing up in was and has always been Zach’s greatest motivation.

College was never not an option for Zach growing up, he was the first in his family to attend but his mother invigorated his determination to attend all throughout his adolescence, despite the fact that it wouldn’t be financially feasible for their family without loans or a scholarship. Initially Zach thought that his ticket to a University would be through athletics and several small southern colleges pursued him for his talents on the football field, but in the end it was an academic scholarship from St Joseph’s College in New York City that really turned his head. Naturally goal of getting his degree was always a priority, but ultimately it was his passions that drove him to New York, far away from his family and plunged deep into the unknown.

Zach double majored in marketing and human relations, finishing his degree in five years while maintaining a part time job and spending every moment of his free time writing lyrics, making beats, and peddling his sounds around town to anyone that would listen. He was ignored, laughed at, mocked, and eventually praised by what felt like everyone who paid the smallest bit of attention to the New York hip hop scene until a chance encounter with an A&R scout from Jay Z’s Roc Nation label while attending a party hosted by a friend of his then girlfriend. Following years of hustling to be heard his career after that night had an almost meteoric rise from rags to riches. Shortly after graduating from St Joe’s in 2007, Zach put out his first mixtape, “The Come Up”. The recording helped solidify his spot as a part of the Roc Nation family.

In time for the release of his second mixtape “The Warm Up” Zach changed his professional name from The Wiz to Z Roc at the suggestion of his manager and saw his feature on Jay Z’s 2009 album The Blueprint 3 raise his profile in the hip hop community. Positive reviews were generally received by his first two releases but it was nothing like the response he won for his 2010 mixtape Friday Night Lights, a record that would eventually provide the basis for a few of the songs on his first studio album. Producing a lot of his own work, Zach is a complete an utter perfectionist who has finally hit his stride with his most recent album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, which became the highest selling album of 2014 despite not being released until December.

While his professional life thrives Zach’s personal life has always been a bit of a train wreck shrouded in mystery. He has been engaged to the same women, his college sweetheart, two separate times before she broke it off for good in the early months of 2015.

Regardless of his relationship status Zach is well known for having a bevy of other women in his life and in January 2015 the product of his unfaithfulness was born. While he was initially reluctant to believe it a paternity test confirmed that he became a father to a baby girl named Imani Carline with a fellow musician 9 years his junior. The revelation shocked fans and critics alike who tended to mistake Zach’s intense privacy about his personal life for good behavior.

Six months into his daughter’s life Zach is still learning how to balance fatherhood with the life of a touring musician but he is determined to be a better father than his own while also leaving his baby a legacy she can be proud to represent.