Kid Rock (aka Bob Ritchie), a middle-class white kid the outskirts of Detroit,
became a rapper under the influence of Run-DMC and debuted in 1990 with an
album which fused the classic hip-hop tradition with Detroit's own tradition
of loud rock music. Three albums followed:
Grits Sandwiches For Breakfast (Jive, 1990),
The Polyfuze Method (Continuum 1992), later reissued as
The Polyfuze Method Revisted (Top Dog, 1997), and
Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp (Top Dog, 1996),
and countless live shows constructed his cult image of madman,
before Devil Without A Cause (Atlantic, 1998) established him as a
major force in the genre. The album refined his fusion style with a powerful
blend of hip-hop, heavy metal and southern boogie.
The pounding earthquakes of Bawitdaba (augmented with a sinister
quasi-voodoo chorus and a noir feeling of unending alienation)
and Devil Without A Cause (the quintessential manifesto of his art,
symphonic ouverture and stomping groove, hip-hop hooks and
gospel shuffles, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Rage Against The Machine,
funky licks and metal crunches) resonate like pure dynamite where most rap-metal
is only bad-boy attitude.
Somebody's Gotta Feel This and Fist Of Rage
are charged with real madness.
Alice In Chains' grunge-pop tones down the otherwise angry motto-song of
I Am The Bullgod,
and the power-ballad Only God Knows Why shows some emotion,
but, mostly, Kid Rock knows no restraint.
His eccentric persona is on display in less poignant songs, such as the
relatively relaxed country tale of Cowboy (which features
gospel choir and ragtime piano), or the gospel singalong Wasting Time
(with a hint of the Fleetwood Mac's Second Hand News),
or the comic rap of Welcome To The Party (on a minimalistic piano
figure).
With this album, Kid Rock manages to concoct a rare balance of autobiographical
rambling and musical focus.
American Bad Ass is the (lame) single that leads
History Of Rock (Atlantic, 2000), an odd anthology of old tracks
from his early albums and unrecorded tracks.
Music business needs to sell records and, lacking new material, the easiest
thing is to package whatever is already available.
Cocky (Lava/Atlantic, 2001) and
Kid Rock (Atlantic, 2003)
were mediocre and dispensed with rap
little by little.
Rock N Roll Jesus (Atlantic, 2007) was his best-selling album, a stew of
southern-rock, rap and country music.
Rarely has an album been made that sounds so derivative and uninspired.
The hit
All Summer Long (2008) was a parody of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama.
The Rick Rubin-produced
Born Free (Atlantic, 2010), his roots-rock album, contains God Bless Saturday. Each song plagiarizes a classic sound.
Kid Rock specialized in party music for rednecks and assorted traditionalists.
Rebel Soul (2012) contains Chickens in the Pen and Redneck Paradise.
First Kiss (2015) moved him into country music and crafted his new image of angry white conservative man, but
Sweet Southern Sugar (2017) sounds like a tribute to old-fashioned southern-rock
(Po-Dunk,
Tennessee Mountain Top).
He turned increasingly political on
Bad Reputation (2022) and his
rap-rock sounded increasingly amateurish.
In 2024 Richie co-organized a seven-town tour/festival that played as a
soundtrack for Donald Trump's neofascist "Make America Great Again"
subculture in the southern states
(Ritchie boasted that he golfed regularly with Trump).