KID ROCK
Rap and southern-flavored hillbilly rock; you probably couldn't think of two more polar opposite musical genres if you tried. The fact that KID ROCK was able to blend rap-rock and southern rock riffs into the same show without being laughed out of the music business is nothing short of amazing, and with his latest offering,
Kid Rock, released today via Lava/Atlantic, he's made a fairly smooth transition from the gritty rap-rocker from Detroit to honky-tonk, southern-fried, shit-kicking, guitar-toting hick.
This disc would have been a lot harder to swallow if not for the success of "Picture", Rock's duet with Sheryl Crow, which helped to sell four million copies of his last disc,
Cocky. Because of that credibility, he's able to pull off another duet with Crow (recorded during the 'Picture' sessions) called "Run Off To L.A.", as well as "Cadillac Pussy" with Hank Williams, Jr., and a ZZ TOP influence even shows up on "Son Of Detroit" (originally I thought Gibbons was playing on the song, but he's not; This was co-written by David Allen Coe). Kenny Wayne Shepard shows up on "Black Bob". To be honest, when I found out that Rock was going to issue a cover of BAD COMPANY's "Feel Like Makin' Love" as the first single, I was skeptical that perhaps he was running out of creativity or ideas.
Nope. Not even remotely. Nearly every other song on
Kid Rock is single-quality. I think the Bad Company just lends itself to familiarity, and releasing that first will help to ease people into Kid Rock's move toward a more straight-up rock sound.
He hasn't totally abandoned the rap either, but there is a lot less of it on this disc. If you're anxious to hear some old-school rap-rock, which Rock fully
admits is a 'fad' that he latched onto in order to gain popularity, then check out "Intro" and "Hillbilly Stomp" for your fix.
