Kid Rock
Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known by his stage name Kid Rock , is an American singer-songwriter and rapper with five Grammy Award nominations. Kid Rock is known for music that incorporates elements of hip hop, rap metal, blues rock, southern rock, funk and country music.
Kid Rock released several studio albums that mostly went unnoticed before his 1998 record Devil Without a Cause , released with Atlantic Records, sold 11 million albums behind the hits, "Bawitdaba","Cowboy," and "Only God Knows Why". In 2000, he released The History of Rock which was a compilation of remixed and remastered versions of songs from his previous albums as well as the single, "American Bad Ass". In 2001, he released the follow up, Cocky . After a slow start, his country-flavored hit "Picture" with Sheryl Crow resurrected the album and it went gold as a single and pushed the album's sales to more than 5 million. It was followed by 2003's self-titled release, which failed to chart a major hit. In 2006 he released Live Trucker , a live album. In 2007 Kid Rock released Rock N Roll Jesus , which produced a hit in "All Summer Long." It was his first worldwide smash hit, charting #1 in eight countries across Europe and Australia. Rock N Roll Jesus would go on to sell 5 million albums worldwide including being certified triple platinum in the US.
He has sold 22 million albums to date in the United States, which currently ranks him as the 99th best selling music artist of all time in the U.S.
Musical career
Early years
Kid Rock grew up on an apple orchard in Romeo, Michigan, and his father was a wealthy car dealer. His parents would entertain guests with Bobby singing covers of Jim Croce, Johnny Cash and Bob Seger at their barn parties. However, by the time the 1980s began hip-hop had emerged, and a late-night TV performance by the Fat Boys had Bobby hooked. He became immersed in hip hop with groups like Run-DMC, Beastie Boys, Whodini, Too Short and Eric B. & Rakim.
At age eleven he joined a breakdance crew (referred to as b-boy), called the Furious Funkers. They would dance anywhere they could for money. He saved up his money to buy a cheap belt-driven turntable, and he taught himself how to work the tables. In high school, Ritchie DJed at parties for beer. He eventually joined Bo Wisdom of Groove Time Productions, in Mt. Clemens, Michigan to perform basement parties for thirty dollars a night. It was then that he was given his stage name; club goers dubbed him with the moniker "Kid Rock" after they had enjoyed watching "that white kid that can rock."
Rock started rapping and joined a local hip hop group, The Beast Crew. They were composed of The Blackman, Champtown, KDC, Crisp and Doc Rounce Cee. Rock became friends with producer D-Nice of the legendary hip-hop group Boogie Down Productions. When Rock opened for BDP one night, D-Nice invited an A&R representative from Jive Records to see him perform. This meeting led to a demo deal, which developed into a full record contract.
Against his parents' wishes, Rock signed the deal at the age of seventeen. Despite his new record deal, he had a falling out with The Beast Crew when he signed over fellow member Champtown (the two have become friends again since). They left his vocals on the tracks of their debut underground album "Chapter 1: He Don't Want Us No More," against his wishes. Rock later became part of the Straight From The Underground Tour, where he found himself alongside several heavyweights of rap including Ice Cube, Too Short, D-Nice, Mac Dre, and Yo-Yo.
Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast
On December 11, 1990, Kid Rock released his debut album Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast on Jive Records. The lead single "Yo Da Lin In The Valley" was banned by the FCC for its fixation on oral sex, and received what was at the time the largest non-commercial radio fine of all time, $23,750. The amount was fined to SUNY Cortland Radio (WSUC-FM).. Jive released Kid Rock from their roster in 1991. It was during the height of the 2 Live Crew censorship trial and they deemed Kid Rock's album too dirty.
He would meet Uncle Kracker in 1991 after battling Kracker's brother in a rap battle back in Clawson, Michigan. Kid Rock eventually asked Uncle Kracker to become his full time DJ, although at the time he had no clue how to play them.
Grits Sandwiches sold 100,000 copies upon its initial release. Atlantic Records won the rights to the record in 2000 and re-released the album.
Independent days
In late 1991 he was picked up by an independent record label called Continuum Records, which released his second album The Polyfuze Method the following year. He moved to Brooklyn to work on the album. It was more rock oriented with Rock teaching himself how to play several different instruments including guitar, drums, keyboard and organ. While the album saw some local college radio success at Central Michigan University with the tracks "Back From The Dead" and "Balls In Your Mouth" (which was an even cruder ode to oral sex than Yo Da Lin In The Valley; however, it never was fined ), the lead single, "U Don't Know Me", which failed to chart, and the music video received little airplay on any major music video channels. Kid Rock re-released "Back From The Dead" as a single to mainstream radio, but that too failed as a single. The album has sold around 100,000 copies.
He released an EP called Fire It Up later in 1993. The album was hard rock oriented, but he couldn't get rock radio to pick up on any of the singles, including "I Am the Bullgod", which would be a hit five years later. He was told that there was too much rapping in the songs. Continuum didn't see a future with Rock after this and released him from his contract in 1994.
He moved back to Detroit where his on-again/off-again relationship with Kelly South resulted in the birth of his son, Robert James Ritchie, Jr. Kid Rock has since acquired custody of his son. He started his own label, Top Dog Records, and released monthly demo tapes dubbed The Bootleg Series , which featured demos of him and other up-and-coming rappers and garage rock bands in the Detroit area. Around the same time, Kid Rock formed his back-up band Twisted Brown Trucker, later recruiting Joe C., who he met at a 1994 concert, as part of the group. In 1995, Rock took a job as a janitor at Whiterooms Studios in order to pay studio fees. When he wasn't working, Kid Rock recorded the material that would eventually make up his fourth album, Early Morning Stoned Pimp . During the recording process he met piano player Jimmie Bones, who was working with Robert Bradley in the adjacent room at White Room Studios. Bones decided to join Kid Rock's band soon after. The album was released January 9, 1996. A loan from his father aided the release. Kid Rock sold 60,000 copies out of the trunk of his car, including after his concerts. With EMSP local success he would re-release The Polyfuze Method as The Polyfuze Method Revisted in 1997 with "I Am The Bullgod", "Rollin On The Island" and "Rain Check" as additional tracks in March 1997.
While Kid Rock was now popular in Michigan and controlling his own label, he felt he needed to get attention from a major label. He was unaware that in December 1996, Lava/Atlantic Records A&R man Andy Karp traveled to Cleveland to see Rock perform at a small club called The Grog Shop. This was key, because on March 30, 1997, Rock performed a special showcase concert to attract major label attention. While many of the major labels were invited, the only attendees were Karp and Lava President Jason Flom (Lava/Atlantic Records), who had seen him in Cleveland. Following the performance, record executives said they loved him but expressed doubts about the strength of his material. Kid Rock returned to the studio and cut a six song demo tape. The first two songs on the tape were "Somebody's Gotta Feel This" and "I Got One For Ya". After hearing the two songs, Jason Flom supported Karp in signing Kid Rock to a record deal for $100,000, without even hearing the rest of the material.
Devil Without a Cause
In 1997, Kid Rock added drummer/vocalist Stefanie Eulinberg to his band, joining Kenny Olson, Jason Krause, Jimmie Bones, Uncle Kracker, Misty Love, Shirley Hayden and Joe C.. On August 18, 1998, Atlantic released Devil Without a Cause behind the single "Welcome 2 The Party." Kid Rock went on the Vans Warped Tour to support the album, performing one of his first New York City shows at Luna Lounge on the Lower East Side during the CMJ convention.
Audiences ignored "Welcome 2 The Party" and Devil sat on the shelves collecting dust for eight months. While sales nationwide lagged, his performance on the 1998 Warped Tour in Northampton, Massachusetts stimulated regional interest in Massachusetts and New England. This led to substantial airplay in the summer and fall of 1998 on rock staples in Massachusetts WZLX and WAAF for the single "I Am The Bullgod." In December 1998, while dj'ing at a club he met and became friends with MTV host Carson Daly, he got an offer to perform on MTV Fashionably Loud in Miami, giving the nation its first real look at Kid Rock. From there, MTV took him under their wing as he performed on MTV's Wanna B A VJ doing "My Name Is Rock" and was the DJ for TRL on the Spring Break Special as well as a judge on Say What Karaoke . This sparked him to gold status by April 1999.
In May 1999, he released the song "Bawitdaba" to radio outlets, and proceeded to blow up ove
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Kid Rock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter and rapper with five Grammy Award nominations.