OK, I'll be honest... I love the tune... Sweet Home In Alabama. It was Lynyrd Skynyrd's response to Neil Young's 'Southern Man'. But let's remember Neil Young's intention.... It was to expose the racism still prevalent (in that region) in the sixties/seventies. (Hell, if we're gonna keep it real in the eighties, nineties and noughties too!)
The response from Lynyrd Skynyrd 9back in the day) was meant to say hey peeps, we're not all like that, and actually we're proud of where we're from!
OK let's fast forward to 2008... Kid Rock, a white rapper from Detroit, has established that he's not going to cut it in the Rap World. This guy has been rapping since the eighties and he wanted to cut it in the world of rap.... mostly (until Eminem) a sole market of black artists.
He's been slowly moving towards representing the white 'rock' market for some time. It may be a shrewd business move on his part, or it may be a cynical move to betray his rap and Detroit roots. In the video, he 'recalls' his eighties summers of listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd by the lake, with white chicks in confederate flag bikinis.
BULLSHIT!!! He was trying to cut it (bravely may be?) in a world of rap, where his black contemporaries were making all the moves. He was probably listening to mix tapes from the hood and trying his best to emulate what he heard....
It distresses me greatly to seeing him selling out in a huge way, to the red-neck audiences that will be lapping this shit up on both sides of the Atlantic. Kid Rock might well become the poster boy for a bunch of white folk that see him bedding Pamela Anderson as being a major achievement and forget the real heroes that inspired him to be a rapper. And more sinisterly see him as being a protagonist for Southern USA bigotry...
I worry that this tune, which is doing hugely well on both sides of the pond, will become a chant for ignorant white peeps. He's undoing all the groundwork made by Eminem and Bubba Sparxx.
What concerns me more is that I've put money into this fucker's pocket, by buying his shit for years. He's such an icon that he's been a Simpson's character and is now a mainstream idol. He's the only white rapper that ever used the n-word in a song... Kid Rock? Fuck you!
I'll sign off by posting a stream of videos which I hope you'll watch... They might bring some context or sense to this rant....
The Neverending Betrayal at House on the Hill
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With the release of the Widow's Walk expansion I and my beloved boardgaming
(also, you know, proper) friends decided to return to *Betrayal at House on
th...
7 years ago
9 comments:
I gave up on Kid Rock when he did that corny ass, bullshit song with Sheryl Crow.
And now he's transformed into white trash.
Meh.
Now, I have to admit it's the first time I hear about this Kid Rock, but judging from what you're saying, what he did was pretty fucked up. The first two videos were cool, though, the only Lynyrd Skynyrd song I knew was Free Bird.
wow apparently not only am i a red neck, but the rock music ive been listening to for years is actually rap. thanks for educating me father k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxCNH_GoHKU&feature=related
I actually LOVED that song back in the day bj!
Kid Rock started out doing rap (early days!) and then started doing the Rock/Rap kinda thing (Cowboy, Bawitdaba, etc.), but now's he's completely changed, and kinda crap as far as my tastes go.
Nobody said you're a redneck bj (you're British, LOL!!!)
ahh but im white, heavily tattooed, have long hair and missing teeth :P
What you look like doesn't make you a red neck, it's how you act!
And I refuse to believe anybody with a British accent could ever be a redneck...it just doesn't fit! If anything, I'm more of a redneck because of my country accent. :P
When he first started out Kid Rock had a friggen "Vanilla Ice" haircut. Really.
He was all about rap. Then he found out he could sell more albums by changing his image a bit. Then he changed his sound a lot.
Yeah I mean I am not going to badmouth the guy for changing up to make some money. I honestly don't think he really gives a shit what style he uses as long as he is getting paid to go on tour.
I liked the earlier stuff he did and I like some of his newer stuff. The "extra country" stuff I am not so much into.
Free Bird rules. I love that damn song.
"ahh but im white, heavily tattooed, have long hair and missing teeth :P"
Sound less like Redneck and more like carney worker too me.
I'm confused about your rant. Or rather, I think you're confused. Let me start this by saying that I generally don't like Kid Rock. Also that I'm a native Detroiter (well, Detroit Suburbian) and was raised in this area.
First of all, "it may be a cynical move to betray his rap and Detroit roots"? Detroit isn't a "rap city" at all. In fact, we've been long known as "Detroit Rock City" and have had far more major name rock bands come out of Detroit than rappers by a huge margin. So, his more rock, less rap aspect is actually pushing back into his roots from a primarily white, lower-class, blue collar, outer Detroit area. I doubt either of us heard much music that wasn't classic rock throughout the 70s and early 80s.
His rap side came from being influenced by the Beastie Boys, another white rap/rock fusion group. Soo... that's what he actually was doing when he first got started in music, rap and rock fused together. When he started doing more rap-like albums, he was moving away from what he knew. Apparently he didn't like it much.
At any rate, I could care less what you think of Kid Rock, but frankly, you should do a bit more homework before you call someone out. Maybe you liked his mid-career, rapish music better, but he isn't selling out, he's actually going BACK to his roots.
Jesse thanks for your comment, and reading back my original post, it was a massive rant. However, I do think I was slightly right...
I bought the CD. Apart form having very little rap on it... (One track) it has a few alright rock tunes and then a load of cheesy country/bluegrass shite. Kid Rock states on the CD that he "makes balck music for the white man" and "laughs at racist jokes".
Kid Rock YOU ARE A COCK! For a real southern rock/soul hybrid why not do the Black Crowes...
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