Hip Hop Or Not? Thread 6 (Kid Rock)

Kid Rock-blends all musical genres...started out as a rapper

It's hard to call him hip hop, but he definitely has some hip hop in him. He is a great musician and performer. He rocks a stage like nobody else. I saw him in Louisville last year and he brought out Rev Run and they ripped the arena to shreds doing all the old Run Dmc classics. Hip Hop? Not quite. Dope artists? Without a doubt.

I'll say he's hip hop even if the stuff he's doing now isn't. It's hard to ignore his roots, his work with Too Short on his debut, or the fact that he was touring with Cube, and KRS One back in the day.

Cube, KRS, Yo Yo, $hort, etc etc etc. Dude is one of the sickest djs of all time and a multi-talented musician. Did he sell out? Yes. But he's still hip hop IMO.

T. Myers wrote:

I'll say he's hip hop even if the stuff he's doing now isn't. It's hard to ignore his roots, his work with Too Short on his debut, or the fact that he was touring with Cube, and KRS One back in the day.

Indeed. I'll say he's hip-hop as well. His first couple albums didn't have mixed genres.

Whoa N3ro, I don't think it's fair to say this guy sold out. He makes other types of music that alot of people, including myself, enjoy. Just because a guy is succesful in other genres doesn't mean he sold out.

He absolutely sold out. Have you heard his first two albums? They're straight rap. They didn't sell. He switched his style to sell more records based on the popularity of mixing hip hop with rock at the time, and now has gone even further left field by doing country music to sell to that crowd. It's obvious what he's doing and anybody saying otherwise is ignoring the what's right in front of their nose IMO. Can the music still be good? Sure.

His next album will be 3 discs...one rock, one rap and one country...I wonder how that will work.

N3R0N0N Of 0nslaught3r wrote:

He absolutely sold out. Have you heard his first two albums? They're straight rap. They didn't sell. He switched his style to sell more records based on the popularity of mixing hip hop with rock at the time, and now has gone even further left field by doing country music to sell to that crowd. It's obvious what he's doing and anybody saying otherwise is ignoring the what's right in front of their nose IMO. Can the music still be good? Sure.

well put.

Well if you know about him, you know that he has roots in Southern Rock and Country music as well. He's making music that he loves so i'm not sure that's considered selling out. Selling out is when you do what the record companies want you to do and I think he does what he wants to do.

How does he have roots in southern rock and country music if he started making hip hop? That doesn't make sense to me. Also, if I'm an indie artist making a capella freestyles, then one day change my steez to Souljah Boi shit with autotune, if I sell 5 more records, I just sold out. My opinion.

I know he had a love for those genre's, but i'm not sure that really equates to roots.

He didn't sell out. He's now being true to himself. It's corny, but that's because he's a corny dude. He said himself that those hip-hop albums he did with $hort weren't his thing, and he felt that's why he couldn't get on with those efforts.

He grew up blue collar white trash listening to some hip hop, and that's exactly what he's repping today.

T. Myers wrote:

I know he had a love for those genre's, but i'm not sure that really equates to roots.

exactly. Dude was djing in house and hip hop clubs in his teenage years, freestyled with west coast vets in his 20's, chilled with Limp Bizkit and Korn in his 30's, and now in his 40's he's at the CMT awards. Dude SOLD OUT.

"He didn't sell out. He's now being true to himself."

That's my opinion too.

Kid Joe wrote:

He didn't sell out. He's now being true to himself. It's corny, but that's because he's a corny dude. He said himself that those hip-hop albums he did with $hort weren't his thing, and he felt that's why he couldn't get on with those efforts.

He grew up blue collar white trash listening to some hip hop, and that's exactly what he's repping today.

He wouldn't possibly lie to sell records...

It's like this kids, I have a cousin named Johnathon Langseth. He's norwegian, and from Minnesota. He plays guitar and sings. He was signed by a record company in the mid to late 90's. There was a blues resurgance at that time. Suddenly he goes from Johnathon Langseth to Johnny Lang. He goes from indie songwriter to blues frontman. His family is not allowed backstage at shows because they're mostly rich and his people don't want to disturb his "working class" image. It's all bullshit, kids. Why would Kid Rock start off his career by lying? That makes no sense.

Also, you know, these artists are people. As people get older, they go through changes. Yes, sometimes sellout is the case. But, sometimes people just change.

That song he did with Sheryl Crow is not something a teenager could do. You need certain experiences, and those experiences will compel an individual to change/grow.

At the same time, it should seem weird when a forty something guy is obsessed with pimping and drug use. It doesn't seem weird, because the target demograph for hip-hop doesn't change. That shit stays being teen-mid twenties men & women who are locked in party mode.

My only problem here N3RO is that he sounds damn good doing the country and rock thing. I think there's a difference in doing what your good and what you enjoy doing, and selling out. We'll just have to agree to disagree. No big deal.

Again, I'm not saying he doesn't have some country influence or whatever, or that he sounds bad (which I hate the music for the record, but I won't say it's not well done). I'm just saying that to me it's plainly obvious WHY he went with the switch. Agree to disagree it shall be.

I agree with n3ro.. jay sounds good selling out... doesn't mean he isn't selling out... I don't care how many "roots" kid rock had in anything... he switched to sell more...

if you look at n3ro's side... he was a rapper who sold out... if he wasn't white.. if he was a black man who switched to southern rock and country, would anyone be magically rationalizing his roots in southern rock and country? Can I know say all these NYC rappers who did crunk music were just tapping into their southern roots?

If you look at kid joe or e. taylor's argument, then Kid Rock TRIED to sell out by making rap music over his true love, failed miserably, and then returned to his roots. Either way he sold out at some point in his career. The fact his styles seem to coincide with what is HUGE at the time is too much of a coincidence to me.

Southern Rap Pro wrote:

I agree with n3ro.. jay sounds good selling out... doesn't mean he isn't selling out... I don't care how many "roots" kid rock had in anything... he switched to sell more...

if you look at n3ro's side... he was a rapper who sold out... if he wasn't white.. if he was a black man who switched to southern rock and country, would anyone be magically rationalizing his roots in southern rock and country? Can I know say all these NYC rappers who did crunk music were just tapping into their southern roots?

If you look at kid joe or e. taylor's argument, then Kid Rock TRIED to sell out by making rap music over his true love, failed miserably, and then returned to his roots. Either way he sold out at some point in his career. The fact his styles seem to coincide with what is HUGE at the time is too much of a coincidence to me.

Ex-fucking-actly.

Kid Rock is NOT hip-hop. He's no more hip-hop than Fred Durst is.

BULL. Kid Rock is more hip-hop than Drake (at least on his first couple releases)

KJ Styles wrote:

Kid Rock is NOT hip-hop. He's no more hip-hop than Fred Durst is.

Clearly you have no concept of Kid Rock's history. Kid Rock would wipe the floor with Fred Durst 1000x over. They do not belong in the same sentence ever. Kid Rock would be hip hop if only for his DJ skills alone. is DJing still part of hip hop? There is a reason the dude is respected by dudes like Run and Eminem.

Indeed. Check out Kid Rock's history KJ. He's a pretty talented dude.

Kid Rock is the ONLY person who would be asked to appear at a hiphop, rock, and country award show. All 3 genres respect the dude.

Indeed. Kid Rock was at the Def Jam (I don't know if was a Def Jam show, but they were honoring Def Jam) show last year and was at the Country Music Awards as well

Kid Rock is hip hop, not all of his stuff of course. Didn't he used to sport the Kid from Kid N Play high top eraser head fade?

RompedOutCutthoat wrote:

Kid Rock is hip hop, not all of his stuff of course. Didn't he used to sport the Kid from Kid N Play high top eraser head fade?

lol

hahahahahahaha, nice find JL.

Kid Rock is the first DJ on record to scratch with every appendage of his body (hands, elbow, knee, foot, chin, and ass) without trainwrecking and while keeping the record mixing. Look the shit up. He is, point blank, one of the greatest djs ever, period. He's a dope hip hop producer, and even if his mic skills are stuck in the 80's...he's hip hop. Period. He's ghost-written for Too $hort for god's sake!!!

LOL, i have no problem with KJ saying he's not hip hop(no matter how much i may disagree). My biggest gripe was the fact that KJ lumped him in with Fred Durst. That's like saying Soulja Boi and Jay-Z are the same cause they're both mainstream. It's an insult to Kid Rock, and it shows a complete lack of familiarity with Kid Rock's career. If KJ is unfamiliar with his career(which he obviously is), he is in no position to speak intelligently on this subject. He is just taking Kid Rock at face value, but most people know there is so much more than that. No offense to KJ, but i do believe this to be the case.

KJ is just a Kid Rock hater, and has no right to talk about him.

I was mistaken yesterday and thought you guys were hating on him too because of the "sell out" comment. I still disagree but I do see that you weren't hating on the guy. Some people will hate on him because of the White trash angle but how can you hate on a guy with this resume:

Plays guitar
plays piano
He can rap
he can sing
he produces
Hell of a dj
Has respect from the hiphop genre
Has respect from the rock genre
Is gaining respect from the Country genre (although I hate country music)
Puts on one of the best live shows that I've ever seen.

You don't have to like the man but you have to respect him. And i'm not a stan, I'm just calling it like i see it.