My name is KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID, KID ROCK!
Biography:
Robert James Ritchie was born on January 17, 1971 to a used car salesman and his wife. Bob was the third of four children growing up in Romeo, Michigan, about 40 miles north of Detroit. While in his youth, his parents enjoyed throwing parties and hayrides, at which was a supply of alcohol. Usually around midnight, when everyone was nice and trashed, his parents would wake the young kid up. Bob would strap on his leather vest, cowboy boots and hat and head for the party. The 6 year old would then tear it up with his version of the Jim Croce classic, Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown.
While growing up, Bob would sometimes get in trouble, whether it was playing with matches and lighting things on fire, poor performance in school throwing apples at moving cars or demolishing mailboxes with a baseball bat. However, Bob's parents ran the household in a strict catholic fashion, which included church on Sundays and no cussing. However, this completely left out Rap.
While still in high school, a teenage Bob Ritchie got bitten by the rap bug. Quickly, Bob began dancing at home, working on the robot, the windmill and other such dances. A little while after, he received a pair of turntables, along with a copy of the early rap flick Krush Groove, both of which occupied most of his time. In 1990 Kid signed with Jive records, who had such names as Tribe Called Quest, Kool Moe Dee and Boogie Down Productions. The Kid at this time also sported a hairstyle that would put Kid N Play to shame. His normally limp blonde hair was teased straight up, similar to how metalist Wayne Static has it currently, only smoother and a smidge more Vanilla Ice. Actually, Bob and Ice looked remarkably similar.
Also in 1990, Kid released his first album, Grit Sandwiches for Breakfast. He also got a spot opening for ex-NWA uber-rapper Ice Cube and Too $hort. While the tour was successful (the whiteboy didn't get thrown off the stage), Kid did not receive the notoriety he thought it would give him. Kid then switched labels and locals to Continuum records and New York City. Here, Kid released The Polyfuze Method in 1993. It would be on Polyfuze that kid would start to open up and start writing about the things that were going on in his life. However, Polyfuze would not receive any critical acclaim. One critic from the Village Voice said the album was "joining rap and metal with love for both and reverence for neither."
On January 6, 1996 Kid released Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp on his own label, Top Dog records. Before this, however, he would travel back to his home near Detroit. After the release of Early Mornin Stoned Pimp, Rock would form his own Silver Bullet Band, called Twisted Brown Trucker. TBT consists of Jason Krause and Kenny Olson on guitar, DJ Kracker, Jimmy Bones on keyboards and uber-drummer Stefani Eulinberg.
Devil Without A Cause hit in 1998, and many considered it Kid's last chance to either go platinum, or go home. Backed by the Twisted Brown Trucker Band, DWAC exploded. With hits like I am the Bullgod, Black Chic, White Guy and Cowboy the album took off. Not only did it go platinum, it received a diamond award for selling over 10,000,000 (that's ten million) copies! The album also featured a guest appearance by fellow Detroit rapper Eminem on the track Fuck Off. He also went on to work alongside short man Joe C. on the track "Kyle's Mom's A Big Fat Bitch" off the South Park - Bigger, Longer & Uncut soundtrack.
On April 30, 2000 the Kid, alongside Joe C. made animated guest appearences on The Simpsons. A month later, on a May 20th episode of Saturday Night Live, Kid played American Bad Ass for the first time and for his second song played Only God Knows Why featured Trey Anastasio, from the jamtastic band, Phish, and country legend David Allen Coe. Ten days later, The History of Rock dropped. Sparked by American Bad Ass, the album featured songs that appeared on soundtracks as well as other hits from the Kid's lengthy underground career. The album would only go a meager triple platinum.
On November 17, 2000 the Kid was dealt a devastating blow. While sleeping peacefully, Joe C passed away. He had suffered from Celiac disease, which is an intestinal disorder Joe had been afflicted with since his childhood.
In a gesture of uber-coolness, Kid Rock donated all the proceeds from his Norfolk, Virginia show on January 21, 2001 to the families and crew of the USS Cole, which was attacked by terrorists. This occurred when it was brought to Kid's attention that the ship was blasting American Bad Ass as it started the journey home to the US of A.
In November of that year, Kid released his sixth album, Cocky. Cocky was led by the singles Forever, and You Never Met a Motherfucker Quite Like Me. It also features guest appearances by the woman who will forever be known for butchering Sweet Child O' Mine AND D'yer Maker and the uber-pimp and uber-pothead Snoop Doggy Dogg. The track, Picture, which featured Sheryl Crow, was the third single off the disc. It revitalized the flagging sales of the album and added another hundred thousand or two to the total sold.
The self-proclaimed pimp of the nation has worked with everyone from Phish, to Snoop Doggy Dogg, to David Allen Coe to Run DMC. He has performed with Aerosmith and Run DMC at an MTV awards show and even showed up onstage with Phish for a rendition of Rapper's Delight, which is very amusing as Rock was the only one who knew the lyrics. This variety is appearent in Kid's albums, as no two songs sound alike or follow the same style, well, atleast on the same album anyway. Many blasted kid for his successful Only God Knows Why, which received ridiculous amounts of radio play, but Kid has put in his dues to receive the bounty he has. Kid is currently romantically involved with uber (and I do mean uber) hottie and all around fox, Pamela Anderson, which makes me insanely jealous even if she does have Hepatitis C.
However, Pamela was not Kid's only romantic experience. In high school, Kid used to get picked on for dating a black chick. Kid paid the haters no attention and carried on in his life, until the girl started to mess with him and his head. She had a kid while Rock was on tour, only the kid was from another man. She did this twice and got kicked to the curb. The song, Black Chick, White Guy is about this situation.
I almost forgot, Kid is an accomplished musician, and the instrument doesn't really matter! At the end of his concerts (atleast the tour he did with Limp Bizkit back in 1999) the band would start jammin and kid would pick up a guitar, then get behind the keyboards, then the turntables and, yes, the drum kit too. It's quite incredible seeing one person jam out well on so many instruments.
As of December 9, 2002 the man with Pam has been very busy in the studio. Kid told MTV that he had two albums done and was working to release a county album, a rap album, and a Kid Rock album. He also mentioned interest in other side projects. However, the question remains, is the world ready for that much Kid Rock?
Discography:
Cocky
The History of Rock
Devil Without A Cause
The Polyfuze Method
Early Mornin Stoned Pimp
Grit Sandwiches for Breakfast
sources:
http://www.geocities.com/rodeogirl5/kidbio.html
http://www.kidrock.com/bio/kid_chronology.php
http://www.kidrock.com/bio/kid_wallofsound.php
http://www.kidrock.com/bio/kid_rollingstone.php
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/singerUnid/43A7E35B112531F24825689D001C5027
VH1's Driven on Kid Rock
I think I used uber more times that I should have this node.... oh well :^)