Artist

Kid Rock

Kid Rock’s Detroit rap and DJ roots: Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast (Jive, 1990), The Polyfuze Method (1993), Early Mornin’ Stoned Pimp (1996), Devil Without a Cause (1998).

Detroit hip hop beginnings

Kid Rock was born Robert James Ritchie on January 17, 1971, in Romeo, Michigan. In the 1980s he got into hip hop, took up breakdancing and taught himself to rap and DJ, performing around Detroit. In the late 1980s he joined a hip hop group called the Beast Crew. Through the group he met D-Nice, and that connection led to Kid Rock opening local shows for Boogie Down Productions. In 1988 the Detroit producer Mike E. Clark made a set of demos with him that drew offers from several major labels.

Jive Records and Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast

With D-Nice’s help, Kid Rock signed to Jive Records at 17. Jive released his debut album, Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast, on November 27, 1990. It is a straightforward hip hop record, with production from Kid Rock, Too Short and Mike E. Clark among others, and it made him one of Detroit’s two biggest rap names of 1990, alongside Esham. Jive later dropped him. Kid Rock has attributed the split to friction with Vanilla Ice.

The independent years

In 1992 he signed with the Detroit independent label Continuum. The Polyfuze Method, released in March 1993 and produced with Mike E. Clark, blended hip hop sampling with heavy metal guitars and pointed toward his later rock sound. Around the same time he appeared on Insane Clown Posse’s 1992 debut Carnival of Carnage, rapping and scratching on “Is That You?” By 1994 he had formed the live band Twisted Brown Trucker, with the Detroit rapper Joe C. as his onstage hype man. Early Mornin’ Stoned Pimp came out in 1996 on Top Dog Records. Kid Rock distributed it himself and has said it sold 14,000 copies.

Devil Without a Cause

In 1997 Lava Records head Jason Flom saw him perform, and Kid Rock signed with Atlantic. Devil Without a Cause, released August 18, 1998, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Diamond by the RIAA. Eminem makes a guest appearance on the album.