Prior to this album, Kid Rock was down on his luck. His first two LPs had bombed and no record company wished to sign him. According to legend, Kid Rock obtained a loan from his father to make this album via his own record company label. This resulted in the most successful Kid Rock album to that point and eventually led to Kid Rock being signed onto a major label in 1998. Still, how does this album sound? Let’s find out.

Intro is a basic lead into the album, which sounds awesome with heavy guitar riffs. Kid Rock chants, “There ain’t no party like a Detroit party, because a Detroit party don’t stop!” A weird piece of music, but enjoyable nonetheless. This eventually ends with some wobbly guitars, an excellent introduction to this album.

Early Mornin’ Stoned Pimp (featuring Tino) has Kid Rock launching into it, stating “That’s right motherfuckers, I’m back!” through a vocoder of sorts. This quickly launches into a sleazy, dirty and awesome groove that is a great tune to listen to. It’s a sign of a guy who doesn’t take life too seriously here. Kid Rock sings an interesting falsetto part right at the beginning, and this is a great piece already. It is an interesting and unusual tune that eventually launches into a Rap/Rock masterpiece of great lyricism and music. Kid Rock showcases himself as a wonderful master of music here, and he delivers excellently and well here. A great and monumental tune that has crossover appeal between Rock and Rap fans alike, this is very catchy. Soon enough, this launches into an awesome bridge section that sounds really decent and quirky here. Kid Rock makes a cool, dirty and awesomely explicit tune that proves he was on the up by this point. The middle of the song has the bridge section repeated here and has Kid Rock chanting to the listener to get up and dance. Tino enters, and his presence is welcome, but his lyrics are weird. We’re talking angel dust weird. Nonetheless, this doesn’t last very long and it has some interesting piano playing afterwards, all the way through the fade out. Kid Rock makes some awesome tunes and is a real legend of music, more than others traditionally think. This eventually concludes with some piano soloing, before finishing. Good tune.

Paid is up next, and has some female Gospel vocals and an organ to begin this tune, with lyrics repeated here that are very explicitly about sex. Soon enough, this launches into a cool, groovy and awesome listening experience that sounds really decent and excellent. Kid Rock raps on here about his sexual desires, which is quite selfish but great to hear. This is a sensational piece of music that sounds really awesome and nicely delivered on this album. Kid Rock’s music makes much more sense in a Rap setting than it ever did in a Country music setting music later on in his career. A joyous and cool tune that sounds interesting, released at a time when male sexual desires weren’t a taboo subject, unlike today. A really cool piece of music that has some really good attitude. Kid Rock references “getting paid like Trump” here, and he probably loves putting that reference today on this song. The outro has some cool gospel vocals and DJ scratching. A really awesome listen, worth your ears and time.

I Wanna Go Back is an ode to the experiences that Kid Rock had growing up. It begins as a Gospel Funk piece, with Kid Rock launching into a great tune that sounds really cool and decent here. Kid Rock raps nicely about his past experiences when growing up, and he reflects nicely on the past. A really smooth tune, the chorus and lyrics will make you smile. A great listening experience, in its own way. This makes one reflect on their own childhood and cherishes the times one has had in their own way. Kid Rock made a great musical piece here, and this has some neat instrumentation to match. A really impressive and awesome tune, this is definitely great listening. A great piece that is actually better than The History Of Rock album version, and sounds varied and interesting enough. Close your eyes, light up something to smoke and relax to this mint tune. Cool stuff.

Live (featuring Esham) begins with Esham chanting to the crowd, and this tune launches into a loud, live frenzy with unusual sounds and it has a Robo voice repeated throughout. This isn’t the best tune on this album, but nonetheless, it works okay. Some of the lyrics present are interesting and hilarious, particularly the single line about k.d. lang, which is gold. A great mesh up of Kid Rock and Esham, this is different and cool for what it is. Soon enough, this has some DJ scratching towards the end, just before it concludes with some adapted Kid Rock lyrics from Esham. Nice work.

Detroit Thang (featuring The Howling Diablos) launches into very clear sounding and decent music present on this track. This is a nice Soul and Funk piece that owes a lot to African American music and culture here. Kid Rock raps along very nicely, and he is obviously very proud of being from Detroit. A really cool and loveable tune, and the chorus is very catchy and cool. A really fantastic piece of music, this has some excellent lyrics and playing throughout. A fantastic tune that is proof that Kid Rock is underrated, not overrated, and it works extremely well. There is a good breakdown in the middle, with Kid Rock and company singing about Detroit and how wonderful it is, at least from Kid Rock’s point of view. Admittedly, this is rather lengthy for a piece of music such as this, but it still is great sounding from start to finish. A great piece of music that sounds like a singalong tune, this is enough to get one smiling, yet again. It eventually wraps up with the crowd chanting, long after the song has been completed. Good stuff, there is clapping and cheering right at the end. Excellent.

Ya Keep On begins with some electronic drumbeats, quickly launching into another Soulful Funk tune that sounds really cool. Kid Rock raps nicely over the top of it all, and the instrumentation, namely the horns and other sounds are nicely played. The chorus, unfortunately has some high-pitched keyboards that don’t suit this tune very nicely. A good listen nonetheless, this shows Kid Rock at his funky best. Too bad that the chorus is awful, yet this was later rectified on The History Of Rock album released a few years later on. This is okay but could have been bettered, which it later was. This has a multitude of Gospel vocals and the chorus repeating towards the end. Not the best piece of music on this album. It’s okay, but nothing special here.

Shotgun Blast begins with some eerie sounding guitars and some interesting samples, including the When The Levee Breaks beat by Led Zeppelin and other cool sounds galore. This is a really great effort, Kid Rock raps about the fact his music doesn’t have the ability to kill others, but people do that to each other instead. A very confrontational listening experience, but this does sound really cool throughout. It ends with a chorus repeat and mock shotgun blasts. Wicked.

Freestyle Rhyme is even more sleazy and funky sounding than anything before it on this album. This is exactly the sort of music that should have been played in the Friday movie series, Kid Rock is a real legend and he raps nicely to match this music track. Indeed, if you are banging your head here to Kid Rock’s tune, you aren’t alone. The chorus is interesting, and follows with the lyric: “I gave an invitation to the president just for kicks, and said you’re cordially invited to suck my dick”, which is weird but hilarious. A great tune to listen to, and this sounds incredibly laidback and smooth. This again returns to the chorus, and a nice little number here to listen to. This wraps up with some profane lyrics and Kid Rock talking absolute rubbish about his agenda, just alone without any instrumentation. Not bad.

Classic Rock begins with an answering machine message on Kid Rock’s machine that has some girls asking for Kid Rock for some sexual action, to put it lightly. It launches into an awesome tune that is very much a continuation of the overtly sexual themes of the first two Kid Rock albums. An awesome tune that sounds really cool and is very catchy. Some of the lyrics are really disgusting, and there is a Robo vocoder part present again. This is really hilarious music, and Kid Rock has some interesting lyrics and guitar playing here. The lyrics are raw, direct and awesome. It concludes with a Vocoder Robo part sampling an earlier and profane Kid Rock tune, which itself is profane enough not to be discussed here. Eventually, this concludes with some oddly placed lone beats. Cool, but weird.

My Name Is Rock begins with some strange DJ scratching, before launching into one of the weirdest pieces of music you will ever hear, sampling many Kid Rock songs from the past. Eventually, Kid Rock launches into a cool and awesome tune that sounds really decent. Kid Rock does want to make a weird but powerful impression on the music scene in general. This tune is a little weaker than previous offerings, it’s not outright bad, just a little boring. A cool and awesome tune despite that simple flaw, this is a weird piece to listen to regardless. Kid Rock proves himself to be a decent maker of music on this album, although this track is very bland. Regardless, you can skip this one if you wish. There are some heavy metal sampled chords here in the outro before this concludes with funky guitar and drums to conclude.

Where U At Rock begins with some interesting questions sampled to an audience about drug use. It is an interesting listen, and quickly launches into a song that was put on Devil Without A Cause album. Kid Rock sounds like a real badass on this song, and he delivers a decent tune here. It’s a little lacking though, and it doesn’t sound as good as some of the other songs on this album. An okay listen, but nothing truly special here. It just sounds bland and lacking. In the second half are some tripped out guitars before this launches back into a bit of rant by Kid Rock. It’s a weird listen, and something that is very odd musically. The guitar riffs present are quite decent, though. Towards the end is an instrumental jam section, and this piece slowly wraps up well. It’s okay, but Kid Rock knew he could do better than this, and did so later on.

Krack Rocks (featuring Uncle Kracker) may be a drug reference to Crystal Meth. This was another tune put on the Devil Without A Cause album later in 1998. It begins with some wah-wah guitars and other sounds that are really weird. An unusual listening experience, this has some weird and out-there lyrics that are very confrontational. This sounds like an aggressive piece of music, and it is about some rather sinful things, including sex, drugs, rock and roll and some gambling, too. “I’m heading down south!” screams Kid Rock, and he proves himself to be a good singer throughout. A really profane and out-there tune, which has some interesting lyrics and music to match. There are some good vocals towards the end, and this tune concludes noisily.

The Prodigal Son Returns launches into the When The Levee Breaks beat fairly quickly, once again, along with some distorted vocals and some interesting guitar riffing. This is a great tune, and it is specifically about drug use. This is an adaptation of the earlier Prodigal Son tune on Kid Rock’s previous album The Polyfuze Method. A cool listening experience and it sounds wacky. Kid Rock raps about his own agenda. Catchy and memorable, this is a killer tune to listen to. Towards the end is a whole load of drug references of every sort that sounds hilarious and essential. It makes perfect sense if you have ever enjoyed drug use of any kind. Clever, Kid Rock is not afraid to mention this at all. A cool listening experience.

Black Chic, White Guy is a lengthy ballad based on Kid Rock’s life story. This isn’t necessary here, as it is rather long and some of the subject matter is unsavoury here. A really weird piece of music that does not fit on this album, and this is a strange tale indeed. This is likely the bleakest song Kid Rock has ever made to this point. A long tune that is really not necessary on this album, and is worth skipping, if you can. Some of the lyrics present are pretty close to the bone, and this is not exactly the sort of thing one wants to hear. In addition, the fact that this is over seven minutes long isn’t really worth it, either. A strange tune to hear, and this is a deep and dark tune to listen to, especially for men out there. Very intense and a really sad situation for someone to be in, and not really entertaining music. It’s barely passable, and Kid Rock could have done much better than making this song. It’s not exactly good, please avoid this song. It wraps up finally with a sampled voice stating, “That was deep!” and a big belch afterwards.

Outro is the last piece of music, and just has some lone Kid Rock vocals over the Intro section. It’s okay, not necessary here and goes on for less than a minute long.

This is an album that is impressive for the most part. Sure, it is patchy and yes, this is Kid Rock. Still, most of it does sound very good and is a good record from earlier on in Kid Rock’s career. Should you listen to this album? Yes, especially if you love hybrid Rap/Rock music. An underrated album from many years ago. This can only be found on YouTube, however. No other music streaming service has this album.

Mostly decent music.

7/10