Kid Rock shouts his love of Detroit through songs

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http://www.freep.com/article/20121109/ENT04/121109030/Kid-Rock-Detroit-Michigan

Kid Rock shouts his love of Detroit through songs

4:04 PM, November 9, 2012 | 18 Comments

A sold-out crowd of 5,000 packed the Fox Theatre on Saturday night for one of the most unusual hook-ups in Detroit music history: Raucous chart-topper Kid Rock paired with the stately musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The concert, which featured Kid Rock and his band accompanied by the DSO on favorites like "Batwitdaba" and "Times Like These," was staged as a fund-raiser for the cash-strapped DSO -- and earned $1 million for the orchestra.

1 of 12Carlos Osorio/AP

By Brian McCollum

Detroit Free Press Pop Music Writer

Zoom Kid Rock performs before an NFL game between the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer) / AP Photo/Mike Roemer More

He got the rock from Detroit, the soul from Motown, and Kid Rock is happy to tell you all about it.

Last week’s unveiling of “Detroit, Michigan” — a track from Rock’s upcoming album “Rebel Soul” — is just the latest in a long line of homeland tributes by the Romeo-born musician.

Repping your area code is a longtime staple of hip-hop. But few artists have been more relentless about their hometown loyalty than Kid Rock, who’s been rhyming local landmarks, extolling Motown heroes and name-checking Red Wings for years. There’s a reason Michigan’s travel bureau was involved in this release of “Detroit, Michigan,” and it’s no coincidence the song will be performed by Rock as part of the halftime show at the Detroit Lions’ Thanksgiving Day game.

Rock's "Detroit, Michigan" is a revamping of the obscure 1965 soul chestnut by Ronnie Love, updated with shout-outs to Rosa Parks, Bob Seger, Eminem and George Clinton. (You can hear the original here.)

Rock was flying Michigan’s colors out of the gate: His debut album, 1990’s “Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast,” features a host of shout-outs to Detroit, Mt. Clemens and Romeo. And it includes a song (its title nicked from Jim Croce) called “New York’s Not My Home,” which unfavorably contrasts the Big Apple with Detroit while declaring, “Congested, overcrowded, see ya, I’m gone!”

It’s not just lyrics. Detroit has been the star of several Kid Rock videos, notably “Roll On,” in which he tours the city in a Lincoln convertible, and “Care,” filmed downtown last year.

He certainly knows where his bread is buttered: These days Michigan accounts for an uncommonly hefty share of Kid Rock’s record sales and box office receipts. An executive with StubHub, the online ticket reseller, said in 2010 he was “pretty dumbfounded” by stats showing that Michiganders generated one-third of the ticket transactions on Rock’s national tour.

Here’s a look at some of Kid Rock’s most prominent nods to his favorite stomping grounds.

“Detroit Thang” (“Early Morning Stoned Pimp”), 1996

Ain’t talkin’ ’bout Philly, no

Ain’t talkin’ ’bout DC., no

Ain’t talkin’ ’bout New Orleans, where they say the funk got started

I’m talkin’ ’bout the D, y’all

“Cocky” (“Cocky”), 2001

You think you got it good in Hollywood?

I got acres of land laid back in the woods

Holdin’ shares, cool like Fonzie

Rollin’ Lake St. Clair in my 40-foot Donzi

“Son of Detroit” (“Kid Rock”), 2003

I'mma drink a couple dozen beers

Go out and jam some gears

I’m a long-haired, redneck, rock ’n’ roll

Son of Detroit

“All Summer Long” (“Rock n Roll Jesus”), 2007

It was 1989, my thoughts were short, my hair was long

Caught somewhere between a boy and man

She was 17, and she was far from in-between

It was summertime in northern Michigan

“From tha D” (Trick Trick single with Eminem), 2009

Catch my drift, here’s my point

I’m laid and paid and made in Detroit

The old Mt. Clemens basement bandit

The only mack left on the planet

“Times Like These” (“Born Free”), 2010

I heard them say they’re shutting Detroit down

But I won’t leave ’cause this is my hometown

… A new day dawns as the good Lord shines from above

’Cause in the rubble and rust there remains a whole lot of love

“In Detroit” (promotional single), 2012

Badass on draft and big Ford trucks

We spend our days on the line and our nights lit up

We rock blue jeans, tees, old English Ds

So, baby, you best to believe that’s how we do it in Detroit

“Detroit, Michigan” (“Rebel Soul”), 2012

You heard about Marvin Gaye; we got him

Talkin’ bout Hitsville USA; we got it

We got those fine, fine super Supremes

The kind of girls you see in your dreams

When you hear our thunderin’ sound

You know it comes from Detroit town

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