Dear Superstar: Kid Rock (continued...)
When you were a teenager, you went out on the road rapping with Ice Cube and Too $hort. What sorts of things did the crowds throw at you?Urge2Splurge, Great Neck, NY
Once or twice I got stuff thrown at me. In San Francisco, I remember this Rasta dude throwing quarters at me. So I mooned him in front of the wholecrowd. Generally, people were like, “What’s going on here? What’s this white kid doing? What’s he rapping about?” Then I would get on my turntables, and that’s how I really got my respect. I would do tricks and people would think, “Oh, OK, he’s got some talent.”
You love old-school rap. What contemporary rappers do you listen to?
Gyroskopik, Bolingbrook, IL
I like that Rich Boy song about Cadillacs, “Throw Some D’s.” Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’” is a pretty good song. Honestly, I love hip-hop, but I haven’t been into it lately. It’s great, though: You can say some shit about hip-hop and they’ll print it — there’s like 80,000 Web sites, and you can fuck with everybody. Just say something like, “Oh, hip-hop has no melody.” People get mad and all pissed off, and it’s like, “Calm down, all you white kids with Web sites.”
What’s the coolest car ever made?
JLK89, Paradise Valley, AZ
I just bought a 1930 Cadillac V-16. Probably the best V-16 in America. Just the craftsmanship, the work on those cars — absolutely incredible. Made in Detroit, off the line. Driver in the front, big room in the back. Just the ingenuity and the time they took to craft these cars out of steel. To me, that’s class. To actually know that car and to go out and buy that, it’s class and style. Any asshole can buy a Ferrari.
Which of your famous buddies holds their liquor best?
Switchflak, Albuquerque, NM
Gretchen Wilson’s pretty good. One time she had a drinking party at her place in Nashville — a hot-tub party, and we were drinking Crown Royal or Jim Beam. The next day, she says, “You know, I woke up this morning, and your Confederate-flag boxers were hanging on my Grammy.”
When Jive dropped you from your first deal, were you afraid your career was over?
Kendall_Mellar, Sacramento, CA
Had I thought it was over, I wouldn’t have been so persistent all those years. I went in there and bitched at ’em. I said, “Man, we didn’t do a video, you guys can’t get any of my songs on the radio. What is going on?” And they go, “Look, you said ‘Suck my dick’ in every single song. How are we gonna get that on the radio?” “All right, you got a point.” Note to self: Don’t say, “Suck my dick” seven times a song. Better chance at airplay.
What’s the whore-iest gig you’ve ever played?
Isaiah_R, Burlington, VT
Years ago, I played a Bar Mitzvah. I didn’t even know what that was at the time. This guy gave me $1,500 to bring a DAT machine and rap over these songs. “$1,500?! Where is it?” “Well, it’s a Bar Mitzvah.” “I don’t care what it is. Just tell me they have the money.”
You were ordered to attend anger-management classes in 2005 after you punched a DJ outside a strip club. Have you punched anyone since?
GerryRig, Belfast, ME
It was inside the strip club. And I’m gonna plead the fifth on that, on the grounds I may incriminate myself.
If the presidential elections were today, who would you vote for?
Hezdez1000, Cary, NC
George Bush. Because it would piss everybody off.
What current song totally irritates you every time you hear it?
QuyronDawg, Portland, OR
American Idol in general irritates me. It sucks. I think they should allow songwriters in. Someone singing a song they wrote — there’s nothing more powerful. But, whatever, they’re doing fine; they don’t need me, and I don’t need them. Somebody was bitching at me, “You talk shit about American Idol; there’s 30 million people who watch that show, smart guy. It’s the biggest show in America.” Is that a fact? Last time I checked, there’s 300 million people in America. I wanna sell my music to the 270 million smart motherfuckers who don’t watch that bullÂshit.
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