''Devil Without a Cause'' is the fourth studio album by American rapper
Kid Rock
Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock (also known as Bobby Shazam), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and metal. A self-taught musician, ...
. Released on August 18, 1998, the album saw Kid Rock continuing to develop his sound, moving away from the predominantly
hip hop sound of his previous albums to a largely
rap rock
Rap rock is a fusion genre that fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock's most popular subgenres include rap metal and rapcore, which include heavy metal and hardcore punk-oriented influences, resp ...
/
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
,
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
, and
nu metal
Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...
sound, and marked the finalization of his stage persona as a '
redneck
''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, '' ...
pimp'. Additionally, the song "
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...
" is seen as being instrumental in the development of the fusion genre
country rap
Country rap (or country hip hop and sometimes hick hop) is a fusion genre of popular music, blending country music with hip hop–style singing or rapping.
History Prototypes
Early influences on the emergence of country rap as a distinct genre ...
.
''Devil Without a Cause'' was a major commercial success. Spurred by the popularity of the single "
Bawitdaba
"Bawitdaba" is a song by American singer Kid Rock. Released in 1999 from his fourth studio album, '' Devil Without a Cause'' (1998), "Bawitdaba" helped push the success of the album. It became one of his most popular songs, receiving critical pra ...
", the album sold 15 million copies, and was certified diamond. The album also received critical acclaim for its genre-mixing sound.
Background
In 1997, Jason Flom, head of
Lava Records
Lava Records (Lava Music, LLC) is an American record label owned by Jason Flom in partnership with Universal Music Group.
Company history
In 1995, Flom launched Lava Records in partnership with Atlantic Records. For the next decade, he continu ...
, attended one of Kid Rock's performances, and met with Kid Rock, who later gave him a demo containing the songs "Somebody's Gotta Feel This" and "I Got One for Ya", which led to Kid Rock signing with Atlantic Records.
As part of his recording deal, Kid Rock received $150,000 from the label. By this time, Kid Rock had fully developed his pimp redneck
''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, '' ...
stage persona and rap metal
Rap metal is a subgenre of rap rock and alternative metal music which combines hip hop with heavy metal. It usually consists of heavy metal guitar riffs, funk metal elements, rapped vocals and sometimes turntables.
History Origins and early ...
musical style and wanted to make a "redneck, shit-kicking rock 'n' roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
rap" album.
Recording
The album was recorded at the White Room in Detroit and mixed at the Mix Room in Los Angeles.[
In addition to the newly written songs, the band also re-recorded some of Kid Rock's older songs, including " I Am the Bullgod" from Kid Rock's earlier EP '' Fire It Up'' and "Black Chick, White Guy" from the album '']Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp
''Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp'' is the third studio album by American rapper Kid Rock and the first to feature his backing band Twisted Brown Trucker. Released on January 9, 1996 by Top Dog Records, the album saw Kid Rock showcasing a more eclectic ...
''. During the recording sessions, Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...
was mixing ''The Slim Shady LP
''The Slim Shady LP'' is the second studio album and major label debut by American rapper Eminem. It was released on February 23, 1999, by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. Recorded in Ferndale, Michigan following Eminem's recruitm ...
'' at the same studio, and, being friends with Kid Rock, asked him to record scratching
Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two record ...
for the song "My Fault." In return, Eminem delivered a guest rap
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
verse on Kid's song "Fuck Off." In a 1999 interview with Spin Magazine, Eminem told the interviewer that he did coke for the first and last time ever while writing and recording his verse with Kid. According to Eminem, Kid was in "full party mode with tons of different drugs just laid out near the studio mixing board. There were Playboy playmates just passed out naked with coke on their nose. It was overwhelming. I never touched that shit again."[
]
Composition
Style
The music on ''Devil Without a Cause'' is noted for its eclectic sound, which draws from genres such as arena rock
Arena rock (also known as AOR, melodic rock, stadium rock, anthem rock, pomp rock, corporate rock and dad rock; ; ) is a style of rock music that originated in the mid-1970s. As hard rock bands and those playing a softer yet strident kind of po ...
,[ ]country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
,[ ]heartland rock
Heartland rock is a genre of rock music characterized by a straightforward, often roots musical style, often with a focus on blue-collar workers, and a conviction that rock music has a social or communal purpose beyond just entertainment.
The ge ...
,[ heavy metal] and hip hop.[ This sound has predominantly been categorized by critics and journalists as ]rap metal
Rap metal is a subgenre of rap rock and alternative metal music which combines hip hop with heavy metal. It usually consists of heavy metal guitar riffs, funk metal elements, rapped vocals and sometimes turntables.
History Origins and early ...
,[ (Retrieved on September 21, 2015)] hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
, nu metal
Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...
, and rap rock
Rap rock is a fusion genre that fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock's most popular subgenres include rap metal and rapcore, which include heavy metal and hardcore punk-oriented influences, resp ...
.[ Kid Rock's music has been described by ''Pitchfork'' as a cross between ]Run-DMC
Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...
, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Ju ...
and AC/DC
AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...
. ''MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
'' compared Kid Rock's songs " I Am the Bullgod" and "Roving Gangster (Rollin')" to a cross between Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...
and Public Enemy
"Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...
.[
According to ]Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
, "The key to he album's
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
success is that it's never trying to be a hip-hop record. It's simply a monster rock album."[ Erlewine credits Kid Rock's backing band, ]Twisted Brown Trucker
Twisted Brown Trucker is the backing band for American musician Kid Rock. Formed in 1994, the band has contributed to nine of his twelve studio albums, as well as Uncle Kracker's '' Double Wide'' album.
History
Formation and establishment (1 ...
, for crafting a sound defined by "thunderous, funky noise -- and that's funky not just in the classic sense, but also in a Southern-fried, white trash sense, as he gives this as much foundation in country as he does hip-hop."[ Erlewine believes the album's sound owed influence to ]Bob Seger
Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and The Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, break ...
, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Ju ...
and Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...
." Erlewine also believed the album was "firmly in the tradition of classic hard rock".[
]
Music and lyrics
"Bawitdaba
"Bawitdaba" is a song by American singer Kid Rock. Released in 1999 from his fourth studio album, '' Devil Without a Cause'' (1998), "Bawitdaba" helped push the success of the album. It became one of his most popular songs, receiving critical pra ...
" has been described as having a nu metal
Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...
sound.[ (August 13, 2005). Retrieved on September 15, 2015] To create the chorus, Kid Rock combined the choruses of Busy Bee
Busy Bee was an airline which operated in Norway between 1966 and 1992. Entirely based around wet lease, it conducted a mix of regional services for larger airlines and the military, as well as corporate, ''ad hoc'' and inclusive tour charters ...
's "Making Cash Money", the Marcels
The Marcels were an American doo-wop group known for turning popular music songs into rock and roll. The group formed in 1959 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and signed to Colpix Records with lead Cornelius Harp, bass Fred Johnson, Gene Bricker, R ...
' recording of " Blue Moon" and the Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight
"Rapper's Delight" is a 1979 hip-hop track by the Sugarhill Gang, produced by Sylvia Robinson. Although it was shortly preceded by the Fatback Band's "King Tim III (Personality Jock)", "Rapper's Delight" is credited for introducing hip-hop mus ...
" into a "neo- gregorian drone".[ The lyrics of the song are dedicated to "chicks with beepers" and the I.R.S., as well as "all the crackheads, the critics, the cynics / And all my heroes in the methadone clinic."] In the demo recording
A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...
of the song, Kid Rock shouts, "Now get in the pit and try to kill someone!"[ On the album version, Kid Rock changed the lyrics, replacing the word "kill" with "love". Regarding the change, Kid Rock told the ''Baltimore Sun'' that he was glad he changed the lyrics, explaining that ]mosh pit
Moshing (also known as slam dancing or simply slamming) is an extreme style of dancing in which participants push or slam into each other, typically performed to "aggressive" live music such as heavy metal and punk rock. Moshing usually happen ...
s are about coexistence.[
The ]country rap
Country rap (or country hip hop and sometimes hick hop) is a fusion genre of popular music, blending country music with hip hop–style singing or rapping.
History Prototypes
Early influences on the emergence of country rap as a distinct genre ...
song "Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...
" was newly written for the album.[ It is a fusion of hip hop, country music, Southern rock and heavy metal.][ '']Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'', as well as Kid Rock himself, described the song as a cross between Run DMC and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The instrumentation includes Jew's harp, blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
harmonica and a piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
solo. The lyrics feature Kid Rock rapping
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
about moving to California to become a pimp, and start an escort service
An escort agency is a company that provides escorts for clients, usually for sexual services. The agency typically arranges a meeting between one of its escorts and the client at the customer's house or hotel room (outcall), or at the escort' ...
"for all the right reasons", located at the top of the Four Seasons hotel, as well as getting thrown out of bars and buying a yacht.[
"I Am the Bullgod", according to AXS, was a tribute to the band ]Monster Magnet
Monster Magnet is an American rock band. Hailing from Red Bank, New Jersey, the group was founded in 1989 by Dave Wyndorf (vocals and guitar), John McBain (guitar) and Tim Cronin (vocals and drums); they have since gone through several lineup ...
.[ azcentral described the song's style as ]Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar speculat ...
, with elements of funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
,[ while ''Billboard'' categorized the song as ]stoner rock
Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep. ...
.[ The lyrics refer to drinking ]Jim Beam
Jim Beam is an American brand of bourbon whiskey produced in Clermont, Kentucky, by Beam Suntory. It is one of the best-selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795 (interrupted by Prohibition), seven generations of the Beam family have be ...
bourbon whiskey
Bourbon () is a type of barrel-aged American whiskey made primarily from corn. The name derives from the French Bourbon dynasty, although the precise source of inspiration is uncertain; contenders include Bourbon County in Kentucky and Bourbo ...
; Kid Rock declares that "I am free and I feed on all that is forsaken" and that "I never was cool with James Dean
James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, ''Rebel Without a Cause' ...
", a reference to the actor who starred in the film that inspired this album's title, ''Rebel Without a Cause
''Rebel Without a Cause'' is a 1955 American coming-of-age drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Filmed in the then recently introduced CinemaScope format and directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social co ...
''.[
The song "Wasting Time" contains an interpolation of ]Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...
's "Second Hand News
"Second Hand News" is a song written by Lindsey Buckingham. The song was first performed for the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac as the opening track of their 1977 album '' Rumours''.
Background
"Second Hand News" was a frontrunner for ...
".[ "Welcome 2 the Party (Ode 2 the Old School)" refers to ]Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
' Paul Masson adverts with the lyric "I will serve no rhymes before their time". "Where U At Rock?" references philosopher Ayn Rand
Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...
.[
" Only God Knows Why" is a country ]ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
, noted for its prominent use of Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune (or autotune) is an audio processor introduced in 1996 by American company Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a proprietary device to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental music recording and performances.
Auto-Tu ...
.[ The lyrics of "Black Chick, White Guy" deal with Kid Rock's ten-year off-and-on relationship with a classmate named Kelley South Russell, with whom he fathered one child and raised another child from a previous relationship, but broke up with her after finding out that a third child he was raising wasn't his, after which he gained custody of his son, Robert James Ritchie Jr.; these events became the inspiration for this song, which discusses them directly, although Russell denies some of the allegations made against her in the lyrics.][
]
Reception
Critical reviews
The album received critical acclaim upon release. Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
gave the album an A–, writing, "Belatedly fulfilling the rap-metal promise of ''Licensed to Ill
''Licensed to Ill'' is the debut studio album by American rap rock group Beastie Boys. It was released on November 15, 1986, by Def Jam and Columbia Records, and became the first rap LP to top the '' Billboard'' album chart. It is one of Columbi ...
'', id Rockmakes the competition sound clownish, limp
A limp is a type of asymmetric abnormality of the gait. Limping may be caused by pain, weakness, neuromuscular imbalance, or a skeletal deformity. The most common underlying cause of a painful limp is physical trauma; however, in the absen ...
, and corny, respectively, and the Eminem cameo is a draw .. id Rockis, and I quote, all of that and a bag of chips."
''The Rolling Stone Album Guide
''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...
'' gave the album four out of five stars, its byline hailing it as "a trailer trash
''Trailer trash'' is a derogatory North American English term for poor people living in a trailer or a mobile home. It is particularly used to denigrate white people living in such circumstances
History
In the mid-20th century, poor whites who ...
triumph of metal guitars, hip-hop beats, and I'm-an-American-band egomania."[ ]Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
, in a retrospective review for Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, gave the album four and a half out of five stars, writing, " id Rockcame up with the great hard rock album of the late '90s -- a fearlessly funny, bone-crunching record that manages to sustain its strength, not just until the end of its long running time, but through repeated plays."[
In a negative review, '']Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' gave the album 1.3 out of 10, writing, "The hook is that ''Devil Without A Cause'' combines rap with metal, but this combination's already been done a million times, and in each case, the result was better than this. Do you really need predictable pimping rhymes over wack-ass metal beats with third-tier, grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
-derived choruses among your records? I ask you: is this what you're missing from your life?"[
]
Commercial performance
Starting in 1998, Kid Rock disembarked on his Devil Without a Cause Tour. Through extensive promoting, including appearances on HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
, MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
(including a performance alongside Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...
and Run-DMC
Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...
) and performing at Woodstock 1999
Woodstock '99 (also called Woodstock 1999) was a music festival held from July 22 to July 25, 1999, in Rome, New York. After Woodstock '94, it was the second large-scale music festival that attempted to emulate the original 1969 Woodstock fes ...
, ''Devil Without a Cause'' sold 14 million copies, the album's success spurred by Kid Rock's breakthrough hit single "Bawitdaba
"Bawitdaba" is a song by American singer Kid Rock. Released in 1999 from his fourth studio album, '' Devil Without a Cause'' (1998), "Bawitdaba" helped push the success of the album. It became one of his most popular songs, receiving critical pra ...
".[
By April 1999, the album was certified ]gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
, and the following month it was certified platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
, a certification the album received 11 times. The album has since been certified diamond. The album had sold 8.9 million copies per Nielsen SoundScan
Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...
as of 2007.
In 2000, Kid Rock was nominated for a Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
for Best New Artist, despite having been active in the music industry for over 10 years.
Legacy
The album continued to be popular long after its release, and in 2012, Kid Rock said that he wanted to re-record the album in its entirety, partly to celebrate the album's 15th anniversary, and partly because he would own the master recordings.
The album's critical appraisal has continued long after the album's release, with Allmusic labeling ''Devil Without a Cause'' a " rap-rock masterpiece". The song "Cowboy" is considered by AXS to be the first in the country rap
Country rap (or country hip hop and sometimes hick hop) is a fusion genre of popular music, blending country music with hip hop–style singing or rapping.
History Prototypes
Early influences on the emergence of country rap as a distinct genre ...
genre; '' Cowboys & Indians'' claims that Kid Rock's song had a major impact on the country music scene and that artists Jason Aldean
Jason Aldean (born Jason Aldine Williams; February 28, 1977) is an American country music singer. Since 2005, he has been signed to BBR Music Group, Broken Bow Records, a record label for which he has released ten albums and 40 singles. His 2010 ...
and Big & Rich
Big & Rich is an American country music duo composed of Big Kenny and John Rich, both of whom are songwriters, vocalists, and guitarists. Before the duo's foundation, Rich was bass guitarist in the country band Lonestar, while Kenny was a solo ...
, among others, were influenced by the song.[
15 years after the album's release, '']The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' writer Chaz Kangas praised Kid Rock's artistry, writing, "in the Clinton era when your most viable pop stars were pristine teen-pop
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards Preadolescence, preteens and teenagers.Lamb, Bill"Teen Pop" About.com. Retrieved January 28, 2007. Teen pop incorporates different subgenres of pop music, as well ...
sensations, raucous nu-metal antagonists or alternative-to-alternative-to-alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
weirdos, Rock stood alone."[ Praising the song "Cowboy", Kangas called it "one track from this era that's timeless without even trying to be."]
Loudwire
''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive ...
named ''Devil Without a Cause'' one of the 10 best hard rock albums of 1998.[ '']Classic Rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
'' magazine named ''Devil Without a Cause'' one of 10 essential rap metal albums.[ '']Blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...
'' named ''Devil Without a Cause'' one of the 100 greatest American albums. The album was also listed as one of the ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
''.
Track listing
*The song "Black Chick, White Guy" ends at 7:07 and the remix begins at 7:10; the remix is presented as a hidden track
In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...
on the compact disc, but is credited on digital services. The remix is omitted from the Japanese version of the album. "Black Chick, White Guy" does not appear on the clean version.
Personnel
*Kid Rock
Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock (also known as Bobby Shazam), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and metal. A self-taught musician, ...
– lead vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, bass, banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
, synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
Twisted Brown Trucker
Twisted Brown Trucker is the backing band for American musician Kid Rock. Formed in 1994, the band has contributed to nine of his twelve studio albums, as well as Uncle Kracker's '' Double Wide'' album.
History
Formation and establishment (1 ...
* Joe C. – co-vocals
*Misty Love
Misty Love is an Americans, American, multi-platinum award-winning Rock music, rock, and rhythm and blues, Rhythm & Blues singing, singer, who is best known for her association with Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, and Ben Harper.
Biography
Misty Love w ...
– background vocals
*Jason Krause – guitar
*Kenny Olson – guitar
*Uncle Kracker
Matthew Shafer (born June 6, 1974), also known by his stage name Uncle Kracker, is an American singer and musician. He was previously a turntablist for Kid Rock's backing group Twisted Brown Trucker and since 1999 has recorded as a solo artist. ...
– turntables
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
, background vocals
*Jimmie Bones
Jimmie is a variation of the given name James.
Jimmie may refer to:
* Jimmie Adams (1888–1933), American silent film comedian
* Jimmie Åkesson (born 1979), Swedish politician
* Jimmie Allen (born 1986), American country music singer
* Jimmie A ...
– keyboard, organ, piano, synth bass
*Stefanie Eulinberg – drums, percussion
Sessions musicians
* Kenny Tudrick – guitar, drums on "Bawitdaba" and "Cowboy"
*Bobby East – slide
Slide or Slides may refer to:
Places
* Slide, California, former name of Fortuna, California
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums
* ''Slide'' (Lisa Germano album), 1998
* ''Slide'' (George Clanton album), 2018
*''Slide'', by Patrick Glees ...
and rhythm guitar
*Matt O'Brien
Matt O'Brien (born 22 July 1981) is a New Zealand-born Australian professional rugby union referee. He has officiated on the IRB Sevens World Series circuit since 2011 and was appointed to the Super Rugby referees panel for 2014 and 2015.
...
– bass guitar
* Shirley "P-Funk" Hayden – background vocals
Engineers
*Al Sutton – engineering
*Derek Matuja – assistant engineer
Additional musicians on "I Am the Bullgod" and "Roving Gangster"
* Andrew Nerha – guitar
* Mike Nerha – bass
* Bob Ebuling – drums
* DJ Swamp
Ronald K. Keys Jr. aka DJ Swamp is an American hip hop DJ, turntablist, producer and vocalist. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. He currently resides in Los Angeles, United States. In 1996, he won the title of US DMC Champion, hi ...
– turntables
Additional co-vocalists
*Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...
– on "Fuck Off"
*Robert Bradley – on "I Got One for Ya"
*Thornetta Davis
Thornetta Davis (born August 11, 1963) is an American Detroit blues and rhythm and blues singer. She has opened for Bonnie Raitt, Gladys Knight, and Etta James, and sang backing vocals on Bob Seger's 1991 album, ''The Fire Inside''. She also worke ...
– on " Wasting Time"
Additional guest
*Chris Peters – guitar on "I Am The Bullgod"
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
Certifications
See also
*List of best-selling albums in the United States
This is a list of the best-selling albums in the United States based on RIAA certification and Nielsen SoundScan sales tracking. The criteria are that the album must have been published (including self-publishing by the artist), and the album mus ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devil Without a Cause
1998 albums
Atlantic Records albums
Hard rock albums by American artists
Kid Rock albums
Lava Records albums