Kid Rock – “Halfway 2 Jesus” review

This is the 13th studio LP from Romeo, Michigan rapper, singer/songwriter, producer, DJ & WWE Hall of Famer Kid Rock. Coming up as a b-boy for The Beast Crew in the late 80’s, he wound up signing to Jive Records & RCA Records for his full-length debut Grit Sandwiches for Breakfast before they cut ties with him due to comparisons to Vanilla Ice. Bobby then dropped The Polyfuze Method & Early Mornin’ Stoned Pimp on his independently owned Top Dog Records, but got Atlantic Records to help back Devil Without a Cause & the success of that rap rock classic lead to him shifting away from hip hop to teeter between classic rock & country for the last 2 decades even to this day. This foray has been either hit or miss with me personally, but I can’t deny the success of “Picture” & “All Summer Long” (the latter of which has been revealed in recent years even by the producer Mike E. Clark to have been originally made for the Insane Clown Posse) or how much I enjoyed the Rick Rubin-produced Born Free since it originally came out back when I was in middle school. Coming off the universally panned Bad Reputation in 2022, he’s claiming to have found God & went full gospel for Halfway 2 Jesus.

“James 1:7 (Jesus is King)” after the “Freedom” intro comes through with a below average Christian/southern rock single explaining the titular bible verse was the whole inspiration for this whereas “7 Sins” featuring Lil Wayne finds the pair combining those 2 sounds with hip hop admitting they’re guilty of committing the titular 7 deadly sins. “Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus?” poses the titular question since He has the answers leading into Eminem reuniting with Bob for the first time since “Fuck Off” almost 3 decades ago during “Heal My Faith” talking about remaining friends despite their political differences.

We have Kid Rock asking why Jesus would turn his “Water Into Wine” embracing a southern rock vibe altogether just before the title track featuring Gary LeVox & Jimmie Allen unites the trio singing about seeing the light. “I Don’t Drink the Whiskey Anymore” reaches the halfway point of the album making a public declaration of him quitting the distilled alcoholic beverage that I myself admittedly enjoy, but then “Me & Jesus” commences the 2nd leg singing about needing nobody else other than the son of God.

“God is Good” portrays himself as someone who was always doubted which I personally consider ironic because of his wealthy upbringings although I suppose it’s better he combined them into 1 track instead of splitting them while “Into the Setting Sun” pleads for Jesus Christ to guide him as he rides off in the sunset. “Broken Hearted People” sings about turning the page with a little bit of love when his authoritarian bootlicking speaks for itself while “‘Til You Can’t” pointlessly covers the Cody Johnson track of the same name.

The song “High Road” winds down Halfway 2 Jesus’ final act singing about life being too short to be bothered & heading down a dignified path while “Procession” embraces a more classical tone although him AI-generating it when he’s a self-taught musician’s certainly a choice. “God Bless the USA” concludes with this “patriotic” anthem when the rise of fascism in the land of the free & the home of the brave he kisses up to doesn’t make it great on top of his failed attempt at going up against this year’s Super Bowl halftime show performed by Bad Bunny, which was pre-taped.

Being someone who believes in God & in the afterlife, a huge reason Halfway 2 Jesus seemed humorous on paper is due to a line Kid Rock had when he made “Cool, Daddy Cool” for the Osmosis Jones soundtrack with his late hype man Joe C. saying “Young ladies, young ladies, I like ’em underage. See some say that’s statutory, but I say it’s mandatory”. Other than Wayne’s verse & the reunion with Em, this would be the LAST example of gospel music & he also confirmed usage of Suno for vocal choir/orchestral arrangements.

Score: 0.5/5

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Paradime – “L” review

This is the 2nd EP from Detroit emcee, producer, DJ & hype man Paradime. Discovered by WWE Hall of Famer Kid Rock in 1996 signing to Bobby’s very own Top Dog Records, he eventually made his full-length debut few years later with Paragraphs & the sophomore effort Vices in the fall of 2001 would go on to become his most celebrated body of work yet. Following 11 Steps Down & Spill at Will however, Dime returned by signing to Mello Music Group for his acclaimed 5th album Period. & is back again a year & a half later on L.

After the intro, the first song “Come Back” produced by Middle Finger Music in-house producer Blizzard jumps over this boom bap instrumental returning after he keeps leaving whereas “Whadda Life” soulfully looks back on the 5 decades of life he’s experienced. “So Long” chops up a soul sample thanks to Alpha Howse signee Astray paining him he never got to say goodbye to those who can’t be with us today while “The Sound of Music” enlists Cadillac Dale on the mic with him & Charlie Beans behind the boards to show y’all where the truth lives. “Old” ruggedly claps back at him being too old for this rap shit & “Deja Vu” has a reoccurring dream dabbling with trap.

Celebrating his 50th birthday back in November, the Detroit veteran comes off the most mature LP of his discography introducing himself as part of the Mello Music Group roster continuing to give us the grown man lyricism that was so prominent throughout Period. & getting even more personal than he did over a year ago already, except this time he reflects on his life experiences in the past 5 decades & further succeeding in his comeback mission as amongst the most underrated in the Motor City hip hop scene.

Score: 4/5

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Uncle Kracker – “Coffee & Beer” review

Mt. Clemens, Michigan singer/songwriter, musician, rapper & DJ Uncle Kracker dropping his 6th studio LP under his own label Sturgeon General Records. The former turntablist for WWE Hall of Famer Kid Rock’s backing band Twisted Brown Trucker until Paradime took over that spot. His full-length solo debut Double Wide, the sophomore effort No Stranger to Shame, 72 & Sunny and Happy Hour would all come out through Top Dog Records with distribution from Atlantic Records over the course of the 2000s, coming off Midnight Special to write some Coffee & Beer tunes.

“High on My Horse” awkwardly bites the rhythm of “Greatest Show on Earth” off Sweet Southern Sugar for his verses making comparisons to a cowboy even though he isn’t one whereas the title track feels reminiscent of “Me & Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin singing about love preserving. “Reason to Drink” instrumentally goes for a country rock vibe yearning to feel the best he’s been all day after getting drunk while the title track sings about hearts growing colder & beer warming up.

We get more elements of country rock seeping throughout “Just Like That” for a romance anthem that I feel comes off as corny just before the pop country-flavored “Cruising Altitude” ends the 1st half singing about his desires of getting this woman high. “Beach Chair” kicks off the 2nd half of Coffee & Beer singing about having no job & blasting Kid Rock’s music on his way to a party all the way out in Cocomo while “Get Back Home” incorporates a banjo looking to kill time until he’s returned to his residence.

“Lonely Lets You Down” feels heavily influenced by Old Dominion singing about love being nothing but a dirty word while “You Should’ve Loved Me” whines over someone texting him at 2 a.m. regarding her uncertainties. After the country-tinged “Rockabye” sings about getting sleep, “Sweet 16” looks back at his rebellious youth in contrast to becoming 50 only a couple years after Bob did while the closer “Mark on Me” ends Coffee & Beer singing about covering up old tattoos.

Outside of his 15 year affiliation with Kid Rock between the mid-90s & late 2000s, Uncle Kracker’s career has panned out similarly to Bobby’s in the sense of them originally making hip hop music in the earlier stages only to go full country rock once they saw mainstream success. Coffee & Beer however dethrones Midnight Special back when I was a sophomore in high school to become the worst album he’s ever made from the tasteless production recapturing the aesthetics of his contemporaries to his unimpressive vocals.

Score: 1/5

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Paradime – “period.” review

Paradime is a 48 year old MC, producer, DJ & hype man from Detroit, Michigan who was discovered by WWE Hall of Famer Kid Rock in 1996 signing to Bobby’s very own Top Dog Records. He eventually made his full-length debut few years later with Paragraphs, but the sophomore effort Vices in the fall of 2001 would go on to become his most celebrated body of work yet. Following 11 Steps Down & Spill at Will however, Dime would mainly take a step back from music & is returning after 16 years by signing to Mello Music Group for his 5th album.

After the “Porch” intro, the title track sets the tone of what’s to come with a piano-heavy instrumental from Pig Pen & DJ Los on the wheels of steel flexing his penmanship whereas the self-produced “It’s Ok” works in a gospel-flip talking about how he used to hit a 5th a day praying for the IRS to go away. “Same Planet” ruggedly discusses being on the same plane as these other cats with the help of Middle Finger Music in-house producer Peace of Mind just before “Annie” is a cloudy boom bap tribute to his daughter laced by Chanes.

“This High” featuring A-Minus works in some lavish keys, kicks & snares courtesy of Apollo Browncalling out those who didn’t think they could take it as high as they could leading into “Heart on Tape” blends some acoustics & hi-hats coming from a more emotional place with his delivery. “Diahubeetus” is a woodwind-trap hybrid produced by Charlie Beans taking about diabetes with a speedy flow of course, but then “Wolf of Greys” featuring Marv Won & Ty Farris finds the trio over a soul sample getting on their hardcore shit.

Meanwhile, “September 22nd” tackles the significance of this day to him on top of a dreamy trap instrumental while “Resurrection of Lemmy” returns to the boom bap thanks to Middle Finger co-founder Foul Mouth being able to see through all the cap that comes towards his way while “Could Be” is a groovy rap rock jam with Marv Won behind the boards reflecting on when he used to tell them he knew life would be this good & that he feels like he truthfully didn’t in the grand scheme of things.

“Folded Hands” hooks up these pianos, keys & snares talking about having questions that need to be answered up until “The Trap” interlude brings back the hi-hats to switch up his flow a bit. “Rock a Bye” featuring Guilty Simpson dives back into boom bap turf getting on murk mode while “Dumb” comes through with a club banger produced by Eminem’s current hype man mR. pOrTeR from prior D12 fame. The penultimate track “Phlegm” featuring production & verse from Copywrite hooks up a sample with kicks & snares continuing to bring it hardcore, but “Make My Way” is a heartfelt closer about having to do exactly that.

After setting his solo career aside to treat music strictly as a profession previously having no plans to ever rap again, what mattered more was cultivating a strong family & a thriving DJ, production & songwriting career. However, he’s back after 16 years like he never left with a lot to say. The production balances some old sounds with some new in a healthy dosage & Dime’s just rapping like getting sucker-punched in the nose by a fist.

Score: 4.5/5

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Kid Rock – “Bad Reputation” review

Kid Rock is a 51 year old rapper, singer/songwriter, producer, DJ & WWE Hall of Famer from Romeo, Michigan who came up as a b-boy for The Beast Crew in the late 80’s. However, he wound up signing to Jive Records & RCA Records for his full-length debut Grit Sandwiches for Breakfast before they cut ties with him due to comparisons to Vanilla Ice. Bobby then dropped The Polyfuze Method & Early Mornin’ Stoned Pimp on his independently owned Top Dog Records, but got Atlantic Records to help back Devil Without a Cause & the success of that rap rock classic lead to him shifting away from hip hop to teeter between classic rock & country for the last 2 decades even to this day. This foray has been either hit or miss with me personally, but I can’t deny the success of “Picture” & “All Summer Long” (the latter of which has been revealed in recent years even by the producer Mike E. Clark to have been originally made for the Insane Clown Posse) or how much I enjoyed the Rick Rubin-produced Born Free since it originally came out back when I was in middle school. But given that it’s been a little over 4 years since Sweet Southern Sugar & his homeboy Donald Trump being voted out of office, Kid Rock has seen fit to return with his 12th album.

“Don’t Tell Me How to Live” was not only the worst single of last year, but it pretty much sets the tone for the whole album by bastardizing the Monster Truck joint of the same name referring to millennials as pussies whereas “We the People” follows it up with a temper tantrum against Joe Biden & coming from someone who didn’t even vote for him or Trump in the past election, it’s just very tedious & feels redundant since we don’t even have mask/vaccines mandates here in Michigan anymore as far as I’m concerned. “My Kind of Country” comes through with an annoying country rock ballad talking about liking it rough & real just before the title track is an underwhelming attempt at a hard rock party anthem.

Meanwhile on “Never Quit”, we have Kid Rock returning to country rock territory to talk about fighting like a g leading into the hideous trap/rock fusion “Shakedown” saying nothing’s gonna stop him. “Rockin’” is actually one of the more heartfelt moments on the album taking a southern rock route to talk about becoming a grandfather, but then “The Last Dance” follows it up with a twangy romance ballad.

“See You Again” jumps into acoustic territory singing about missing his lover while “Still Somethin’” mixes some pianos & a guitar expressing his love for rock music. “She’s Your Baby (Now Rock Her)” works in some live drums & horn sections talking about thanking God for your girlfriend whereas “Never Enough” on the other hands sings about a love that’s too much & the heavy auto-tune on his voice sounds so awful.

Following that, “Everything to Me” returns to southern rock turf describing how much his lady means to him & “Cold Beer” follows it up with a more folkier sound talking about summer campfires. “Ala-Fuckin’-Bama” is an awkward ode to the titular state given that Kid Rock isn’t from there at all like he says during the hook while the song “Am What I Am” steers things back to a more rap rock sound talking about being born in the country & raised in the streets.

The penultimate track “The Nashville I Know” comes through with a straight up country jam expressing his love for the Tennessee capital except it’s a lot more tolerable than “Ala-Fuckin’-Bama” is, but at least “50” finishes the album with an introspective country rock tune expressing how he feels about turning 50 a little over a year ago at this point.

Now before anyone reading this review tries to come at me & call me a liberal, I wanna make it clear as day that I’m NOT democratic OR republican because I believe both sides of our 2-party system are equally corrupt. That being said, Bad Reputation is basically RƎVIVAL for conservatives because it’s all over the place & the blatantly obvious lack of focus with the political concept that both albums show. However, I’ll ALWAYS give him credit for being one of Detroit’s first big emcees along with Awesome Dré & Esham. Much like how I’ll always give Eminem his props for his impact on the culture.

Score: 1/5

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Kid Rock – “Sweet Southern Sugar” review

Here we have the 11th studio LP from Romeo, Michigan rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & DJ Kid Rock. Coming up as a b-boy for The Beast Crew in the late 80’s, he wound up signing to Jive Records & RCA Records for his full-length debut Grit Sandwiches for Breakfastbefore they cut ties with him due to comparisons to Vanilla Ice. Bobby then dropped The Polyfuze Method & Early Mornin’ Stoned Pimp on his independently owned Top Dog Records, but got Atlantic Records to help back Devil Without a Cause & the success of that rap rock classic lead to him shifting away from hip hop to teeter between classic rock & country for the last 2 decades even to this day. This foray has been either hit or miss with me personally, but I can’t deny the success of “Picture” & “All Summer Long”or how much I enjoyed the Rick Rubin-produced Born Free since it originally came out back when I was in middle school. Coming off his final Atlantic offering Rebel Soul & the Warner Records-backed 1st Kiss, he’s going independent again for Sweet Southern Sugar.

“Greatest Show on Earth” blends southern rock, hard rock, blues rock, country rock, progressive country & progressive rock to sing about how he loves being despised whereas “Po-Dunk” fuses southern rock, country rock, blues rock, bro-country, alternative rock & turntablism for a hideous redneck anthem when he had a luxurious upbringing. “Tennessee Mountain Top” maintains a southern country rock vibe for the WWE’s Survivor Series XXXI official theme song & after the Bob Seger-influenced “I Wonder” asks if this woman thinks of him the way he does her, “American Rock ‘n Roll” ends the 1st half with a mediocre ode to some old fashioned rock & roll.

“Back to the Otherside” kicks off the 2nd leg of Sweet Southern Sugar telling those dealing with suicidal thoughts to never give up just before “Raining Whiskey” sings about drowning in alcohol ever since this individual walked out the door. “Stand the Pain” encourages people to persevere when life’s kicking you down while “Grandpa’s Jam” makes up for a boring cover of “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” by 4 Tops with this rap rock closer talking about the birth of his granddaughter, marking the first time in a decade that Bob has rapped in his music & having longtime producer Mike E. Clark program the drums.

Thankfully the rumors of Kid Rock running for Senate only 4 months ago were only drummed up so that could bring more attention to Sweet Southern Sugar even if I liked it less than the 2 full-lengths he put out after Born Free. His southern rock, country rock, rap rock, hard rock, blues rock, alternative rock and rock & roll production’s pretty much what you’ve come to expect from him at this point regardless of him exploring subjects like the hillbilly life, heartbreak, suicide prevention, opioid usage & becoming a grandparent.

Score: 1.5/5