White rap has come a long way since the dark desperate days of Vanilla Ice. Nowadays, of course, you can take your pick from the incendiary shock rap, spoilt brat antics of Eminem, to the re invented retro cool of present day Beastie Boys. Kid Rock would, of course, like to believe that this current state of affairs is chiefly down to him, and in many ways he may have a point.
For it was just over a decade ago that Jive Records signed a naïve young rapper from Detroit with the intention of moulding him into Vanilla Ice mark 2. So incensed was he by these heinous plans that he ditched his contract, set up his own label and re invented himself into Kid Rock the king of nineties white trash hick hop.
'The History Of Rock' is a compilation of highlights from Kid Rock's early career, with a few new tracks bunged in for good measure. In terms of tracing a pattern of musical development, the material from the 1992 album 'The Polyfuze Method' ('Three Sheets To The Wind', 'Prodigal Son') is almost punk in its raw anger and bitter conceit whilst the tracks included from 1996's 'Early Morning Stoned Pimp' paint an altogether more mellow picture.
Of course it's all a question of degree. In truth Kid Rock's sound rarely deviates from the explosive metal guitar rap synthesis he has made his trade mark. Lyrically this album is similarly one dimensional, with all the mandatory 'ho's, bitches, guns, self reverence and accusations of improper mother to son relationships that one would expect. One song even contains the lyric 'West Side', which of course is a term afforded extra cultural relevance in a post Ali G United Kingdom.
It is when Kid Rock strays from these familiar musical pastures that he gets into trouble, as in the case of 'Abortion', a rather pathetic attempt at soul during which Kid Rock does a very poor impression of a sensitive human being. Overall, however, as a warts-and-all account it's not a bad record, made all the more encouraging by the fact that the best song on it is the pumped up epic of a new single 'American Bad Ass'.
