Few artists have been as successful and versatile as Kid Rock. The Detroit artist has excelled at Rock, Country, Bluegrass and more, but his roots are in Hip-Hop. Rock recently visited the Sway in the Morning show to promote his new album, First Kiss. They touched on the album, his 10th studio LP, briefly but the interview ran much deeper than that.

The conversation began with Rock discussing the earliest days of his career (1:30). He started as a DJ from the suburbs of Detroit who developed a passion for Rap music. He often would travel from the burbs to the inner city to be closer to Hip-Hop and learn about the culture. Sway and Rock talk about the difficulties he had as a white rapper in the late 80s and early 90s, when the only frame of reference for many was Vanilla Ice (4:20).

Rock also discusses the extent of Hip-Hop’s impact on all music, saying it’s the “Blues” of its generation. He asserts that just as Jazz and Blues influenced every form of music after them, Hip-Hop has since done the same and is now part of every genre. He also touches on the massive role Run-D.M.C. played in shaping his early musical tastes (7:20).

Halfway through the interview, Rock reflects on the genesis of his multi-genre approach (9:00) and it leads to a discussion about MTV and the role the channel played in breaking him. By coincidence, Rock’s ascension coincided with Sway’s start on MTV and they trade stories about mutual experience at the network. As it turns out, Sway was at the table next to Rock’s the night of the Kid’s infamous fight with Tommy Lee at the VMAs in 2007. Sway asks Rock what happened and gets the real, uncensored story (11:20).

Near the end of the conversation, Rock reveals that his brother lost his leg during a tragic accident…and he wrote a rhyme about it. While he never released the song on an album, he proceeds to kick the verse live for Sway, Heather B and Tracy G (17:00).

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