Devil Without a Cause
Devil Without a Cause is the fourth studio album by American musician Kid Rock. Released on August 18, 1998, the album saw Kid Rock continuing to develop his sound, and marked the finalization of his stage persona as a 'redneck pimp'. Additionally, the song "Cowboy" is seen as being instrumental in the development of the fusion genre country rap.
Devil Without a Cause was a major commercial success. Spurred by the popularity of the single "Bawitdaba", the album sold over 14 million copies, and was certified diamond. The album also received critical acclaim for its genre-mixing sound.
Recording[edit]
In 1997, Jason Flom, head of Lava Records, 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.[3][4] As part of his recording deal, Kid Rock received $150,000 from the label.[5] By this time, Kid Rock had fully developed his pimp redneck stage persona and rap rock musical style and wanted to make a "redneck, shit-kicking rock 'n' roll rap" album.[3]
The album was recorded at the White Room in Detroit and mixed at the Mix Room in Los Angeles.[3] Kid Rock spent two months in the studio with "a hot tub, some girls and some illegal substances".[6] 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 the album The Polyfuze Method,[6] and "Black Chick, White Guy" from the album Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp.[3][7]
During the recording sessions, Eminem was mixing The Slim Shady LP at the same studio, and, being friends with Kid Rock, asked him to record scratching for the song "Just Don't Give A Fuck." In return, Eminem delivered a guest rap verse on Kid's song "Fuck Off." In a 1999 interview with Spin Magazine, Eminem told the interviewer that he used cocaine 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."[3]
Composition[edit]
Style[edit]
The A.V. Club wrote that while Devil Without a Cause is "not nü-metal, [it] extended the lineage of rap-rock that Run-DMC and Aerosmith had first established."[8] Nevertheless, the album has been described as a notable nu metal release,[9] that helped "create the rap-rock/nu-metal phenomenon".[10][11] AllMusic said that the album best demonstrated the "organic, integrated sound" of rap rock that differed sharply from that of rap metal, which in contrast sounded "as if the riffs were merely overdubbed over scratching and beat box beats", whereas rap rock, as Devil Without a Cause demonstrated, was defined as "rock song[s] where the vocalist rapped instead of sang".[12] According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine, "The key to [the album's] success is that it's never trying to be a hip-hop record. It's simply a monster rock album."[13] Erlewine credits Kid Rock's backing band, Twisted Brown Trucker, 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."[13] Erlewine believes the album's sound owed influence to Bob Seger, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Van Halen." Erlewine also believed the album was "firmly in the tradition of classic hard rock".[13] Billboard wrote, "it’s not a stretch to call Devil Without a Cause, Rock’s breakthrough fourth record, the Appetite for Destruction or The Chronic of rap-rock."[14]
Legacy[edit]
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.[42][43][44]
The album's critical appraisal has continued long after the album's release, with Allmusic labeling Devil Without a Cause a "rap-rock masterpiece".[12] The song "Cowboy" is considered by AXS to be the first in the country rap genre; Cowboys & Indians claims that Kid Rock's song had a major impact on the country music scene and that artists Jason Aldean and Big & Rich, among others, were influenced by the song.[5][21]
15 years after the album's release, The Village Voice writer Chaz Kangas praised Kid Rock's artistry, writing, "in the Clinton era when your most viable pop stars were pristine teen-pop sensations, raucous nu-metal antagonists or alternative-to-alternative-to-alternative rock weirdos, Rock stood alone."[45] Praising the song "Cowboy", Kangas called it "one track from this era that's timeless without even trying to be."[45]
Loudwire named Devil Without a Cause one of the 10 best hard rock albums of 1998.[46] Classic Rock magazine named Devil Without a Cause one of 10 essential rap metal albums.[47] Blender named Devil Without a Cause one of the 100 greatest American albums.[48] The album was also listed as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[49]