While Kid Rock has a musical library featuring hits like “Bawitdaba,” “Picture,” and “All Summer Long,” in recent years, he has largely fallen out of public favor due to controversial actions and opinions. Rolling Stone got together with Rock for a new feature covering that aspect of his life and more, and it’s a lot.
For example, the piece, written by David Peisner, describes the end of a tense interaction:
“After another five or 10 minutes of this back-and-forth, he finally seems to lose steam and agrees to drive me back to my car. As he pours himself one more drink for the road, he looks me up and down.
‘Do you think you could whup the sh*t out of me?’ he asks.
I laugh. ‘Probably not.’
‘You can take a shot if you want.’
‘No, thanks. I’m good.’”
Elsewhere, Rock is quoted repeatedly using a racial slur and Peisner notes, “It’s worth mentioning these are not the only times Ritchie drops the n-word during my visit.”
The piece later concludes:
“He stops the ATV. I get out and we shake hands. Then he motions for me to come close, as if he has a secret he wants to tell me.
‘Would you do me a favor?’ he asks, practically whispering. ‘Just write the most horrific article about me. Do it. It helps me.’
I walk toward my car, and just before I get to it, he calls out one more time.
‘Will you tell everyone that I was halfway cool?’”
Read the full feature here.