Messin’ With the Kid: Rock’s NAACP controversy
What was that we were just saying about bawitdaba da bang a dang diggy?
They must be magic words! Utter them and Kid Rock will appear – playing Rexall Place Saturday, May 21. He’s touring with the Twisted Brown Trucker Band behind his new album, Born Free. Tickets are $29.50, $49.50 or $69.50 and go on sale Saturday, March 12 at 10 a.m. here.
This guy occupies a strange niche in popular music no one else would dare to even come close to and keep a straight face: that tiny but apparently loud intersection at the crossroads between African-American hip-hop and Southern rock. This is illustrated perfectly in the so-called “storm of controversy” over Mr. Rock being honoured at an upcoming NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) gala in Detriot. The beef is that Rock does Southern Rock, certain practitioners of which – certainly not all – at one time displayed the Confederate flag, considered a symbol of hate among some (certainly not all) African-Americans. Man, Kid Rock doesn’t need this. He’s got lawsuits to fight.
Our take? First of all, the NAACP should change its name. They couldn’t really call it the National Association for the Advancement of African American People because it would spell out NAAAAP, but let’s work on this together. We’re here to help. As for the protesters, they ought to think it over a little more before they start yakking to the hysterical press (which makes far too big a deal of everything), maybe do some research, actually go to a Kid Rock show. The guy might be dumb, he might hack his way through so many musical styles like all the tattered hats he wears, he may appeal to people who like to PARTY in pick-up trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back window, but Kid Rock is no racist. Quite the contrary. Unwittingly or not, he’s done more to bridge the race gap than most other Southern rockers and/or rappers you could name. Now let’s all say the magic words and banish racism forever – bawitdaba da bang a dang diggy!
