Kid Rock isn't from Detroit.

[Django]

Not sure what you mean Mag.

I'm just sayin the kid is doin his best and if some of that best falls in Detroit's lap so be it and God bless. I could care less if he grew up in Romeo, Brighton or Brightmoore. The man regularly brings his $how to Detroit.

[Magnatomicflux]

meh....just sayin' that lines on maps cause lots of problems all over the place lol. I suppose I could've held off but I like the idea of "fuck the lines drawn on a map".

.....nevermind

[ejames01]

Or could it just be YOU?!!???


Only a person with a sick mind thinks that their opinion is fact.

Just proves there are at least 60,000 idiots.

[LodgeDodger]

It's official--the folks from this country show on television just introduced both Kid Rock and Uncle Kracker and stated they were from Detroit.

[DetroitPole]

I often wonder why Detroit is the way it is. Having never fully recovered like most other big cities. But this post explains a lot of it.

Much of Detroit's bad image isn't because of people from outside of the region but from people who are "IN" the region. For some odd reason, if you don't live in the city limits, you're not allowed to call Detroit your home. People don't behave this way in Chicagoland or the Greater New York City area. It's just not that important of an issue, although it may be true. People from the Chicago suburbs are proud of the city and openly embrace what a great city it is. Despite all of Chicago's many problems they love the city and fully claim it. They support the teams, the arts, the restaurants etc...same as in New York City. This strange topic of conversation would never take place in those cities. At least not at this level.

If a person loves Detroit enough to write music about it or even claim it, then that's a positive thing. If kid Rock wrote "dis" songs about Detroit, then you'd all be dogging the guy out too. He can't win. Detroiter's must stop being haters and embrace a "one for all and all for one" attitude about Detroit.

Detroiter's are buggin out on this one man...

Yep. "Detroiter's" [[sic) are the problem. You can say that all you want around here, but you raise one finger about the suburbanites, and, well, look what happens.

Sure, Detroiters are the problem. Detroiters who spend $340 million alone in suburbs on groceries alone.
http://www.modeldmedia.com/devnews/g...cer051810.aspx
This in contrast to the countless suburbanites who brag about not having set foot in the city for decades. Yeah, these things are difficult to quantify, and largely anecdotal, because people don't say words like "damn n*ggers" to pollsters for example, but they do in their garages. However, the ballot box is a good indicator too - Livonia, overwhelmingly white suburb, pulled out of SMART. Oh but it is the "Detroiter's" who are "buggin'". I didn't really get the "one for all vibe" from Livonia, and I still don't from L Brooks Patterson, Jack Brandenburg, or any number of assholes. But "Detroiter's" are the problem.

These are not simply "lines drawn on a map". Our region has serious racial and economic divisions - probably the worst in the entire nation, and we cannot pretend they didn't happen or that they are somehow solved now that it is the 21st century and that we are now one big happy family. Detroit is blacker and poorer than ever before. For decades, people fled the city in droves simply because of race.

If anything I think race relations are just as bad as they ever were, and we can't make them go away by pretending they aren't there. I'm not saying the suburbanites are wrong and the Detroiters are right. I'm saying there is very deep division - emotional, economic, and racial, not to mention simply logistical [[transit) that needs to be resolved before we can honestly say we are a cohesive region.

[DC48080]

Who really gives a damn where he says he is from or whether any individual person on this forum likes his music or not?

Get a life people. There are more important things to worry about.

[RickBeall]

Hey, I'd like it even better if he said he was from Hamtramck!

[LodgeDodger]

Hey, I'd like it even better if he said he was from Hamtramck!

Now THAT would be groovy!

[jackie5275]

I am amazed at the volume of posts on this thread. Most people who live in the suburbs who call themselves "from Detroit", especially outside the metro area is because their audience hasn't heard the names of all of our suburbs and have knowledge of where in the state each one is located. If I'm traveling out of state and asked, I'll say I'm from metro Detroit or Detroit because if I say where I really live, the person asking the question then has to follow up with "Where is that?" Then you get stuck explaining where Romeo is.

[English]

Personally, I'm glad that Kid Rock claims Detroit. It's not like it's the most fashionable place, on balance, to represent. There are plenty of people from the city who loathe it and will disavow it any chance they get. I love people who fall in love with city... it shouldn't matter where they grew up.

[fryar]

I have been wearing my Arsenal of Democracy shirt from time to time.

Can I say I'm from Detroit?


Who cares if I say I'm from Detroit? Where the hell is P-Diddy from? Or Bruce Springsteen? Or fryar? Or Lady Gaga? So some guy is from Tampa, or Oakland, or Seattle, or near those cities, or passed through there once, so what?

If Kid Rock claiming to be from Detroit annoys you, stop buying into the fractionalism.

[LeannaM]

Whether he presents a good image for Detroit is debatable I guess. Still, if he is good for the image of Detroit, I don't see how it matters if his town is technically in the Detroit metro or not.

[DetLiving]

I'll take one Kidd Rock over 100 Kwame Kilpatrick supporters any day. Ella Bully Cummings must not be elected to the 36th District Court.

[LodgeDodger]

I have been wearing my Arsenal of Democracy shirt from time to time.

Can I say I'm from Detroit?


Who cares if I say I'm from Detroit? Where the hell is P-Diddy from? Or Bruce Springsteen? Or fryar? Or Lady Gaga? So some guy is from Tampa, or Oakland, or Seattle, or near those cities, or passed through there once, so what?

If Kid Rock claiming to be from Detroit annoys you, stop buying into the fractionalism.

Where'd you buy that?!? I love it. I want one.

If Kid Rock wants to claim Detroit as his starting point, that's perfectly fine with me. In fact, I'll gift him my membership in the "Born in Detroit" club. [[Of course, I'll keep saying I'm from Detroit.) If my simple gesture will silence his critics in this oh-so-important thread, then Amen.

[bartock]

I think this is what annoys a lot of people and I agree with it. Kid Rock isn't "from Detroit" as a means of geography, but as a means of selling whatever "badass" image he is going for. And while one could argue that Romeo is part of Metro Detroit, there is nothing "badass"[[in the sense he is going for) about Romeo, so he should drop the schtick.

I think Eminem is a better example. He did live in Detroit for a while as a youth, though he spent most of his years in Warren, which is unquestionably part of Metro Detroit. He is accepted in large part by the Detroit rap and social scene, and has a large following in both the suburbs and the city. He sings about Detroit a lot, but he doesn't really go around bragging about how he is from Detroit like Kid Rock.

I never really understood why people like Kid Rock. It seems like all he ever does is sing about himself.

Here is how ridiculous these arguments get.

Eminem grew up in Missouri and didn't move to Warren until he was in his mid-teens. Moved across 8 Mile with a bunch of buddies as a young adult. He went to the rap battles and worked as a dishwasher in the suburbs, including Gibert's in St. Clair Shores.

Ritchie grew up [[as the son of a wealthy car dealership owner) in Romeo - even today, still the "sticks," was fascinated with Detroit, working parties in the city and suburbs and ultimately living several years in Detroit, perhaps longer than Eminem, but who knows for sure. Despite his upbringing, he unquestionably paid his dues during those years, and spent most of his time in Detroit.

Growing up outside the city, moving to the city and living there for a while, then moving back out again. Sounds like some people on this board, including myself.

So...how do you keep score?

Personally, I don't care for the music of either one. Purely a matter of taste, they are both talented in what they do. Both are international stars, and both carry the flag of the region [[which, is what the rest of the world considers "Detroit"), and still live in the suburbs, whether people want to consider their gated areas suburbs or not. I think that is a good thing.

The "real Detroiter" stuff is complete garbage. I was born at Providence Hospital. Had my mother decided to go down the street to Sinai or Grace, would I have "Detroit" credentials? Have I permanently precluded my children from saying they are from Detroit because we chose to have our children delivered at WBH instead of down the street at St. John's? If I lived in Detroit now, but wasn't born there, am I a Detroiter? If I don't live in Detroit now, but was raised there, am I a Detroiter? If I wasn't born there, lived my formidible years there, but no longer live there, am I a....whatever.

[313WX]

You had a point? Aside from suburbs are evil, I mean...

Actually, I said nothing of the sort.

[Baselinepunk]

I think what [[may) be missing here is that the representation [[better yet: exploitation) of being from "Detroit" implies a certain level of street cred. We've all been there when we go to another part of the country, engage in banter with locals; and when the subject of origination comes up, some locals recoil, gasp and take a step back when we reveal our roots.



The "Detroit Image" is image of a school of hard knocks; a place where we breathe toxic air for breakfast, work at the factory all day, kill some peeps on the way home via road rage and eat our young for dinner. Our favorite color is black [[or "leopard skin"), we carry switchblades to school, step over bullet-ridden bodies on the way to the grocery store and will kick your ass just because we want to. The women in this town are just like a female praying mantis and are more "man" than 99.9% of the rest of the country's women. Don't forget, this is the Murder City, Mutha Fucker; a place where my child will beat up your honor roll student. They've got mad skills like that because they grow up next to crack houses, watch the "accomplishments" of their friends in the first 8 minutes of the "local" news, and sit around all day playing Halo, Mutha Fucker. We used to be a dominate economic power, and our children [[myself included) grew up on the corpse of what Detroit used to be and enjoy views of the city that would rival any set designed for a post-apocalyptic movie.




While I have not been to all four corners of this country, the above is a broad generalization of the stereotype I hear from my friends across the nation, and there are a lot of people around this region who don't like being thought of that way. I grew up in the city, but moved to the suburbs about half way in my upbringing. In fact, I don't think I was ever in trouble with the Law until the I moved out to the 'burbs. Any way, I think that no one owns the "Detroit Image", this whole area owns it; 'burbs and all. This is the encumbrance one gets when they try to have their cake and eat it, too. If we want to be thought of as "American Bad Asses", then there is a price to pay.

For me, as a life-long resident of this area I'm kind of sick and tired of the same old bullshit stereotype temporal context that I have grown up in. When I see someone like Rob [[and Marshall) out there making money off of that stereotype, I have mixed feelings about it. I'm glad they have made a name for himself; that's the American dream. On the other hand, I know that they have a great deal of exposure and are a de facto representative of Detroit ... and frankly it makes me cringe.

Personally, I think it's about time Detroit lost its "black"; and no ... not in racial terms at all. I mean we've got to get beyond this dark, decaying connotation that the city has associated with the word "Detroit". I know many people who enjoy this stereotype, for what ever reason ... and that's up to them. However, I think that we can bring some reconciliation to this region if we start knocking down some of the stereotypes that affect us all. Rob, Marshall, Jack, and all others in high profile imagery have made their money and are where they are. I suggest to the newer folks, the "fresh meat" if you will that will succeed them, to help this area work beyond this BS and bring down the negative stereotype that holds all of us back.

This area has a bunch of positive things going on; granted not on a massive level, but there are good things around us. I know, good things don't bled so it doesn't lead on the evening news. We are all very fortunate to live in an area like ours; we have beautiful views around us and enjoy the type of access to water that makes most of the country envious. We live in a great state that is diverse geographically, geologically and culturally. We have a proud, rich history and we should be proud of our areas role in building and protecting this great Nation. Our history should not be something that we envy; a "has-been" attitude.

We created the negatitive stereotype; we can change it, too.

[mikefmich]

I didn't know my opinion on a musician dragging our city's name through the mud had anything to do with regional politics. It means something to me that Detroit music is the best in the world.

Hey, I need to have dinner at Berry's house soon....what's his address again??

[East Detroit]

Where'd you buy that?!? I love it. I want one.

http://www.mightydetroit.com/

[Detroit Stylin]

Personally, I'm glad that Kid Rock claims Detroit. It's not like it's the most fashionable place, on balance, to represent. There are plenty of people from the city who loathe it and will disavow it any chance they get. I love people who fall in love with city... it shouldn't matter where they grew up.

Can we say Diana "I'm from NY after the Brewster-Douglass Projects magically got transported there!" Ross?

[jefferson78]

Baselinepunk, your post made my day. I've never heard this topic described that way, but you made some excellent points and I think put this matter to rest.

[tvaspen]

Well, I would say his career was made in Detroit. Doesn't that count?
I was born at Crittenton, raised in Southfield, a mile and a half from the magical border of Detroit. I lived at 8 & Southfield [[ the Detroit side) for a little while, then moved to Colorado for 14 years and came back. I lived in Ferndale [[1/2 mile from the magical border), I now reside in Berkley. Spend a lot of time and money in Detroit proper, can I call myself a Detroiter? Where do apply for the cred card?

[LodgeDodger]

http://www.mightydetroit.com/

Thank you!

[ggores]

Throughout this whole discussion I kinda crack up, thinking 'bout how Jack White actually is from that neighborhood, perhaps has the equal amount of fame and popularity {in an albeit secular way}, but yet I don't think he's ever gotten bally-hoo about bad-assed Detroit.

When you put these two figures side-by-side and within the context of "who" is "what" from "where", it does draw a shnarkley grin. You can extrapolate tonnes from it.

That said, Ritchie DID make a fortune and, from what I understand, shared it. He punched Tommy Lee and caught the clap from Pamela Anderson. He is a rock star and a ham, all rolled into one. His shtick kinda goes like this {and this is just an opinion}, 1) I am from America 2) I am from Michigan 3) I hail from Detroit.

Not shabby. Many relate to that. With White, it's like:

1) Uhhhh, I was gonna be a priest as a formative teen
2) I, uhhhh, bought a guitar and amp
3) I done did it, split, and moved to Nashville. Rock!
4) Married a bar-maid along the way

Not too shabby either.

So be it and selah and all that blah blah blah.

[dookie joe]

I grew up in the worst ghetto in Detroit, the Cass Corridor, which had the lowest income of any zip code in the United States back in the '70s, 48201. We had rats and roaches; one night when I got into bed, a rat darted out from under the covers and through a grate in the floor. And to this day I double-check each spoonful or Raisin Bran to make sure those little black things are raisins, not roaches.

I currently reside in southwest Detroit, smack dab in the middle of Latin Counts territory.

So I suppose I have as much "street cred" when it comes to "being from Detroit" as anyone.

And I can tell you: The only people who really give a crap about "who is from Detroit" are:

1. Hipsters who've moved here and don't want others horning in on their action.

2. Prejudiced black people who use the "outsider" schtick as a code word for "white people."

The hipsters crack me up. I know several of them; they're obsessed with who is and isn't from Detroit. As I said, they think it makes them interesting and they get more cred with the NPR crowd if they live in the gritty city.

Make no mistake: I don't live in Detroit as a badge of honor. I live here because it's cheap.