Music / Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp

Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp (1996) is Kid Rock's third album. It was considered the most rock-oriented album he'd made up to that point, as well as the soldification of his stage persona as a hard drinking, drugging, redneck pimp.

The tracks "Where U At Rock" and "Black Chick, White Guy" would later be re-recorded for his diamond-selling album Devil Without a Cause.

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Track listing

1. "Intro" – 0:50
2. "Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp" (featuring Tino) – 7:18
3. "Paid" – 5:15
4. "I Wanna Go Back" – 5:14
5. "Live" (featuring Esham) – 2:34
6. "Detroit Thang" (featuring The Howling Diablos) – 6:22
7. "Ya Keep On" – 3:55
8. "Shotgun Blast" – 2:18
9. "Freestyle Rhyme" – 3:57
10. "Classic Rock" – 2:42
11. "My Name Is Rock" – 4:30
12. "Where U at Rock" – 5:08
13. "Krack Rocks" (featuring Uncle Kracker) – 4:09
14. "The Prodigal Son Returns" – 3:16
15. "Black Chick, White Guy" – 7:10
16. "Outro" – 0:38

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Tropes:

• Book Ends The intro track is actually the end of "Krack Rocks". It's not readily apparent until you listen to the album from start to finish. Another reprise appears as the outro.
• Bowdlerise: "Shotgun Blast" was later featured on a soundtrack CD for WCW Mayhem, but in a "clean radio edit" version retitled "Blast".
  • When the title track was re-recorded for The History of Rock, Billy Ray Cyrus' last name was censored.
• Call-Back: "Classic Rock" has him singing through a talkbox, "You want my balls in your mouth"
• Genre Roulette: The album's sound encompasses rock, funk, Soul and Hip-Hop.
• Guest Star: Esham introduces Kid Rock on "Live", Uncle Kracker DJ's on "Krack Rocks", the band Howling Diablos plays the funk-soul instrumentation on "Detroit Thang", and Tino raps on the title track.
• Missing Episode: One of two albums (along with The Polyfuze Method) that are no longer in print physically, not available to stream, and are unlikely to be reissued, due to sample clearance issues.
• Ode to Intoxication: "Krack Rocks". You might think the title might refer to Uncle Kracker, who's featured on the track, but no, it's about drugs.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Kid Rock and Insane Clown Posse used to be on civil speaking terms, until ICP member Shaggy 2 Dope rapped on his solo song "Fuck Off!", "I won't mix no rap with rock & roll, like somebody else I know!" Kid Rock responded on this album with "Ya' Keep On", where he rapped, "Don't call me Joe 'cause the Joes I know can't even flow"^note Both members of ICP are named Joe and on "Freestyle Rhyme", where Rock rapped, "Is there anything wacker than a wicked clown?"
• Retroactive Recognition: Yes, that was Esham the Unholy hyping Kid Rock up on that stage on "Live".
• Sequel Song: "The Prodigal Son Returns" was a sequel to "Prodigal Son" off The Polyfuze Method, utilizing the same sample of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" drum intro with different guitar riffs and new lyrics picking up from where the first one left off thematically.
• Take That!: From On "Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp": "You're lookin' really gay, like fuckin' Billy Ray Cyrus"
• Viewers Are Geniuses: On "Where You At Rock?", Kid Rock raps, "Ayn Rand couldn't stand me, so she banned me." Aside from being an alliterative rhyme, it's saying something about Kid Rock as a person. Ayn Rand was a philosopher whose philosophical system, Objectivism, promoted rational ego, meaning essentially a self-confident individual who takes pride in his own personal accomplishments. How this relates to Kid Rock is slightly sketchy, since Ayn Rand died in 1982 in New York, and couldn't possibly have ever encountered the brash, rambunctious Kid Rock in person, placing this verse within the context of a metaphor. Rand's novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, while championing rational ego, also featured antagonists who displayed irrational ego: the antagonists took credit for accomplishments they didn't actually achieve, and essentially got big heads about it, believing themselves to be as great or more than the heroes, while lacking their virtues or accomplishments. Kid Rock is saying that he has a larger ego than what is humanly healthy. In contrast, the level of ego, or confidence, of Rand and her characters, are within reason and justified, whereas Kid Rock is saying that his isn't.
• We Used to Be Friends: Kid and The Beast Crew, as said in "I Wanna Go Back"
  I ain't sayin' that I'm wrong, but I still got love for you/Cause I remember how it used to be, "Make way, motherfuckers, Beast Crew's in the party"

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