FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who is Uncle Kracker?
Where did the name Kracker come from?
Why Uncle?
How did he meet Kid Rock - are they still friends?
Why wasn't Kid Rock on No Stranger to Shame? Was he trying to break away?
What about Eminem?
Uncle Kracker vs. Cracker, the band?
What is Sued, Boozed And Tattooed?
What music video's has Kracker done?
Who's the girl in the 'In a Little While' video?
Who's the guy in the 'Follow Me' video?
Who's the guy in the 'Drift Away' video?
What's the story about 'Drift Away,' Dobie Gray, etc?
Uncle Kracker owns some businesses in the Detroit area?

Who is Uncle Kracker?
Uncle Kracker is Matthew Shafer. Kracker is a currently a solo artist, but has performed with Kid Rock's Twisted Brown Trucker band.

Where did the name Kracker come from?
Kracker was the nickname he picked up from Kid Rock.

Why Uncle?
When it came time to release his solo CD, the name Kracker had already been used by a rock band so he had to use something different. MC Kracker and DJ Kracker where considered but quickly dismissed. He added the title Uncle to his name after seeing a poster for 'Uncle ---' backstage at an airport.

How did he meet Kid Rock - are they still friends?
Kid Rock is 4 years older than Kracker, they meet at a Club that had Sunday night for teens, a DJ battle pitted Kracker's older bother against Kid Rock Kid and Kracker's brother became friends, Kid would produce demo's on 8-track recorders. When Kracker was about 16 - and a bit more mobile he looked up to Kid Rock - doing things like posting flyers and other gopher type tasks. When Kid's DJ left his band, Kracker was recruited and taught on the spot.
To this day the two are still best friends.

Why wasn't Kid Rock on No Stranger to Shame? Was he trying to break away?
"I just this one he was so busy with all his other stuff, and I needed to get done. I love collaborating with him, he's my best friend and we work so well together -- but at the same time I needed to finish it. He was kinda like, "Here's the ball, just take it and run with it." That's what I did with this record. So it wasn't really by design."

What about Eminem?
"There was one kid other than me in ninth grade that was into rap music," says Kracker (a.k.a. Matt Shafer) of his days at L'Anse Creuse High School near Detroit. "Me and this kid would go over each other's houses and rap. And he introduced me to these kids on the other side of town." One of them was none other than Marshall Mathers (a.k.a. Eminem). "Him and his friends would come in their pickup trucks, take me to their basement, and we'd do freestyle rap sessions and record them," says Kracker, who still has some of the tapes but says he's embarrassed by their quality. "We were young. It was all, like, 'We like beer!' and 'Boy, we really like beer!' But I remember Marshall was always bad," Kracker adds. "He was always awesome. Even back then, that kid was rapping tongue-twisters and shit, you know? And he's always been very artistic. He'd sit around and draw pictures and shit." When asked whether he thinks the tapes will ever see the light of record stores, Kracker responds, "I think some things are just better left alone."

Uncle Kracker vs. Cracker, the band?
Despite having a different spelling and adding the Uncle to the front of his name, the band Cracker sued over infrigment of the name. While details are sketchy, it is reported that Uncle Kracker paid an undisclosed sum to use his name.

What is Sued, Boozed And Tattooed?
The original title for No Stranger to Shame

What music video's has Kracker done?
Look for music video's for 'Yeah Yeah Yeah,' and 'Follow Me' from Double Wide and 'In a Little While,' 'Drift Away' and 'Memphis Soul Song' from No Stranger To Shame.

Who's the girl in the 'In a Little While' video?
Willa Ford.

Who's the guy in the 'Follow Me' video?
That's Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath.

Who's the guy in the 'Drift Away' video?
Dobie Gray - the original singer of the song back from 1973.

What's the story about 'Drift Away,' Dobie Gray, etc?
"I started covering the song live and he thought, "Maybe I'll do this for the next record." And then I thought, "Man. A lot of people have covered this fuckin' song and it didn't work." After a while it was like, "Why not just get the guy it worked for?" I was on tour with Kid Rock and we were in New Orleans that week we set it up, the tour bus dropped me off at the studio in Nashville one morning and I did that then flew back to New Orleans. It was cool, and Dobie Gray was just . . . the guy still fucking sings amazingly. He was very into the song. He loved the new way of doing it. At the same time I felt like an idiot trying to sing next to him. We'd be in there singing the harmonies and stuff and I'm still standing there like, "Am I in key? Am I throwing you off?" I don't think you could knock him out of key. He's an amazing singer, still to this day." - Uncle Kracker

Uncle Kracker owns some businesses in the Detroit area?
Kracker and family own a few bars in the Detroit area: Sunny's in Grosse Pointe, his brother used to own Your Mothers - now he owns Underdogs in Mt. Clemens. Crew's Inn in Harrison Twp. is also rumored to be in the family. His father owns a Bowman Tire in Mt. Clemens. Kracker also owns a trailer park somewhere outside Michigan.