the kevin rudolf 411

Who’s that guy who rocks “Make It or Break It” with “Let It Rock”?

Meet Kevin Rudolf. Luck favors the well-prepared, and this New York City boy was both lucky and well-prepared when his big break came.

Kevin was born in Manhattan, where his mom was a rock singer. When he was 11, he started playing guitar, and that’s how he worked his way through the city’s underground music scene.

So what was that big break he got? When he met uber producer Timbaland through a friend and got invited to check out the studio, he says he “brought my guitar as sort of a peace offering so I wasn’t feeling completely useless. Soon I was playing parts on songs.” What songs? Oh, little things like the Timbaland-Timberlake tracks “Release” and “Scream.”

Nice! Pretty soon, he was working with artists like David Banner, the Neptunes, Nelly Furtado, the Black Eyed Peas, Lil’ Kim, and LL Cool J.

Now we have Kevin’s own CD, “In the City,” with the hit “Let It Rock” featuring Lil Wayne. What’s different is that this rock-hip-pop goodness comes to you via the Cash Money label, which used to be all about hip-hop. But the guys who run Cash Money knew a good thing when they heard it, so they signed Kevin. His sound mixes up rock and hip-hop into irresistible pop that’s kinda retro and futuristic at the same time.

Where do the songs come from? Kevin says they’re “about me growing up, figuring out how to survive. I just stood back and began assembling the pieces. When it feels good, you just get out of the way and let the music come through.”

We agree ... let it rock!