Kevin Rudolf, "Let It Rock"

Now that Rick Dees has left KIIS-FM, it is safe to listen to the radio station. So my daughter punched it up in the car, and I didn't argue, especially when I heard a song I hadn't heard before.

There's an official YouTube video, but it's non-embeddable. Too bad.

So who is this Kevin Rudolf? Read the bio:

His first album shines with the same confident but shadowy mystique (online bloggers searching for even a photo of Rudolf has made a guessing game as to his origin and back–story.). In the age of Facebook–flaunting myspace–taunting GPS tracking wannabes, there still remains a refreshing mystery about him. But one look at the cover of his new CD – a silhouetted Rudolf, guitar–at–the ready in front of an ink blot of an urban landscape that would make The Clash proud – and you realize his DNA of rock, rap, and soaring song–craft is in his genes, and not tacked on as some last minute record company marketing plan, with a healthy irreverence that hasn’t fallen through the cracks. “I grew up in New York City. You have to learn how to survive, but hopefully in a way that’s true to you,” he says. “That means putting your head down once in a while and just saying F*** it, too. I promised myself if I got here I’d let my music do the talking. It’s the same way when I work. I’ve always let the music channel through me.”

It’s that same grace under pressure that has enabled him to come out of hip hop–centric Cash Money with hit rock song blazing: Prince–like in its originality and signature proclamation – ‘What the Saints forgot I must now remind you,’ he sings – by the time Lil Wayne spins into orbit you’ve realize the hip hop superstar is deputizin’ a new Sheriff in town – Weezies’ left–of–center spaced out rap complementing Kevin’s rocking call–to–arms perfectly. As one music blogger wrote: It’s the year’s ‘perfect trifecta of pop, rap, and rock.’

And as a commenter to a music blogger wrote, Rudolf has been around:

posted by Topher23 on Nov 12, 2008

If you look at the "official" sources, you would think that Kevin Rudolf just popped out of nowhere. This story says that he "met Timbaland" and from there things just started to happen. Oddly enough, Kevin Rudolf had been around long before that "fateful" 2004 meeting. In 2001, he released an album under the name "Binocular." Do a web search for the band and you'll discover that Binocular was a one-man band with songwriting credits under the name Kevin Randolf. I guess Cash Money doesn't want us to know that Kevin was a musician BEFORE the hip-hop label got a hold on him.

While Binocular songs are not on last.fm, the Binocular album is listed, and was issued by Maverick (Madonna's former label). Since I can't hear the music, I'm not sure why the relationship didn't work out. (Insert Guy Ritchie joke here.)