Sold as a rap/rock/pop triple threat with massive crossover potential,
Kevin Rudolf is actually less hip-hop than
Kid Rock,
Fergie, and maybe even
Gwen Stefani. Even if the rap bit is oversold, this hip-pop-rock kid who performs, writes, and produces is keenly aware of how much urban music flavor the pop music genre had absorbed since the millennium turned. He loves a guitar crunch and there are too many fist-raising rock anthems on his debut album to call this rap/rock/pop in equal shares, but when superstar rapper,
Rudolf advocate, and Cash Money label boss
Lil Wayne shows up,
In the City becomes an album for the second MTV generation. Suburban kids living with their multi-genre MP3 players on shuffle and digging heavily on that
Linkin Park/
Jay-Z mash-up will find
Rudolf and
Wayne's "Let It Rock" a near-perfect highlight, agreeing with other declared fans of the fist-pumper like
Lindsay Lohan and Ryan Seacrest (
Chuck D and the
RZA are mum on the issue). "Welcome to the World," with
Rick Ross, once again skillfully puts the hip-hopper on top of pop-metal, but when the grit of hood life is explored on the awfully shallow "N.Y.C.," clichés that could have come out of
Miley Cyrus or
Katy Perry squash any hopes of street-cred ("In the city of dreams/You get caught up in the schemes/And fall apart at the seams").
Rudolf's lyrics may be cringe-worthy through the plentiful filler, but his giant pop/rock productions make the songs sound alive and much more vital than they should. Take it as the great "Let It Rock" surrounded by so-so filler or the slickest demo reel ever sold,
In the City gets by on hooks and hugeness, like an irony-free
Andrew W.K.,
Timbaland working with
Aerosmith, or a jaded version of the
Jonas Brothers now willing to drop the F-bomb. ~ David Jeffries