Kevin Rudolf: Drums Are The Secret To Merging Genres

Kevin Rudolf spoke with ARTISTDirect in a Q&A, where the recording artist talked about how ‘Don’t Give Up’ is “more organic” and “more guitar-driven”, how “the song really wrote itself”, how he’s associated with features with artists like Lil Wayne, Nas or Rick Ross, how “every song on this [upcoming] album is telling a story of its own”, and how drums are the secret to making genres merge.

“Everything works in context in both areas - rock and hip hop - except for the drums,” Rudolf explained. “What’s one thing that really defines actual hip hop tracks? The drums. If you use hip hop drums, you have to do this in a very clever way to fuse the genres. You can use rock sensibilities and rock riffs. You can take what works about that. If you have hip hop drums and do it right, that’s what creates the fusion. You have to do it well.”