Go for Broke by Kazzer

Go for Broke is the debut album from Kazzer, the stage name of Mark Kasprzyk, a kid from Binbrook, Ontario, just outside Hamilton, who took the long way into rock. He spent his childhood on the judo mat, made the Canadian national team and ended up an alternate for the 2000 Summer Olympics, and it was sitting on the sidelines that pushed him toward music. Songwriting came at 16, then hip-hop and breakdancing, then a demo that reached Epic Records, which signed him and put the record out in Canada, France, Germany and Scandinavia.

The calling card was "Pedal to the Metal", co-written with Brian West, the Grammy-nominated producer who'd worked with Nelly Furtado. It's full-throttle, revved-up rap rock, and it traveled: The Italian Job's 2003 remake picked it up for its soundtrack, and it made the singles charts in Canada and Australia. Kasprzyk would later front Redlight King.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.