The Great White Hype
Asher Roth's debut album lacks compelling content
Insanul Ahmed
Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: Arts
Yes, Asher Roth is indeed white. Yes, Asher Roth's voice is similar to Eminem's. No, Asher Roth cannot hold a candle to Eminem. Yes, Asher Roth is a pretty good rapper. Yes, Roth's "I Love College" became a big hit. No, Asher Roth's debut album, Asleep In The Bread Aisle, does not live up to the hype.
Roth's ascension from internet fame to a Top 20 hit was fairly quick. Roth-who hails from Morrisville, Pennsylvania-first got the internet buzzing last year when he released The Greenhouse Effect, a free mixtape that was available for download on his website (TheDailyKush.com) and was backed by mixtape heavyweights DJ Cannon and DJ Drama.
But what really catapulted Roth was the success of his first single, "I Love College." Despite being stripped of its original Weezer sample, Roth's single peaked at number 12 on Billboard's Hot 100. "I Love College" is a simple ode to getting drunk, making a fool out of yourself, and partying it up. Yet Roth even finds time to dish out advice like, "Don't have sex if she's too gone, when it comes to condoms put two on." But the success of the single aided the failure of the record. SRC/Universal rushed an album's worth of material out after "I Love College" took off, instead of continuing to develop Roth's talent.
As his single suggests, Roth is more Beastie Boy than Eminem; he'd much rather fight for his right to party than talk about committing murders. But Roth addresses the white elephant in the room with "As I Em." The track has a great line about The Slim Shady LP, "My Mom brought it down while I was ironing/Irony."
If you really want to know the exact difference between Roth's debut and Eminem's debut, just compare Roth's whiney "Bad Day" with Shady's desperate "Rock Bottom." For Roth, a bad day consists of forgetting his IPod and sitting next a fat guy on a plane.
This is Roth's biggest problem: he has no content. His music lacks tension and true struggle, so he settles for rapping about smoking weed ("Blunt Cruising") and chasing girls ("She Don't Wanna Man"). Of course there's nothing wrong with rapping about smoking weed and chasing girls, it's just that Asher doesn't make the topics interesting. The album is a sheltered experience from a guy who's lived a sheltered life.
Occasionally a witty lyricist with his clever word play (look no further than the excellent opening track "Lark On My Go-Kart"), Roth is, for the most part, a bit too calculated-gone is the fun and spontaneity of mixtape cuts like the excellent "Roth Boys."
Roth's boy, Oren Yoel, handles the bulk of the production here and his beats are worth noting. The album is as much a coming out party for Yoel, who produces all but two of the twelve tracks, as it is for Roth. Yoel provides funky old school beats that bear little resemblance to most hip hop production today. Orel even told the New York Times (in a somewhat unwarranted profile on Roth) that he and Roth intentionally "stayed away from 'A Milli' beats."
As bad as the album is, Roth is not untalented. He's a white kid from the 'burbs that can rap his ass off. Too bad he doesn't have anything compelling to rap about.
Roth's ascension from internet fame to a Top 20 hit was fairly quick. Roth-who hails from Morrisville, Pennsylvania-first got the internet buzzing last year when he released The Greenhouse Effect, a free mixtape that was available for download on his website (TheDailyKush.com) and was backed by mixtape heavyweights DJ Cannon and DJ Drama.
But what really catapulted Roth was the success of his first single, "I Love College." Despite being stripped of its original Weezer sample, Roth's single peaked at number 12 on Billboard's Hot 100. "I Love College" is a simple ode to getting drunk, making a fool out of yourself, and partying it up. Yet Roth even finds time to dish out advice like, "Don't have sex if she's too gone, when it comes to condoms put two on." But the success of the single aided the failure of the record. SRC/Universal rushed an album's worth of material out after "I Love College" took off, instead of continuing to develop Roth's talent.
As his single suggests, Roth is more Beastie Boy than Eminem; he'd much rather fight for his right to party than talk about committing murders. But Roth addresses the white elephant in the room with "As I Em." The track has a great line about The Slim Shady LP, "My Mom brought it down while I was ironing/Irony."
If you really want to know the exact difference between Roth's debut and Eminem's debut, just compare Roth's whiney "Bad Day" with Shady's desperate "Rock Bottom." For Roth, a bad day consists of forgetting his IPod and sitting next a fat guy on a plane.
This is Roth's biggest problem: he has no content. His music lacks tension and true struggle, so he settles for rapping about smoking weed ("Blunt Cruising") and chasing girls ("She Don't Wanna Man"). Of course there's nothing wrong with rapping about smoking weed and chasing girls, it's just that Asher doesn't make the topics interesting. The album is a sheltered experience from a guy who's lived a sheltered life.
Occasionally a witty lyricist with his clever word play (look no further than the excellent opening track "Lark On My Go-Kart"), Roth is, for the most part, a bit too calculated-gone is the fun and spontaneity of mixtape cuts like the excellent "Roth Boys."
Roth's boy, Oren Yoel, handles the bulk of the production here and his beats are worth noting. The album is as much a coming out party for Yoel, who produces all but two of the twelve tracks, as it is for Roth. Yoel provides funky old school beats that bear little resemblance to most hip hop production today. Orel even told the New York Times (in a somewhat unwarranted profile on Roth) that he and Roth intentionally "stayed away from 'A Milli' beats."
As bad as the album is, Roth is not untalented. He's a white kid from the 'burbs that can rap his ass off. Too bad he doesn't have anything compelling to rap about.
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