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Asher Roth

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Asher Roth

Asher Paul Roth is an American rapper from Morrisville, Pennsylvania[1][2] currently signed to a joint venture between Scooter Braun's Schoolboy Music and Steve Rifkind’s SRC Records. His first professional release was on June 13, 2008 when the DJ Drama and Don Cannon-helmed The GreenHouse Effect Mixtape was released for free via Roth’s website Thedailykush.com. Roth was featured on the cover of XXL magazine’s annual Top 10 Freshmen: Hip-Hop’s Class ’09 issue. Roth's debut album, Asleep in the Bread Aisle, was released April 20, 2009.[1]

Early life

Roth grew up in suburban Morrisville, a small town about 30 miles northeast of Philadelphia. He attended Pennsbury High School. Growing up, Roth was exposed to little hip-hop in his family, with his parents preferring "The Temptations, Earth, Wind & Fire ... Bruce Springsteen and Dire Straits."[3] According to Roth:

The first CD I ever bought was Dave Matthews Band's 'Crash'...That is how suburban I am...I finally got into hip hop in '98 when I heard the Annie sample with Jay-Z....When I wrote my 'A Milli' freestyle, that was me listening to 10 years of hip hop and not relating to it at all. Like, Damn I don’t sell coke. Damn, I don’t have cars or 25-inch rims. I don't have guns. I finally got to a point where I had the confidence to do this thing myself, and I was making music for me. And it turns out, a lot of people feel the same way I do.[4]

Roth has also stated that:

"I was always from the outside looking in," says Roth. "Hip-hop has always been very influential in the ‘burbs, [but] it’s just a matter of where we could relate to it. You find a lot of kids that are really confused. You look at them and they’re dressed out of character. They don’t look right. I figured out, I don’t have to dress this way, but I can still love hip-hop."[5]

During downtime in high school, Roth and his friends would rhyme and battle each other for fun, referring to their group as "the hip-hop workshop."[5] In 10th grade, Roth began rapping as a hobby, writing and recording tracks in a friend’s basement and selling copies in high school. After selling 250 copies in two days, Roth felt that a career in hip-hop was a possibility.[6] Upon graduation, Roth entered West Chester University and became an Elementary Education major, while continuing to record verses over other peoples’ beats. During sophomore year, Roth posted some of his verses on his Myspace page and sent a Friend Request to Scooter Braun, an Atlanta-based promoter and former VP of Marketing for Jermaine Dupri's So So Def. One week after speaking to Braun, Roth flew down to Atlanta and was immediately signed by Braun, who subsequently became his manager.[3]

Career

Roth was discovered by Braun on MySpace."[2][7] In fall 2006, Roth sent a friend request to Braun over the social networking site. Braun didn't like Roth's music but did think his lyrics had promise. Later that month, Roth was signed.[2] After linking up with Braun, Roth moved to Atlanta to pursue a hip-hop career full-time. As industry buzz grew, Roth was courted by a number of labels, including SRC, Def Jam, Warner Bros. Records and Atlantic.[8] Braun organized a meeting between Roth and Jay-Z, where Roth was asked to rap for the Def Jam executive on the spot.[3] Roth would eventually sign a joint venture between Braun's Schoolboy Music and Steve Rifkind, chairman of SRC/Universal Records. On June 13, 2008, Roth put out his first professional release, the Don Cannon and DJ Drama-helmed The Greenhouse Effect, via the Internet. Roth was the first white rapper to be featured on Drama and Cannon’s influential Gangsta Grillz series.

Style

Roth's lyrics characteristically center around what has been called "middle-class minutiae."[4] Roth's song "I Love College" is about partying with alcohol and marijuana, but includes innocuous lyrics such as "I can get pizza a dollar a slice"[4] that have been identified as "far from threatening".[4]

As he gained prominence, being a white performer in a predominantly black musical genre, Roth has earned many comparisons to Eminem, so much so that he devoted a track on his album to the famed rapper, entitled "As I Em."[2] About the comparison, Roth told Complex magazine:

Him and I are different artists. I think the music’s going to portray that as time goes on. The comparisons are just…it’s cool to be compared to Em, but he’s one of the number one selling artists of all time. I’d rather be compared to him than pretty much anybody else. I think content and everything we rap about is completely different. We’re different artists. We just happened to be under the same genre.[9]

When asked about the comparison by Hiphopdx.com, Roth said, "I think it's too easy. 'A white emcee with a sense of humor and a political side? Oh, let’s compare him to Em!' ... I have nothing but respect for him though; he made it possible for me to be here, he opened the doors, but we come from an entirely different inspiration."[10] Also in a song entitled "Silly Boy" produced by Don Cannon he raps "That Eminem comparison is barely accurate/My rapping is as passionate, but lacks the psychopath of it". Roth has professed that Mos Def, The Roots, The Notorious B.I.G., and OutKast are some of his main hip-hop influences.[8]

In April 2009, following an event at Rutgers University, Roth posted an update on Twitter in which he made a reference to "nappy-headed hoes," intending to mock Don Imus, who had gotten in trouble two years before for making that remark. However, the remark was seen as inappropriate, and he was quickly forced to retract it and issue an apology.[11]

Discography

Albums

Year Title Chart positions
U.S. 200 U.S. R&B U.S. Rap CAN UK
2006 Believe the Hype
  • Release date: August 8, 2006
  • Label: Locknload
 — — — — —
2009 Asleep in the Bread Aisle 5 5 3 31 38

Singles

Year Song Chart positions Album
U.S. Hot 100 U.S. R&B U.S. Rap US Pop US Mod UK UK R&B CAN
2009 "I Love College" 12 116 18 19 34 26 8 53 Asleep in the Bread Aisle
"Lark on My Go-Kart" 95 - - - - - - -
"Be by Myself" (feat. Cee-Lo) 107 - - - - - - -

References

  1. ^ a b c Crosley, Hillary (2009-02-05). "MC Asher Roth Readying Major-Label Debut". Billboard (magazine). Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  2. ^ a b c d "Asher Roth is on his way to hip hop stardom". Philadelphia Weekly (newspaper). 2009-04-15. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  3. ^ a b c "Feature Highlights '08: Asher Roth:So Far, So Good". XXL (magazine). 2008-12-30. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  4. ^ a b c d Fennessey, Sean (2008-10-30). "Asher Roth". Vibe (magazine). Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  5. ^ a b Michael, Jon (2008-06-18). "Asher Roth - Not Your Average". Sixshot.com. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  6. ^ Newman, Jason. "Asher Roth". YRB Magazine. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  7. ^ Wink, Christopher (2009-04-15). "How social media took Asher Roth from Philly suburbs to hip hop stardom". Technically Philly (blog). Retrieved 2009-04-15.
  8. ^ a b Blanco, Alvin (2008-07-10). "Asher Roth: School's Out". AllHipHop. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  9. ^ La Puma, Joe (2008-07-28). "Asher Roth: 'Rap Is In The Suburbs Now'". Complex (magazine). Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  10. ^ Thornton, Alex (2008-09-16). "Asher Roth: Moment Of Clarity". HipHopDX.com. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  11. ^ "Asher Roth Stirs Controversy With 'Nappy Headed Hoes' Tweet". idiomag. 2009-04-24. Retrieved 2009-04-26.


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