Asher Roth

Asher Roth

Asher Paul Roth (born August 11, 1985) is an American rapper. He is 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.

Early life

Roth was born and raised in Morrisville, a small town about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia.Roth was named after his grandfathers, Joseph Asher McConnell and Paul Roth. 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." 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.

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."

During downtime in high school, Roth and his suburban friends would rhyme and battle each other for fun, referring to their group as "the hip-hop workshop." 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. 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.

Career

Roth was discovered by Braun on MySpace. 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. 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. 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. This resulted in Roth being the first white rapper to be featured on Drama and Cannon’s influential Gangsta Grillz series. He released his first studio album on titled Asleep in the Bread Aisle, 20 April, 2009.

Style

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

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." 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".

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." 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".

In a interview with XXL Magazine, Eminem cosigned Asher. He had this to say when asked about the comparison:

"I haven't had a chance to, like, really get into everything, like, really get into what he's about, because I've only hear a couple songs. There was talk about people saying he sounded like me, and he was doing this and that and, you know, trying to take what I do and do it. You know, shit like that. I've heard things. But the stuff that I've heard from him honestly, which certainly isn't enough for me to make my own opinion and say, ‘Yeah, he does sound like me' or ‘No, he doesn't. But the couple of songs I've head, I don't really think he does. You know what I mean? He's doing his own thing. I can respect it, too, because at the end of the day, I think he's dope".

In his "Respect My Conglomerate Freestyle", Eminem gives credit to Roth, rapping "Me and Westwood blasting off, jacking off in a pair of acid wash bumping Asher Roth". Which is seen as a sort of shoutout.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Title	Chart positions
		U.S. 200	U.S. R&B	U.S. Rap	CAN	UK
2009	Asleep in the Bread Aisle Release date: April 20, 2009 Label: Universal Motown Sales: 186,500 copies	5	5	3	31	38

Mixtapes

• 2006: Believe the Hype
• 2008: The GreenHouse Effect Mixtape

Singles

Year	Song	Chart positions								Album
		U.S. Hot 100	U.S. R&B	U.S. Rap	US Pop	South Africa	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" 1	95	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Be by Myself" (ft. Cee-Lo)	107	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"She Don't Wanna Man" (ft. Keri Hilson) 2	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

• ^{1 - Promo Single}
• ^{2 - Going for adds (Rhythm Crossover) 7/6}

External links

• Official website
• Interview Hero-Asher Roth w/ The Scribe Force
• Asher Roth Interview on Dubcnn
• Asher Roth Interview by Ferrari Sheppard on StopBeingFamous.com
• Asher Roth Interview on TheKoalition.com
• Exclusive Asher Roth Interview on Wired965.com
• Asher Roth Interview With illRoots
• Asher Roth News Blog
• Asher Roth, Upper-Middle-Class and Rising by Zach Baron, The Village Voice, April 21 2009

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