Asher Roth
Asher Roth |
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Asher Roth is a 23-year-old American rapper from Morrisville, Pennsylvania currently signed to 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.
Early Life
Roth grew up in the suburbs of Morrisville, PA, a small town roughly 30 miles Northeast of Philadelphia. 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.”[1] In 1998, Roth heard Jay-Z’s In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 and began to study the history of hip-hop. Roth has 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 you can still love hip-hop.”[2]
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."[2] 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 2 days, Roth felt that a career in hip-hop was a possibility.[3] 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, eventually earning the notice of Scooter Braun, an Atlanta-based promoter and music industry consultant who would subsequently become Roth’s manager.
Career
After linking up with Braun, Roth dropped out of college and moved to Atlanta to fully pursue a hip-hop career. As industry buzz grew, Roth was courted by a number of labels, including SRC, Def Jam, Warner Bros and Atlantic.[4] At Def Jam, Roth was asked to rap for Jay-Z,[1] but eventually signed with Steve Rifkind, chairman of SRC Records. Roth put out his first professional release, the DJ Drama-helmed The Greenhouse Effect on June 13, 2008 via the Internet. Roth was the first white rapper to be featured on Drama’s influential Gangsta Grillz series.
Style
Given their similar complexion and vocal tone, Roth has earned many comparisons to Eminem. 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.[5]
When asked about the comparison, Roth told Hiphopdx.com, “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.”[6] Roth has professed to Mos Def, The Roots, Biggie and Outkast as being some of his main hip-hop influences.[4]
Lyrically, Roth’s style is influenced, in part, by his suburban roots. On The Greenhouse Effect, his lyrics range from the political and topical to the humorous and silly. Roth told Vibe.com:
“Kids from the ’burbs have been inspired and influenced by hip hop for years. “When I wrote my ‘A Millie’ 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.”[7]
Roth is expected to release his untitled debut album on March 17, 2009. [8]
References
- ^ a b http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=23318
- ^ a b http://www.sixshot.com/articles/11518/ The Hip-Hop Workshop
- ^ http://www.yrbmagazine.com/radar1.html Stigma
- ^ a b http://allhiphop.com/stories/features/archive/2008/07/10/20276597.aspx Labels
- ^ http://www.complex.com/blogs/2008/07/28/asher-roth-rap-is-in-the-suburbs-now/ Suburbs
- ^ http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/features/id.1222/title.asher-roth-moment-of-clarity
- ^ http://www.vibe.com/music/next/2008/10/asher_roth/ Vibe
- ^ http://www.rap-up.com/2008/11/21/asher-roths-debut-lp-gets-release-date/ Debute LP Release