Asher Roth – Asleep In The Bread Aisle Review
I’ve been going through somewhat of a rebellion towards present day hip hop, so the fact that I haven’t really looked into who this artist is until now is a shame. He’s 23 year old Asher Paul Roth who’s been dubbed “the artist to watch”. His single “I Love College” gained him a lot of notoriety and his debut album Asleep in the Bread Aisle made it to no. 5 on the billboard charts with 62,000 units moved.
I listened to a few tracks from the album starting out skeptical if this guy was just a gimmick. His image a college frat boy mostly compared to the notorious white boy rapper Eminem, but the song Y.O.U. ft. Slick Rick being the first of his songs I have ever listened to, stopped all pre-conceived notions I had. He talks about the fact that he can’t change who he is and that if he tried he wouldn’t be himself. He also hit the comparisons to Eminem head on with the track As I Em talking about how he’s constantly compared to Eminem, how he respects him but he is not him. The similarities between the two are the color of skin, and that he sounds like him vocally. Asher’s lyrics however are far from what Eminem’s lyrics were about. Perhaps because of the way he grew up and that fact that he isn’t trying to hide where he came from. Asher Paul Roth grew up in suburban Pennsylvania and went to Westchester University to study Elementary education. He doesn’t know street life, he doesn’t carry guns so he doesn’t rap about what he doesn’t know. Being a rapper is about knowing how to deliver a message in a way that’s different from others and of course having the skill of knowing how to rap. I can’t deny that Asher Paul Roth can spit. He has a clever, witty way with words that make him a skillful storyteller.
The album as a whole is structured, and it’s evident that he’s a lyrical rapper. My favourite tracks to listen to are I Love College, and Be By Myself. There were a couple tracks that sounded like he was delivering a redundant message but for someone that rapped 150 bars on the spot for Jay-Z, he takes the cake as being the artist to look out for this year despite anything else but the quality of his music. Check out his MySpace.
I Love College by Asher Roth
Y.O.U. by Asher Roth ft Slick Rick
As I Em by Asher Roth
A Milli by Asher Roth
Tags: album
is the a milli freestyle supposed to be only 20 seconds and never get into the actual song? Seems like there should be more to it, or else its pretty lame haha