Asher Roth in Rolling Stone
Asher Roth's Nonstop Party
The "I Love College" MC reps the suburbs at Panama Beach, Florida's Spring Break
Asher Roth got started making music in high school, when he and a friend would steal beats off MP3.com and plug a microphone directly into the computer. "We'd burn the CD, have 250 copies, and they just sold like hotcakes," says Roth, whose major label debut Asleep in the Bread Aisle is out April 20th.
Like most rappers, Asher started out with a tough moniker before settling on his birth name. "I went with 'Young Ash' for a little bit, I went with 'A.K.A.,' I went with 'Ren-Ash-Sance.' I went with 'Grade A,' and it got to a point where I grew up and broke free from the whole influence," Roth says. "And having a name like Asher also kinda helps the cause. If my name's Michael or John, you know what I mean, it's not as easy to get noticed. So, this whole thing is supposed to happen. It's all meant to happen."
Only one thing scares Roth as he makes his way toward fame. "I don't want people to be like 'Yo, this is just Eminem,' " he says. "That's the one thing that I'm so scared of. There's no Dr. Dre behind this album, no Timbaland. It's just me and my homie, sleeping on the floor, recording in his bedroom closet, rapping about 'She Don't Want a Man.' "
As a white kid from suburban Morrisville, Pennsylvania, Roth felt awkward rapping his early lyrics. "When I was younger, I was rhyming about guns. There was a song where I was talking about 'putting lead in your capillaries.' And it's just crazy, man, 'cause that's the influence that pop has," Roth says. "There I was, a white kid at 16 years old, rhyming about guns. I held a gun once, by accident. It was on top of one of my ex-girlfriend's refrigerator, her dad had it for protection. I was like, 'Oh, shit, wow, this is much heavier than I thought it would be.' Guns and hard drugs - that's not part of my lifestyle. I like to just kick back and just relax."
When he's not funneling beer, Roth likes to talk about hip-hop - specifically the album that pushed him to rap. "Well, first and foremost, it was Jay-Z's Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life. Because I was introduced to hip-hop in its rawest form, I was introduced to Top 40 hip-hop. And when I heard the 'Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),' that really was what marked the start because it reached kids like me. People don't understand that, like I'm very much a product of that shit," Roth says.
After Jay-Z, Roth began exploring albums like A Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders. "It was those albums that I was like, yo, there's a message," Roth says of his plunge into hip-hop (the first album he ever bought was Dave Matthews Band's Crash). "Talib Kweli's Reflections Eternal and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill are two albums I've bought three or four times."
Roth's breakout hit "I Love College" features the riff from Weezer's "Say Ain't It So." So how did Rivers Cuomo get involved? "Weezer was something I used to sing on Rock Band. So, it was kind of a bummer but I understand it was also written about alcoholism in his family so here I am singing about drinking my beer," Asher says.
Roth says he stumbled upon "I Love College": "I'm sitting there and I have this song and I'm like, 'That party last night was awfully crazy. I wish you taped it, I danced my ass off and had this one girl completely naked.' I'm like, 'This song sucks.' My friend was like, 'Yo, that shit is killer. Keep rockin' that shit.' So then we got in a conversation about what we loved about college. Dollar slices… all this and that. And I was like, 'Man, I miss college.' It just wrote itself. Honestly, probably took about 15, 20 minutes."
After dropping out of college and moving to Atlanta, Roth promises he's in the rap game for the long haul. "Longevity and respect is what it comes down to. It's not about how much money you make, 'cause that shit comes and goes. It's not about how hot your record is, 'cause that shit comes and goes," Roth says. "Artist development is really about finding your own voice and getting that vision. It's about making sure that these kids kinda understand what's real. It's not The Hills, it's not Engaged & Underage."
Though he's known for party-animal lyrics, Roth's parents are mellow. "My mother is a tarot card reader and astrologer and my father works on Websites," Roth says. "My dad says his dream is for me to be happy about what I'm doing."
Of the many rappers that Roth has met, 50 Cent stands out - and not because the Queens MC was jumping rope at the time. "50 just told me, 'Everything you do is going to be under a microscope, you're undoubtedly going to be compared to Eminem, and if you get an eighth of that world, your life is changed.' " Roth says. "And he was just saying, you know, 'Just keep doing what you're doing.' "
SOURCE
Seems like everyone on ONTD thinks he is a douche. But I still love him.