Asher Roth isn’t your typical emcee. He doesn’t have a background that reflects a broken home or doing what he has to do to get by. His first CD purchase was the Dave Matthews Band. He never dealt with hard times in the streets. Not to mention, he’s a skinny white kid from Morrisville, Pennsylvania.
But the kid behind the ode to booze and broads “I Love College” may be sitting on the year’s first great album.
Just how in the hell did this happen?
“I was never like I need to be a rapper, I have to be a rapper or the world needs to hear my voice. It was always a ‘what if’ or an ‘it would be nice if (I rapped),’” Roth says in an exclusive interview with BET.com.
Picking up rapping as a hobby, Roth would peddle mixtapes for $5 a pop to contribute to his beer fund. He fired up an artist page on Myspace which caught the attention of Scooter Braun (who would become his manager) because of the content of what he was rhyming about. Instead of being a tough white guy from the concrete streets of Pennsylvania, Roth was pushing rhymes about coming from a strong rooted family.
“People weren’t really rapping like that,” Roth explains. “There was more rap about broken homes and the struggle, which is very relevant in Hip Hop. But for me, my struggle is different. It’s much more emotional and it doesn’t start in the home.”
Roth would begin to bubble beneath the surface and catch the attention of Loud Records founder and current SRC Records chairman Steve Rifkind.
Nobody knew exactly what to do with Roth. This included the likes of Jay-Z who Roth once impressed in an impromptu meeting. Rifkind would take the chance that would eventually lead to one of the most buzz worthy albums of 2009.
After burning onto the scene with what could easily be Spring Break’s anthem “I Love College,” Roth is ready to make an impact with Asleep In The Bread Aisle.
The awkward album title came from a place many wouldn’t expect. A drunk story shared with a friend.
“He was telling me how his buddy took some Tylenol PM after waking up really hungover one morning – he meant to take Tylenol but he took like four Tylenol pm instead,” Roth recalls. “So he’s in the grocery store and he’s wandering around trying to find his boy and he literally fell asleep in the bread aisle.”
That story resonated with Roth and became the inspiration for his album.
“People would say you’re this and you’re that but they really have no idea who I am. You’ve got all the pressures of money and all the pressures to conform to society and with me, I just woke up and that’s the best way for me to handle it. Be myself through all of pressures because it can change you and make you into somebody else. With me it is what you see is what you get.”
For Roth, this album gives him the opportunity to separate himself from the looming comparison that has been following since he burst onto the scene – another Eminem clone.
Sure, you can draw parallels between the sound of both artists' voice. But the comparisons stop there. While Eminem deals with a multitude of personal issues while ripping celebrities to shreds. Roth would rather talk about girls, life and his love for Hip Hop.
“It’s like keeping a journal to a soundtrack,” Roth explains. “I’m really adamant about content and substance. I feel like ‘don’t waste your time and don’t waste the listeners’ time.’ Yes, you want it to be fun and make people dance but also say something.”
Asleep In The Bread Aisle is chock full of songs that “say something.” Whether it be Asher dismissing Eminem comparisons on “As I Em” or his interesting narrative of how he got into Hip Hop with “Fallen,” Roth’s album will give listeners fresh insight on what goes on inside of 23-year-old artist.
And for Roth, it’s all about the story. Not the hype, the hoopla or the money.
“If I knew the amount of work it takes to break a single or work relationships in this business I don’t know if I would be as adamant about getting on,” Roth says. “It’s draining and exhausting. You have to want it. I don’t think I’ve ever been in an interview explaining actually how bad I really want to be doing what I’m doing. This is not a get rich quick scheme. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into it.”
At the end of the day, it’s all about changing the game – not making extra pocket change.
“It’s not about getting a big check because I don’t buy anything. When I get money, I get looked at differently and I don’t like that feeling. My whole thing is getting the rewards from kids and spreading my message of self expression. That is what Hip Hop is to me. Uplifting and partying. I don’t know what happened to that. I hope I am one of those people that realign the properties in Hip Hop.”
Asleep In The Bread Aisle is in stores now.