A Few Observations on the New Asher Roth Album

We got a press release yesterday alerting us to the fact that suburban rap savant Asher Roth has, within 24 hours of his debut album’s release, topped the iTunes album chart. “ASHER ROTH SHOCKS RETAILERS BY OUTSELLING WHAT WAS PREDICTED ON RELEASE DAY,” the press release says. And while it amuses us to imagine surly record store clerks shocked—just shocked—by the album’s performance, we have to admit that it’s unusual for a dorky white Pennsylvania kid to lead an album chart ahead of Rick Ross, Miley Cyrus and the Twilight soundtrack. 

We have heard this shockingly successful album, Asleep In The Bread Aisle, and indeed we’re publishing a little interview with Asher in the new issue of Paste, which you can purchase at many of the same retailers that are so shocked by the Bread Aisle sales. Here are a few observations about the album that didn’t make it into the magazine.

1) “Lark On My Go-Kart,” the album’s opening track, distills Roth’s whole geek-chic persona into one funky, organ-driven rant. It’s got video game trash talk, a Bob Saget reference and so much more. The very first lyric is a naughty play on the Miss Muffet nursery rhyme. The song may be the album’s best example of Roth’s rhyme skill, and is certainly more of a formal accomplishment than “I Love College,” the novelty hit that will probably make Roth a fraternity hero for generations to come. 

2) The dude raps a lot about smoking weed. That gets old.

3) Bread Aisle’s last song, “Fallin’,” may be the first rap song we’ve ever heard about having a happy childhood. It’s like the antithesis of Naughty By Nature’s “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” though both songs are great in their own way.

4) Busta Rhymes has a torrential guest verse on “Lion’s Roar.” He certainly seems re-invigorated lately. 

5) An unfinished early version of Bread Aisle included a nice little pep talk called “Nothing You Can’t Do,” which was like a rapping Successories poster, but somehow not corny. The lyrics basically said, “Hey, if a guy like me can become a successful mack-daddy rapper then anything is possible,” which may be true. The song was apparently cut from the final album. That’s a drag.

6. “As I Em” addresses the easy comparisons between Roth and Eminem, and cleverly rhymes “complexion” with “voice inflection.” It’s a pretty persuasive case that Roth, with all due respect to Slim Shady, deserves to be considered as his own man.

7. We still don’t know what the title means.