I will be reviewing Asher Roth’s Seared Foie Gras (With Quince And Cranberry) mixtape for this post.
Listen to or download the mixtape here:
Background Information:
- Birth name: Asher Paul Roth
- Birthplace: Morrisville, Philadelphia
- Influences: A Tribe Called Quest, Lauryn Hill, and Jay-Z
- How long has he been doing music: Since he was in high school
- Type of Artist: Mainstream
- Genre(s): Hip-hop
- Current Label(s): School Boy/SRC/ Universal Records
- Similar Artists: B.O.B., Charles Hamilton, Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco, The Cool Kids
- Fun fact: Jay-Z’s CD Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life is the reason he began rapping.
Asher Paul Roth was born on August 11, 1985 in Morrisville, Philadelphia. He attended Pennsbury High School. 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. Asher started out going by the name Young Ash. Next his moniker was A.K.A. Then, he went with Ren-Ash-Sance. His last name before Asher was Grade A. He later decided to stick with his birth name because he felt it was unique and a sign his rap career was meant to happen. After he graduated Roth attended West Chester University and became an Elementary Education major. However, he was still recording verses over other peoples’ beats. During his sophomore year, he posted some of his verses on his MySpace page. He also sent a Friend Request to Scooter Braun, an Atlanta-based promoter and former VP of Marketing for Jermaine Dupri's So So Def. One week after speaking to Braun, Roth flew down to Atlanta and was immediately signed by Braun, who subsequently became his manager. He was signed to a joint venture between Scooter Braun’s Schoolboy Music and Steve Rifkind’s SRC Records. His first released his music on June 13, 2008 when the DJ Drama and Don Cannon released his The GreenHouse Effect mixtape. The mixtape was released for free on the rapper’s website. Asher was featured on the cover of XXL magazine’s annual Top 10 Freshmen: Hip-Hop’s Class ’09 issue. Roth’s debut album, Asleep in the Bread Aisle, was released on April 20, 2009. He released his second mixtape Seared Foie Gras (With Quince And Cranberry) in 2010.
Introduction:
Asher Roth is a Mixtape King because he has gone from making songs with his friend in a basement to a popular name. Asher was first known as Young Ash, and he went through a slew of nicknames before he decided to go by his birth given name. Asher Roth has openly said he doesn’t do some of the things he raps about, which makes me think he is persuasive with his lyrics because I believed he was doing all the things he said.
Favorite Line: Hot Wangs- “But it burns, rap getting on my nerves. Everything nowadays watered down for the herbs.” There Are No Lyrics Provided for This Song
Top 3 Tracks: (This list is ordered from the song I like most to the song I like least.)
- Hot Wangs- This song has a truly captivating instrumental. Asher shows his swagger on this track. His lyrics are raw and the elements of this song couldn’t be put together more nicely. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou0frefouFY
- Con-fid-ence- Asher truly shows his confidence on this track. He talks about how members of his race demean him for rapping. He stated that “life is all about confidence,” and if it is he definitely living his life to the fullest on this track. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7iLtXeZKk4
- What Up Truck- This instrumental is mesmerizing, for lack of better words. Asher and Truck North both deliver captivating lyrics. I recommend this song is for people that are focused. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui3E1vOENRY&feature=related
Bottom 3 Tracks: (This list is ordered from the song I dislike most to the song I dislike least.)
- Rik Smits- I do not like the sample Asher used for this song nor the instrumental all together. I couldn’t really see where Asher was coming from on this song. I found this song to be a little annoying at times. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy393xmHDuQ&feature=related
- Ash &Dem-This song is not appealing to me. Asher lyrics seem lackluster on this song. He should have gone harder on this song, and then the song would have been more appealing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG_saXusCQc&feature=related
- Calling Me- This song was too repetitive for me. This song opens talking about how Asher is tired, and this song does the same to me. The song puts this mixtape to sleep for a moment because is too slow in the context where it is placed on the mixtape, and it seems as if he just put his mixtape on snooze for a moment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS2wB3ejMEQ
Overview:
I recommend the Seared Foie Gras (With Quince And Cranberry mixtape to people that like diversity. Asher Roth holds his own in the rap game where he is a minority. Asher delivers raw lyrics and he does so confidently.
Other Related Links:
2 comments:
Great review R-
Tell me, what is keeping Asher Roth from exploding 'mainstream' after the success of I Love College?
He raps that he doesn't care about fame/money, but I'm not buying that. He's got good lyrics, good beats, I'm wondering if Eminem has done more to hurt Asher's chances than help him.
Thoughts?
Thank you! In the music industry people don't fully back an artist until they have longevity because there are a number of one-hit wonders and people that have no more than one good CD and/or mixtape. For example, Drake has great verses on his mixtape and on other artists' songs, but people say they will respect him more when he's been in the game fore longer. So, Asher has to learn his keep by proving he has longevity and great lyrics past his first album and hit-single. When he proves he can have good lyrics over the course of a few years he will gain more notoriety. As, a minority he needs to establish early that he is in the game to stay regardless of what others think. Seeing as Eminem came back from rehab with a mediocre song and album it might affect Asher. If Mr. Roth continues at the rate he is going, people will have no choice but to respect him.
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