SRC/Universal Motown
Asher Roth isn’t your average rapper. Heck, he isn’t even your average white boy rapper. In fact, the kid from Morrisville, Pa., is just — average. But for the legions of white college kids just like him, it works. An Internet-mainstay who finagled his way onto magazine covers before an album even dropped, Asher’s debut signals a new day in hip-hop, one where white dudes don’t necessarily have to relate to black audiences at all to sell albums. As he attempts to navigate past the Eminem comparisons (“As I Em”), women (“She Don’t Want a Man,” featuring Keri Hilson) and heads back to the dorm room on his rambunctious lead single, “I Love College,” it’s clear that hip-hop ain’t what it used to be. And Asher is just the guy to prove it. –rogue marie
