ASHER ROTH

Enter Asher Roth, a gangly redhead from the Philadelphia suburbs. Roth's tight, witty debut lives up to the Internet hype that has swirled around him for months. In the thudding "Lark on My Go-Kart," Roth calls himself a "dork" and says he has "hair like a troll doll." But he keeps the nerd-boy self-deprecation to a minimum and acts, you know, like a rapper: boasting nimbly (and often hilariously) about getting girls ("Lion's Roar") and getting high ("Blunt Cruisin'") over chipper beats by newcomer Oren Yoel. Roth's timbre and cadence will remind listeners of Eminem, a subject he addresses head-on in "As I Em." But he is his own man — a blithe braggart, untroubled by the need to keep it real. And that white rapper's albatross? He dismisses it with a couplet: "My friends said, 'Homey, you know that you're white, dude'/I said, 'What, for real? It's all good.'"
The album begins with the neck-breaking thumper “Lark On My Go-Kart.” Asher rides the break-beat and guitar-laden banger flawlessly putting naysayers on blast with his clever wordplay. “Me and Teddy Ruxpin stirring up a ruckus/ egging all the houses, smashing all the pumpkins/ Suck a d**k, butt kiss…” Regardless of the clear Slim Shady influence, the display is impressive and sets the tone for other lyrical onslaughts like the album highlight “Sour Patch Kids.”
Overall, Asleep on the Bread Aisle is a compelling, though uneven, hodgepodge of tales drawn from his unique experience. Despite Roth’s blatant attempt to appeal to everyone at the same time, the songs work together like a sonic Jenga. For good or bad.