Asleep In The Bread Aisle-Review

The long awaited debut from college dropout turned rapper Asher Paul Roth is here. Teaming up with relatively unknown producer Oren Yoel (and for one track Don Cannon), Roth tries to cater his CD to all audiences, not just those who love hip-hop. After "I Love College," became the anthem of frat boys around the country, MTV noticed Roth, getting him to perform at the annual MTV Spring Break and plastering his face and music all over their station. Sometimes this kind of exposure, especially on MTV (a channel that rarely promotes good music), can get to an artist's head, and they sacrifice lyrics and quality to promote themselves and sell records. Hate him or love him, one thing you cannot deny about Asher Roth is that he stays true to himself, in his interviews and through his lyrics. With the self proclaimed "Boss of Miami" Rick Ross,someone who has painted an untrue image of himself to sell records, dropping his CD today, Asher Roth is a breath of fresh air in hip-hop. Now, on to my review of "Asleep In The Bread Aisle."

Overall Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (I have changed my intial rating of 3.9....this CD is not strong enough lyrically to deserve a 4.)

The hookup with producer Oren Yoel proved to payoff big time for Asher Roth, for besides maybe "She Don't Wanna A Man," there is not a single beat on this CD that I did not love, and it saves Asher on certain tracks, especially when he doesn't come as hard as he should lyrically. From the banging drums on "Lark On My Go Kart" to the extremely smooth and soulful sounds of the piano and bass guitar on "His Dream," Yoel is able to match his production with the topic of Asher's lyrics, and the two blend together almost seamlessly. I also loved how Yoel was able to cater his beats to the style of the guest that was appearing on the track. On "Be By Myself" featuring Cee-Lo, Yoel crafts a beat that sounds exactly like a song you would hear off of a Gnarls Barkley album, allowing Cee-Lo to fit right in on the chorus instead of sounding out of his element like certain guest artists can. On "Lion's Roar," featuring Busta Rhymes, Yoel speeds up the rhythm to allow Busta to keep his unique and quick spitting style, while Asher flows right along with him. Listening to each beat, you can tell Yoel paid a lot of attention to detail on each track, and you have to love that from a producer. Don Cannon also comes through with one of the dopest beats on the CD on "La Di Da," on the only track he produced after working with Asher on his freshman mixtape, "The Greenhouse Effect."
Unfortunately, there are some definite flops on the album to keep Asher from garnering a 4 or 5 out of 5. "Blunt Cruisin'," and "She Don't Wanna Man," both are pretty weak tracks and don't seem to fit in with the rest of the CD. "I Love College" has become extremely played out to the point where I skip it every time I put my Ipod on. "Be By Myself," is a great song musically, and I love Cee-Lo on it, but Asher comes pretty weak with the lyrics. For as good as he can be on certain tracks, Asher leaves me with an empty feeling, like he could have come so much harder on one of the extremely dope beats that fill his CD. Overall, the production and guest spots are all on point, and while Asher struggles lyrically on certain songs, he kills it on others, enough to make "Asleep In The Bread Aisle" an excellent purchase for all fans of hip-hop. Here is a more in depth look at some tracks you had better listen to, and to some tracks that should not have made the CD.

Tracks That Bang:
"Lark On My Go Kart"-Leaked early as the second song off of the album, Asher takes us on a lyrical ride, talking about everything from Mario Kart to the Wii Fit. One of his favorite lyrical tactics, alliteration, is at full force here. The strong pattern of drums makes it hard not to bob your head to this one.

"La Di Da"-Personally my favorite track on the album, producer Don Cannon does not fail to impress with a mixture of live drums and a hot guitar riff. Asher absolutely kills the second verse as he spits about the struggles of an up and coming rapper and what he does when he just can't take what's going on around him. Apparently, all you have to do is sing "la di da" and everything will be cool.

"As I Em"-Using Chester French on the chorus, Asher addresses the non-stop (and ridiculous I might add) comparisons to Eminem. Over a soulful, guitar filled beat, Asher spits "If you have no further questions and can't think of other thoughts/I'd like to introduce you to Asher Paul Roth." Their styles are so different to begin with I don't understand how this comparison has become so rampant, but Asher's CD is a far cry from anything Em has ever put out.

"His Dream"-Asher gets deep on another gem from Yoel, speaking about the struggles of a father who cannot pursue his dreams out of love and respect for his family. Whether or not Ash is speaking from his experiences, I don't know, but it is a insightful track into the fears of growing up and having a family...do you put your dreams on hold to provide for your children? Real deep, I know.

These are just my favorite tracks, "Sour Patch Kids," "Lion's Roar," "Bad Day," and "Falling" are all great songs as well.

Tracks To Skip:

"Blunt Cruisin'"-This track should be labeled as a skit for the lack of lyrics on this track. Asher ruins a sick beat by weakly talking about rolling a blunt and driving around in a car. Lyrically there is nothing there, and the track twice turns into skit with cops busting the boxed out car. We bought the CD to hear you rap Ash.

"I Love College"-Was a fun song for a while, now it is just overplayed. High schoolers are blasting this song like they are in college...that's when you know it is time to retire this song. Even Asher himself says he does not want to be known for this frat boy anthem.

"She Don't Wanna Man"-Not sure what Asher was thinking with this track. Using Keri Hilson turns this track into a pop song, with Asher telling us he is the shit at least 3 times. While it is catchy, it is an extremely simple song with terrible lyrics to boot. You can do better than this Asher.