Words by Sonya Collins. Photos by Kamikaze K.I.L.L.

Goldbar NYC played host last night to the official launch event for AsherRothMusic.com. Manning the decks were Mr. Roth himself, DJ Wreckineyez, and producer David Appleton, dropping everything from hip-hop classics like MC Lyte’s “Paper Thin” to current radio favorites like B.O.B.’s “Nothin’ On You”. The tables and bar tops were decorated with hard copies of the Roth/Wreckineyez collab Seared Foie Gras With Quince & Cranberry, the West Chester native’s latest mixtape enjoyable by any palette – foie gras isn’t so bad either (looking over my shoulder for PETA).

With graffiti and gold skulls adorning the walls of the swanky lounge in NYC’s Lolita section, it was a celebration amongst friends and fans – an extremely fun-loving crowd if I may say so myself. Oh yeah the website – Asher Roth Music is chock full of the usual music-bio-tour-photos-merch info found on most artist’s websites. However, it is the site design that will keep you coming back. I was blown away at the level of web design savvy used in creation of AsherRothMusic.com. Every photo you see as the background on the website appeared via a little white card. As Asher puts it, “Every time I take a photo with it, some nifty technology tracks the card and launches the entire site right off of its surface” – I was sold. Also be sure to peruse the Asher Roth Music blog (look for the owl), a destination for music and lifestyle seen from the eyes of Asher and his entire team.

Last week, Converse got both hipsters and hoods together on a non-discript basketball court for the Band of Ballers tournament. The exclusive tournament pitted such artists as Jim Jones, Mad Decent, Asher Roth, Pac Div, Matt and Kim and more, and was hosted by Miss Info and Peter Rosenberg. Ultimately, Jim Jone’s “Family” team was “Ballin’,” as they took home the ultimate prize. Couch Sessions homegirl Senari (as well as DJ Jerome Baker) was in the building and provided these pics. Read more about the Band of Ballers at Senari’s Village Voice column.

There has been a lot of discussion about the future of hip-hop. Where will it go? What it would sound like? Who will be the key players?

If there is any indication, the future of hip-hop might just sound like Kid Cudi, Asher Roth, and B.O.B.

The three, along with New York rapper 88 Keys headlined the Great Hangover Tour at a sold-out 9:30 Club, consisting of artists who XXL Magazine calls the “new class” of hip-hop. Ironically, the “hangover” date in DC was packed to the gills with fans who were not old enough to take a legal drink, however, their overwhelming, and sometimes over the top support for the performers on the bill is endearing, considering that only 1 of these artists has an album that you can physically purchase at the music store.

Unfortunately, I missed 88 Key’s set, however, Atlanta rapper B.O.B. (aka Bobby Ray), held it down and gave the breakout performance of the night. B.O.B. combines Southern Hip-Hop with a bluesy drawl and some pop rock attitude. In addition to tracks like “Haters Everywhere,” which carry more Southern flavor, he rocks a guitar as well. Flanked by fellow Atlanta rapper Playboy Tre, his set consisted of tracks from his Who The Fuck Is B.O.B. Mixtape which everybody in the room it seems downloaded, because they all knew the words.

Even though he was not rocking a full band like the last time I saw him at SXSW, B.O.B’s stage presence sets this guy apart from most rappers I’ve seen in a while. He’s not only genuinely happy to be on stage, but was genuinely appreciative of the fans who got him into this position.

Next came Asher Roth, the 23 year old Pennsylvania rapper who came onto the scene with the track “I Love College,” earlier this year. Asher starts his set with the Saved By The Bell theme, which puzzles the audience, many of whom were probably still in the womb when that show was on television. That diversion is immediately proceeded by Asher rolling on stage in an Escalade Power Wheels to the track “Lark on my Go-Kart.”

Asher’s set was heavy on the props. In addition to the Escalade, he had a fake blunt (which he offered the audience to toke of course), and costumed stage hands dressed up as a Marijuana leaf running around the stage during the break to “Blunt Crusin’.” However, for a dude who already has an album, he did a little too much talking between songs and referencing other people’s tracks (most notably DJ Class’ “I’m the Shit” and Soul 4 Real’s “Candy Rain”) more than his own. The 50 or so minutes that he was on stage did hit the highlights of his album Asleep In The Bread Aisle, which included “As I Em,” “Be By Myself, and the radio favorite ” I Love College,” as well as the typical “get the girls on stage” routine for “She Don’t Want To Dance.”

The headliner of the night, however, was Kid Cudi. Unlike the previous artists, whose stage setup could fit in your bedroom, Cudi’s set was flanked by a video screen and multimedia lighting setup which looked straight out of his mentor Kanye West’s Glow In The Dark tour.

Like Kanye, Cudi took the stage all by himself at 1:45 AM, with no DJ or backing band. Unlike his apperance at SXSW, he had enough swagger and stage presence to rise up to the challenge of fronting the show solo. While, I’m still out about his mainstream chances, the crowd treated him like Kanye himself was in the building. You can judge how popular an artist is by the number of digital cameras and iFlips that are busted out during their performance, and Cudi’s was no different with everybody in the venue trying to take a pic of him.

After energetic sets by Asher and B.O.B., Cudi was able to somehow keep that energy moving, even with emo driven and slow paced songs like “Heaven Tonight,” and “Man on the Moon.”  Even in the wee hours of the morning, while this writer was contemplating bed, the crowd was still rocking with Cudi until the last song. Even though traditional hip-hop has frowned on Cudi for his over emotional rants, “anti-Blogger rants,” and “I’m going to retire Tweets,” his fans genuinely love and appreciate him. They knew his freestyles, and tracks like “Sky Might Fall,” and of course his newest unexpected hit “Make ‘Em Say” (aka “Poke Her Face”).

The lesson learned by this tour? There is a brand new youth movement in hip-hop, whether the we like it or not. The iPod generation is real, and The Great Hangover tour demonstrates that you can put together a sold-out club tour based on online buzz alone. Let’s face it. The game done changed.

The Musical Minority is the new series at The Couch Sessions, which puts together several of music’s hottest opinion makers to discuss the hottest topics of the day.

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The debut of the Musical Minority finds our panel discussing the recent hot water that white rapper Asher Roth has found himself in. First, Asher dropped the term “nappy headed hoes” on his Twitter account (which was later deleted from his management and covered up with a false “my account was hacked” story) and then for his comments made to the Associated Press about “these Black rappers” and “their gold chains.”

Asher finds himself in the same position as many other white artists who make black music, but in 2009, has anything changed? Is there such thing as black and white music anymore? Should white artists need to know the rules when perusing a hip-hop career? Should the term ‘hip-hop’ even be put to bed in light of an ever deepening convergence of music and a culture of nothing? All those questions and more are discussed in this Podcast.

The Panel

Winston aka Stone (@couchsessions) – The Couch Sessions
Earl Wyatt (@spikefish)- Indigo Son
Marcus Dowling (@marcuskdowling) – True Genius Requires Insanity
Lady Glock (@ladyglock) – Lady Glock Photography
Sonya Collins (@theglasshousedc) – The Glass House DC

This is, quite possibly, the best discussion on race and music that Ive seen in a while. We introduce some new topics and dont stray into the same old cliche racial topics. We want to encourage discussion on this issue, so let us know what you think in the comments or on the Facebook group.

“He ain’t tryin’ to be mean, he just wants to be seen.” - Rufus Thomas, referring to an overzealous spectator during his Wattstax performance, 1972.

“He ain’t tryin’ to be mean, he just wants to be seen.” Truer words have never been spoken when it comes to the case of individuals other than African-Americans who attempt to record hip-hop music. I’ve argued that there’s nothing more exciting and ultimately, cool in the world than being a young black male, and mainstream culture would tend to agree with me. However, when young white males, given black/white North American social history, attempt to “swagger jack” young black men, and do the “cool walk,” and do so without black people knowing, being aware and consistently cosigning such a move, likely since that white youth’s birth it would stand to reason, it raises eyebrows. Obviously, with heightened scrutiny, any and every mistake clearly becomes the worst.

And with the above quote, thus and so hopefully ends the cautionary tale of Asher Paul Roth, and the end of the beginning of the most unusual and absurd time in the history of hip hop. At least with Vanilla Ice, he wore sparkling satin genie pants. We saw this guy from ten miles away, and knew he did us harm. Every record that “Ice Ice Baby” sold, and every listener consistently perturbed by the insipidness of “Havin’ a Roni” knew what the score was. Mainstream culture cashing in on urban fads 1, Hip Hop 0. But, to the I-C-E’s favor, he never called black women nappy headed hoes in public, and in our nanosecond driven media culture of 2009, especially not on Twitter. And that’s where Asher, and our new hip hop paradigm, failed, and failed miserably.

Eminem, well, he was groomed for years by the industry. He knew what could be done and what was sacrosanct for someone of his skin color. Sure, there have been leaks of his expected idiocy in the years following, but, by the time he reached the mainstream, they were not readily accessible. Instead of a white guy who felt the need to drop an n-bomb to prove his authenticity, he instead was honed by constant rhyming, becoming at his height one of the most killer, battle tested and lyrically intense emcees of all time. A storyteller par excellence, and the standard by which other “white boys who wanted to do the cool walk” were to be measured.

And, no lie, Asher falls short. He admits to such on his album with the Chester French assisted track “As I Em,” where he basically fellates his initial lyrical hero, and eschews any comparison between Eminem and himself, or approaching Em’s prodigious track record. For the kid whose likely initial rap CD purchase WAS his mother buying the Slim Shady LP, there’s absolutely no way on numerous levels that he’s going to attain his level of respect for or talent within the most hardened of hip hop circles. Instead, Asher has been cast as so far removed from that, that it’s hard to hold him in the same light.

I’d probably go so far as to argue that Asher is the first of his kind, the first of a generation of white kids who come to hip hop from the Napster generation, the Limewire line of kids, adolescents not driven to buy albums, but who just like hot tracks, whose flows didn’t come from years of listening to rap albums til the grooves wore out, who weren’t there to see Busy Bee, or even remember the furor of the Kool Moe Dee v. LL Cool J rap feud. Sure, it’s part of a history of the music he chooses to record, but it’s not a part of HIS history of the music he records. Somewhere, cats like MC Serch and Pete Nice are beating their heads in. Somewhere while cashing another royalty check from Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” and Jigga’s “99 Problems,” Rick Rubin probably reflects for a second on just how hard he probably had to initially work to impress Russell Simmons. In their day, white boys couldn’t just “do the cool walk.” There was a cool crawl, a cool stand, and finally a cool step, whereas Asher Roth, well, he’s just been able to stand up and hit the ground running.

And therein lies the stupidity. Hip hop’s out of control. There’s too many influences now, and with no A & R reps out there apparently really hustling, a guy like Asher Roth can put tracks up on Myspace and get signed pretty much comparatively scot free. Because a 19 year old kid in flip flops in his college dormitory who passed English 101 just barely has access to the internet and writes a blog, and can influence other just as easily influenced at that age kids, who then can hoodwink 31 year olds in musty gym shorts doing the same thing, we end up with a talented emcee with some really catchy hooks, with seemingly nary a true clue of what he’s REALLY gotten himself into, who can nonchalantly attempt to rip Don Imus and cause an uproar, simply because he has ultimately no reason by which to know any better.

But this is where we’re at. The genre of hip hop is officially wide open. There are no expected norms by which an artist is expected to be judged anymore. Hip hop damned sure isn’t “black” music anymore. With Asher’s “I Love College,” it’s just as white, suburban and upper middle class as ever, just as “Paper Planes” makes it political and Sri Lankan, Yo Majesty’s “Kryptonite Pussy” makes it outlandishly lesbian, Adam Tensta’s “Dopeboy” makes it racially angst ridden and Swedish, and Drake’s “Best I Ever Had” makes it lovestruck amd Canadian.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, there’s a certain happiness that has to come from this. Hip hop is a universal language now, a living and breathing thing, where people can seem to be apparently clueless of anything racial, and still be viable in the game. That’s a far cry from Public Enemy for sure, and, as we always must remember, anytime you take one step forward, it’s just as easy to take two steps back.

White boys and apparently everyone else gets to do the “cool walk” now. The consequences of such, even the negative, are as apparent as ever.

ed. note: The author, Marcus Dowling’s other work can be found at his site, TGRIOnline.com, True Genius Requires Insanity. He can also be followed on Twitter at twitter(dot)com/marcuskdowling.

On Asher Roth, Racism, and Nappy Headed Ho’s

So first things first?

Is Asher Roth a Racist? No

Does Asher Roth have the hottest hip-hop CD I’ve heard this year? Yes

Should Asher Roth stop using Twitter while he’s high? Yes

If you didn’t know, Asher Roth posted the above message on his Twitter account last week after a show at Rutgers University. The tweet was then removed and Asher’s people came up with a lame ass excuse that his account got “hacked,” and finally the dude fessed up, begrudgingly. A couple people asked me what I thought about the whole situation, and what “hip-hop’s” response should be. The whole thing caught me off guard.

I’ll be honest, I’ve lost some respect for Mr. Roth. I was never completely sold on the dude, but he won me over with his live performance at SXSW and his album. At this point in time, I’m not going to go and steamroll a pile pf the dude’s CD or anything (word to Calvin O. Butts), but until he comes out and mans up to his actions, I don’t know if I can cosign him.

But on the flip side, “hip-hop’s” reaction to this dude is complete bs. For the most part, there have been a small but influential faction of hip-hop fans that feel like Asher (and a majority of the new school hip-hoppers) lack the authenticity to be true “hip-hop” artists. Right now, there are a lot of I told you so’s and pats on the back by the hip-hop illuminati when they first heard of the incident. But where were these people when Eminiem said even worse things about Black women? Were is “real hip-hop,” when every Black rapper puts out a track demeaning Black women?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

I’m not saying that Asher isn’t benefiting from his white privilege, and is sliding down a slippery slope that lots of white artists have already taken in regards to race, but I can’t get on the faux outrage train either.

Asher Roth - You (feat Slick Rick)
 

I’m not the craziest of Asher Roth fans but I’ve been feelin’ what this dude has been putting out. Even if you find “I Love College,”  and Asher’s 4/20 marketing tactics annoying, you can’t really mess with tracks like “Lark on my Go-Kart,” or “Cannon.” The sheer amount of hate for this dude because if his pigment is downright annoying. But it’s all good, Asher’s album is #1 on iTunes and is poised to do big numbers next week, which is a good look for the new class of MCs taking hold. This track, titled “You” features Slick Rick and is bonus cut off of the UK version of the album Asleep In The Bread Asile.

Ed. Note – Marcus Dowlings’s posts do not reflect the thoughts of Winston (aka Stone) or The Couch Sessions

Pithy auteurs of blue eyed soul with a desire to create guitar driven 60s flavored rock and roll? This is the future of urban music? Harvard educated intellectuals that routinely bump DJ Quik in their rides and inspired one of the most heated and lucrative independent artist signing battles in recent major label history, even in a declining and struggling recording market? Calling fans VIPs and infusing their upcoming debut record release with a faux veneer of Ivy League aristocratic flair is hot in the streets?

With their release of their heavily rap inspired “Jacques Jams Vol. 1: Endurance” mixtape last week, DA Wallach and Maxwell Drumney, collectively known as the rock duo Chester French, sounded the final (and what will ultimately be the loudest) clarion call that rap music is more accessible than ever, and is no longer JUST an avenue of expression for white artists, but ultimately a shared and raceless expression that is REAL for both races. By the end of 2009, what will be the biggest story and industry trend? Nerdy and unassuming white folks are the future! You may think I’m crazy, but keep reading…

Outside of Drake’s masterful “So Far Gone” mixtape, which is easily hip hop’s best album, and the most significant addition to hip hop in the first four months of the yearn hip hop’s freshest looks have come from young Caucasian men who at one time would’ve been stereotypically limited to Abercrombie backgrounds and Dockers modeling. These kids are now at the forefront of the bubbling to the surface, soon to be VERY visible underground of hip hop genre. Be it the SNL comic triumvirate represented in The Lonely Island jabbing fun in the hottest way possible, with guest looks by T-Pain and E-40 and surprisingly blowaway hooks done by The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas or Norah Jones, or Asher Roth breathing life by simply having fun, and now Chester French’s Hah-vuhd Yahd Swah-guh, white kids have the need, desire and ability to keep it real.

The most telling truism of the rise to fame of this Caucasian collection is the sheer willingness of African-American artists to co-sign their brilliance. Jim Jones ambles in a cloud of purple haze through verses of Asher’s “I Love College,” mirthfully switching it to “I Love Harlem.” Chester French has a veritable who’s who of hip hop and African Americans who record music on the mixtape, from Common to Talib to Janelle to Wale, as if rappers and singers would seem to be tripping over themselves to align themselves with the duo. Hell, if you follow Twitter with any regularity, you’ll know that @iamdiddy, “Locked In” as ever, has spent probably 140,000 characters verbally fellating them, likely still bitter that they’re on The Neptunes’ Star Trak imprint, instead of Bad Boy. Did the forgettable Fuzzbubble get that kind of love after doing the Benjamins remix? Exactly.

How did we get here and will this last? Well, first Billboard started using Soundscan, which immediately showed rap to be a big seller, so rap became pop accessible and hot on Main Street in Des Moines. Then, Eminem had an overabundance of talent and a a very real tale of urban blight and personal decay that belied race, and couldn’t be denied for nearly a decade. Then, suburban punk kids met suburban rap kids, and chilled with the rock and rollers next door, got swagger and infiltrated the universe, and everybody became some sort of hipster. From there, we ALL elected Barack. If you still think there’s no reason for this, and that it’s all terrible, well, you’re either misinformed or secretly harboring racism. I’m hoping for the former. If you suffer with the latter, music really isn’t your forte these days.

Chester French and Asher Roth drop debut albums next week. Hip hop, meet your future. At a rapidly expanding table, some new friends have arrived. Scrubbed and clean white guys with a filthy and funny interior. Just like the movie, let’s call them angels with dirty souls. Gil Scott, in 2009, the revolution will not just be televised, it will be gentrified. Wow.

And if you are sleeping on Asher Roth, wake up. The dude has mad skills and he killed his performance at South By. This album will turn some heads.

As with all events on The Block I highly suggest you GET THERE EARLY!

Video by Marcus of True Genius Requires Insanity on the new Couch Sessions x TGRI Youtube Channel

Out of all of the “Class of 2009″ cats who have been talked about for the past year or so, Asher Roth might be the one with the most marketability. Hate if you must, but his record companies repositioning of his persona–from hard suburban street kid to your toked out college roommate was a brilliant move. The lineup at Club DeVille, which is a few blocks from The University of Texas, changed from  hipster heaven to Texas Frat Party in a matter of minutes before Roths’s set. But dont’ get it twisted, Roth is fierce on the mic, and his live show has convinced a skeptic like me that he’s ready for the next level. During his set, he rips through his freestyle of Cannon from The Greenhouse Effect mixtape and yes, slides his way through Soul 4 Real’s “Candy Rain,” to the puzzlement of the college crowd, and the delight of old heads like yours truly. “I Love College,” is already a pop hit, but Asher will still face the scrutiny that a white hip-hop artists brings.But from Friday night’s performance I say that the dude has enough tools in his bag to prevail.

Asher Roth – With Eminem’s on again/off again status apparently off again, the mantle for best white MC has been quite empty for a while now. Enter Asher Roth, the Atlanta via Pennsylvania MC has been the Internets greatest white hope this past year. Can he take the throne in ’09?

Brittnay Bosco – Being a Black female with left-field R&B aspirations is a tough road. Said road is littered with the remains of singers gone by: Imani Coppola, Jack Davey, Res–just to name a few. But I’m putting my hope in Ms. Bosco, that she will defy these trends in 2009. Can she make it? Only if you cop her ish next year!

Colin Munroe – Saying that Colin Munroe is going to blow up in 2009 is too easy. The dude’s got it all…catchy pop vocals, nice hooks, and the support from some of the largest players in the music industy. The dude is tailor made for pop stardom, yet he still gets love from the hip-hop community.It’s a win-win situation.

Kid Cudi – Even though I couldn’t stand “Day and Nite,” when I first heard it, I have to agree that it’s a certified banger, and the track is slowly lighting up dance floors worldwide as well as the TV show Entourage. Could Cudi break into the mainstream?

Wale – The Couch Sessions was profiling Wale way before Mark Ronson ever heard of this dude (I kid!!). We first brought you Wale in 2005 and since then it’s been a whirlwind of online publicity for the DC-area MC. With his impending 2009 release–with production talent such as Mark Ronson, Kanye West, Just Blaze, 9th Wonder, and Travis Barker–Wale is carrying the torch for DC, and has the whole city on his shoulders.

Runners Up: Chester French, B.o.B., Tabbi Bonney, Idle Warship