'Asleep' with Asher Roth

Heavily hyped upon his arrival to the mainstream rap scene in 2008, Asher Roth is a college-educated rapper who made headlines as the first white rapper to be featured on a DJ Drama mixtape. Born in Morrisville, PA, he began rapping as a teenager and developed a fan base while attending college, thanks largely to social-networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook. His early releases include the 2006 mixtape album Believe the Hype. Rap industry businessmen Scooter Braun and Steve Rifkind took notice of his talent and signed him to a major-label recording contract with SRC/Universal, and in 2008, Roth burst onto the mainstream rap scene with The Greenhouse Effect Mixtape. Hosted by Don Cannon and DJ Drama of the renowned Gangsta Grillz mixtape series, The Greenhouse Effect Mixtape was made available online as a free download on "The Daily Kush," a multimedia blog set up to promote Roth. In late 2008 he had an Internet hit when a bootleg of his single "I Love College" appeared. The original cut featured a sample of Weezer's "Say It Ain't So" but when the band refused to license it, the track was re-recorded. This new version landed on Asher's debut album Asleep in the Bread Aisle, released in the spring of 2009. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide

The second-coming of sorts to literate white MCs like Paul Barman, Asher Roth's full-length debut came heavily hyped, thanks to his appearance on a DJ Drama mixtape and a stamp of approval from Jay-Z. Given Roth's knack for wordplay and arcane ... Full Descriptionreferences, ASLEEP IN THE BREAD AISLE could have been more subversive. It's often difficult to discern when the suburban Pennsylvanian is sending up the trappings of the hip-hop lifestyle. Either way, he's learned his lessons well from heroes like Eminem; the class-clown chatterbox flow matches up well with the alterna-pop production and left-of-center guest spots by Cee-Lo and Jazze Pha. ASLEEP is at times contrived, but displays the talents of a rapper with the potential for something unique. Purchase today @ CDUniverse.com