February 20th, 2009 
James Shotwell Band: Asher Roth
Album: [Don Cannon and DJ Drama Present] The Greenhouse Effect Mixtape
Genre: Rap/Hip Hop
Label: Unsigned
Track Listing:
1. Start The Show
2. Roth BOYS
3. Humansirkme
4. DJ DRAMA
5. CANNON!
6. Black Mags Remix
7. Mr. Me 2
8. Battle Me
9. Rub On Your T***ies
10. Saw You
11. The Sun God Free
12. The Lounge
13. Just Listen
14. Morning Dew
15. Demonic
16. Gimme Your Box
17. Keep Bouncing
18. thedailyKUSHdotcom
19. Dey Know Asher
20. Morris Roth
21. Cartoon Chick
22. Stopwaitingfortheworldtochange
I feel a wind of change in the hip hop world, at least as far as white mc’s are concerned. Whether its the nerdcore movement [being fronted by Mc Chris and Mc Lars] or the more party based style, things are definitely looking up once more. Not since the explosion of Eminem in the music scene have white Mc’s had as much attention as they do right now. I’m not saying it’s a race issue, it’s just a matter of fact. I know you’re wondering why I mentioned the party scene, but didn’t drop any names and that’s because the artist in this review, Asher Roth, is the name I had in mind. His upcoming album will feature the current hit, “I Love College,” but it’s the recently released mixtape that shows the artist’s true skill.
Now the problem with mixtape reviews, and hip hop in general is that the judgment all falls on the Mc or group because there isn’t much to be said about the beats. They either hit or don’t and for the most part here, they do hit – hard. There aren’t too many times when the DJ of the track plays hype man or simply shouts name drops or product placement [though thedailykush.com is mentioned numerous times and has its own track – we get it – you enjoy pot]. There are a lot of sample, but, as is the case in, “Gimme Your Box [which steals the beat from Britney Spears hit song of a similar title],” is ridden in a way that makes you rarely think of the source material [until the chorus of course]. Outside of the beats, we have the skit tracks or simple under a minute ones that rarely do much to impress, but do move things along reasonably well.
So this brings us to the meat of the mixtape, Asher himself. This young MC has a lot more skill than the masses have yet to hear via his single [yesterday’s video of the day]. In fact, his speed and wordplay would put him in solid competition with many of today’s best rappers. Tracks like, “Mr. Me 2,” and, “The Lounge,” show Roth paying his dues with sly pop culture references, self gratifying boasts, and rhymes about relationships and twenty something life. It’s all done with little anger or emotion in general accept an overall feeling of having a good time and of course, smoking weed [The Greenhouse Effect references the act if you haven’t caught on]. At other points, especially, “Mornign Do,” and, “Cartoon Chick,” shows an even lighter, heck, funnier side of Roth’s music. It’s apparent that though he has serious skill, he doesn’t take rapping, or at least the power of words, too seriously. It’s all about fun and partying, which is fine, but does make me worry about longevity as an artist.
In the end, Asher Roth has a lot of talent that simply cannot be denied. The Greenhouse Effect is a perfect way to showcase the true level of his abilities that may not be fitting to be released as a single for the masses. However, his complete lack of seriousness in terms of his material makes a lot of his talent seem immature and unnecessary for the genre or style he’s going for. Picasso wouldn’t use paint by numbers tablets and I fell like the party scene is Roth’s paint by numbers board. It’s just too easy for his level of ability, but maybe the next release will prove he’s aware of just what he has going for him. At least, I hope so.
*Written By: James Shotwell*
Grade: 8/10
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