The Record Crate

I expected Asher Roth to be hip-hop’s biggest letdown of 2009 when I heard his “new and improved” version of his song “I Love College.” The Weezer sample was replaced by a similar sounding guitar riff. Words were changed, most notably “keg stand” to “head stand,” and last but not least, the addition of cheesy shout vocals. That on top of a flow that is eerily similar to Eminem’s I was sure that this dude was bound for disaster.

On top of this, his mixtape “The Greenhouse Effect Volume 1” was suprisingly unoriginal. There were no original beats and every song had someone saying “the cannon” over and over and over. Some tracks are noteworthy, but nothing memorable.

His new album “Asleep in the Bread Isle” was a terrific suprise for me. His first single “Be By Myself” features Ce-Lo and a live rhytm section. Keeping true to his college asthetic, he includes such gems as “Lark on my Go-Kart” and “Blunt Cruisin’.” I honestly can’t stop listening to this album. Maybe it’s just an over reaction to being suprised that it didn’t sucked, but this is definitely the album of the summer for me.