Asher Roth - 'I Love College'
Rule number one in the music game is this: Know Your Market. For example, if you're going to produce a song and you definitely want it to be bought by a lot of women over 25, it'll need to be either very sensitive and mournful, easy on the ear and sung by a hottie with bright eyes, or a barnstorming disco classic which demands that all the girls get together and celebrate collective womanhood. The pretty things will be putty in your hands, muah-hahahHAHAHA!*
And if you want 13-15 year-old boys to buy your song, and quote the best bits, and have it as a ringtone, and generally obsess over it for weeks on end, you'll need to fill it with more dirty one-liners than a muddy South Park DVD - without any of their biting satire, obv.
You will also need to describe an amazing world, one which is closer to the one in your audience's wildest fantasies than the one they actually inhabit, although they definitely want to live that dream when they're old enough. It's a world in which you can enjoy a lifestyle of endless naughtiness with no consequences whatsoever, a world in which all the girls are drunk and frisky, where you can stay up as late as you like, and most importantly, there are NO GROWN-UPS!
Boys, welcome to the world of Asher Roth...
(No video, on grounds of public decency. Which is just SO UNFAIR. Chuh!)
In Rothworld, you can be a badass rapper if you want to, you've just got to, y'know, rap. People love to hear you rapping too, especially about naked girls, or drinking. And the hazy, woozy beats - thanks Weezer! - are just perfect for raising a late-night cup to, or chanting "chug chug chug" while a friend of yours drinks heavily, in what your teacher would call an irresponsible manner, risking liver damage in the process.
But hey, it's not all reckless fun, there are important messages in here too, about sexual health, safety tips about making sure you don't lose your shoes in your sleep...er...some stuff about etiquette and manners... Oh wait, no, scratch that last one.
All you need to know is that this is a scuzzier, homemade take on the Usher 'Love In The Club' hip hop sexy fantasy, and because it's homemade, that makes the stuff which happens in the song seem achievable.
It might not be proper hip hop (oh, if you have time, DO look up Asher's 'interesting' views on ), but there's beats, there's sex, there's partying.
What more could a young lad want, hmm?
Download: Out now
CD Released: May 11th
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Music page
(Fraser McAlpine)
"It's hard to recall a more crushingly, universally awful track than 'I Love College'"
"Roth's background is more American Pie than 8 Mile."
"I don't understand why people compare him to Eminem."
* No, of course I didn't mean you. You are a free-thinker, and above such things.
Comment number 1.
At 7th May 2009, HazelChartblog wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)
Comment number 2.
At 7th May 2009, HazelChartblog wrote:Whups; thought that word'd be ok. I meant to say 'he's quite a spectacularly idiotic display, isn't he?'
Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)
Comment number 3.
At 7th May 2009, spirit wrote:Ha... I was wondering how long that would last... lol
Complain about this comment (Comment number 3)
Comment number 4.
At 7th May 2009, Azure107 wrote:I think it's a light hearted (weed aside) song that nobody should take too seriously.
Asleep in the Bread Aisle is a good album overall though. I consider him as what Eminem was probably like when he was younger.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 4)