Written by Ace Six | Photography by Philip Litevsky

Asher who? What? I am guilty of not really paying attention to the whole Asher Roth thing. I guess he’s a big deal in the States and has a following of white college and university students who come out in droves to see him perform his lily white version of rap music.

However, I don’t think it’s just me since the crowd at the El Mocambo was not that large and a good percentage of those people worked for the label and/or promoter. So what, he’ll catch on up here for sure and sell tons of copies to kids in the burbs.

He raps well, I think there’s something missing that I can’t put my finger on. Everything about this kid reads “marketing plan” and “puppet master”. I feel like his DJ (who was pretty dope to be totally honest) is who runs the stage show, not him. It was well-organized, complete with drum solos and beat juggling but felt rushed and a bit contrived.

However, if your target audience is a bunch of goofy kids who don’t have the same jaded standards as a concert audience that I might have, why not put on a quick show?

I have to judge a show like this with different eyes, and so really I can just say that it was better than I expected but still exactly what I expected at the same time.