Newly signed Def Jam rapper Asher Roth is clearing the Internet streets from speculation and rumors suggesting recent remarks by Pittsburgh's Mac Miller were meant to spark a beef.
Giving his reaction to Miller’s career advice, Roth said he has nothing but love for the independent emcee.
“There’s no beef, dude. There’s no beef at all. Mac, he’s from Pittsburgh, too. Young kid, energetic, happy as h*ll to be here. I don’t know him like that at all, I wish I could — He’s a good kid. I’m the last person that’s going to take food off someone’s plate,” Roth said in an interview. “I’m the last person that’s going to hate on someone else. There’s no real time for that. We’ve got a lot of hard work to do.” (The Masked Gorilla)
In late November, Miller gave his take on the “I Love College” rapper’s decline in popularity.
“Asher Roth came out with ‘I Love College’ and that’s not really him as an artist,” Mac told XXL. “He likes to rap his a** off. He likes to spit, and he’s on some positive change the world type sh*t for the better, and that’s not him. They thought that would be a hit song. And I think that was the thing, like, he came out in that lane that they pushed him in and he didn’t wanna go there. He just wants to rap and sh*t.” (XXL Mag)
Last weekend, Roth explained his recent hiatus from the mainstream music scene.
“We really had some issues and I really don’t want to use the word ‘politically,’ because that’s pushing the blame elsewhere. I definitely had some blame on myself with just being a jerk, and not cooperating, so to speak. We had some real issues with the powers that be,” Ash told radio host Bootleg Kev. “For about two years, we were pretty quiet on the mainstream and this is the information era. So, two years is a really long time, man. You should be gone, technicaly wiped away.” (Bootleg Kev)
When asked about the new surge of popular white hip-hop acts last month, Roth said he hoped to continue seeing diversity in the rap game.
“I definitely feel as if we came with something fresh,” Roth said in an interview referring to his 2008 emergence into the hip-hop spotlight. “I think people took notice of it and people really got an opportunity to really add something new and with that, it’s pretty cool to see a lot of other young cats get in and I think that’s kinda what we want to do. We want to keep pushing [the boundaries] forward and I just hope we don’t settle for mediocrity. I think it’s important to keep bar game and bar work up, I think it’s important to have well-written songs, I think it’s important to have your performance game on point — we have to be very careful moving forward and making sure that we are putting out the best possible music. Music should always come first.” (Global Grind)
Check out Asher Roth’s interview below: