S. Samuel
As Asher Roth's sophomore LP Spaghetti Tree comes together, SOHH has reached out to contributing producer Nottz to find out what the experience has been like.
Although he is excited about Asher’s album hitting stores, Nottz admitted the rapper has taken criticism over being a white emcee.
“This album is going to be different than the first one,” Nottz promised SOHH. “He has more hip-hop records on it. His first album was hip-hop but it’s more urban this time. It’s dope and coming out really good. He’s a dope writer, artist and a lot of people try to kick a lot of sh*t on him and it’s not cool. It’s just not cool, let the man be. Then you got a lot of people getting on me because I’m rocking with a white boy and it doesn’t matter what color I am, what color he is, if he’s dope, I’m rocking with him. He f*cks with me, I f*ck with him. We gonna see how dope he is with this CD coming out.” (SOHH)
In a recent Eminem interview, the rap star talked about feeling targeted because of his skin color.
Em also said he believes race may have been an issue in terms of thecriticism he has endured for his lyrics. Explaining that anti-gay slurs were cavalierly dropped in the hip-hop scene he came up in and citing the frequent use of offensive language by many other high-profile spitters, he said he felt targeted because he is white. “I felt like I was being attacked. I was being singled out and I felt like, ‘Is it because the color of my skin? Is it because of that you’re paying more attention?’ ” he said. “Because there’s certain rappers that do and say the same things and I’m saying and I don’t hear anyone saying [anything] about that.” (MTV)
Over the summer, Em’s Interscope Records labelmate Yelawolf talked about hip-hop’s racial barriers.
“I still face it at every show, dog. There’s always somebody. It never fails, never. Until I’m selling out my own shows and I’m going to be demo-ing for somebody. And somebody is not going to like me because I’m a white boy on stage rapping and I look different. That’s something I will experience until everybody that came through the door came to see just me. I’m used to it though, when you’re traveling with groups, you just have to be prepared to deal with it. Do your best to snap and walk off the stage holding your nuts. Always! That’s how you got to be. I grew up in Alabama so I’ve heard and seen it all. Knowing your talent is probably one of the keys to be successful.” (VIBE)
With the album still in production, Asher recently explained his decision not to rush it into retail stores.
“I’m not just trying to put out a song, make quick money and get out of here,” Roth promised in an interview. “I wanna put something together that’s gonna last, that people are going to appreciate, listen to and they’re going to break it down. Personally, I love it when people take the time to break it down, every single song on the album — we’re making the best music with the people that want to be a part of it. Not just, ‘Hey, can I get a quick check and get out of here.’ Anybody who knows me knows that I have no budget at all. Anybody within this circle of friends knows I’m working purely off a wing and a prayer. But yo, it’s been fun…” (Vlad TV)
A release date for The Spaghetti Tree has not yet been revealed.
Check out a recent Asher Roth interview below:
