I was over my friend Keeb$ house today and he was telling me all about Eminem’s new song about college.

Eminem. Ha!

No, that song on the radio about college is by a young man named Asher Roth (click here for video). While I think “I Love College” is as cheesy as you can get-the Weezer sample, the stereotypical college references, not to mention the predictable crowd chant at the end, I never said I didn’t like cheesy. I nodded my head for a nice while to this song.

I am the champion, of the beer pong.
Allen Iver-son, Hakeem Olaju-won.

But does that make him a dope rapper?

In order to make a clear and concise judgment, one must listen to his other material. 2008′s Greenhouse Effect mixtape was a good start, especially with the head-nodder “Cannon” at the helm.

I think a good majority of the people knocking Asher right now are the same people that knocked Eminem when he debuted over a decade ago. Sure, the two do share the same vocal tones, but that is where the comparisons stop, Asher’s flow is much more simplified and the subject matter, although lighter, is totally different. After all, didn’t Eminem fail the ninth grade three times?

The question is: Will Asher be able to transcend the Eminem comparisons? I think he will. First and foremost, no matter what the rap community has to say on the matter, he has crossover appeal. People who would otherwise never listen to hip hop will listen to Asher because they identify with him. I can picture myself right now at a “douchey” top-40 bar in the southside and everyone yelling “Freshmen… freshmen… do something crazy!” at the top of their lungs.

Secondly, I look to the experiences of a rapper who faced a similar predicament when first starting out as a major label artist:  this man is known as Shyne.

It was easy to take one listen to Shyne when he first came out and laugh. “Wait, this guy sounds exactly like Biggie, AND he is on Bad Boy?” A couple of lyrically murdered tracks and successful singles later, Shyne’s talent has shown through and nowadays the comparisons to Biggie are far and few between. For Guerilla Black however, that is a totally different story.

Asher has a whole song, “As I ‘Em” which addresses the comparisons. Apparently he spits his heart out on it. I, for one can’t wait.

Asleep in the Bread Aisle drops April 21st.

Tracklisting (check the illroots link below for some more previewable songs off the album):

01. Lark On My Go-Cart
02. Blunt Cruisin’
03. I Love College
04. Bad Day ft. Jazze Pha
05. Be By Myself ft. Cee-Lo
06. Sour Patch Kids
07. She Don’t Want A Man
08. As I Em ft. Chester French
09. His Dream ft. Miguel
10. Ladida
11. Leo The Lion
12. Fallin
13. Nothing You Can’t Do

Via Illroots