WHAT if Opie busted out of Mayberry and became a rap star? You’d probably get an MC who looks a lot like Asher Roth, rap’s latest phenomenon.
The 23-year-old made his NYC debut at the Blender Theater Tuesday, delivering a set that was eventful, energetic and entertaining.
The eventful part wasn’t when Cee-Lo Green (the voice of Gnarls Barkley) joined him onstage to trade rhymes, but rather when the young white rapper was in the audience watching opening act Chester French.
Roth, who honed his hick-hop in rural Pennsylvania, got a taste of the street when he was sucker-punched by a guy who was subsequently dragged out of the theater by security.
Obviously, skinny Roth is tougher than he looks. Taking the stage — on time! — he joked with the sold-out crowd about the fight: “You know you made it when someone pays 30 bucks to smack you in the face.”
The smack-barometer is telling, but Roth already has a pretty good idea he’s “made it,” considering that as of yesterday his
party-rap single “I Love College” had logged 36,128,311 MySpace plays and another 6 million views on YouTube.
Performed at the end of the show, the song struck a chord with hedonists — young and old — in the house when, with frat-boy charm, Roth rapped the lyrics, “Drink my beer and smoke my weed, but my good friends is all I need. Pass out at 3, wake up at 10, go out to eat and do it again, man, I love college, I love drinking, I love women and I love college.”
Yeah, who wouldn’t?
But this show, with Roth a blur of arm-waving and goofy dance moves, wasn’t about that one tune. The hourlong set had a number of highlights including the marijuana motoring ode “Blunt Cruisin,’ ” and the very excellent “Lion’s Roar” that featured vocalist Noah King on the sung verse. Cee-Lo’s assistance on “Be My Self” was not only a good tune, the pairing was also an endorsement of Roth’s skills.
Released this week, Roth’s album is going to be one of this summer’s most-listened-to records. It’s titled “Asleep in the Bread Aisle,” but make no mistake: He isn’t bland white bread.