1985–2007: Early life and career beginnings Roth was born and raised in
Morrisville, Pennsylvania. He is of
Jewish and
Scottish ancestry. His mother, Elizabeth (
née McConnell), is a
yoga instructor, and his father, David Roth (not to be confused with
David Lee Roth), is the executive director of a design firm. He attended
Pennsbury High School. After graduating from high school, he entered
West Chester University and became an Elementary Education major, while continuing to record verses over the popular
production of other rappers. During his sophomore year, he posted some of his verses on his
Myspace page and sent a friend request to
Scooter Braun, an
Atlanta-based promoter and former VP of Marketing for
Jermaine Dupri's
So So Def Recordings. One week after speaking to Braun, Roth flew down to Atlanta and was immediately signed by Braun, who subsequently became his manager. Roth would eventually sign a joint venture between Braun's Schoolboy and
Steve Rifkind, chairman of
SRC/Universal Records. On June 13, 2008, via the internet, Roth released his first professional release, the
Don Cannon and
DJ Drama-helmed
mixtape,
The Greenhouse Effect Vol. 1. This resulted in Roth being the second white rapper to be featured on Drama and Cannon's
Gangsta Grillz series. Roth subsequently began recording his major-label debut album. In late 2008, it was revealed Roth was included in
XXL's 2009 annual
Freshman Class, and was featured on the cover alongside fellow up-and-coming rappers
Kid Cudi,
Wale,
B.o.B,
Charles Hamilton,
Cory Gunz,
Blu,
Mickey Factz,
Ace Hood and
Curren$y. Roth's debut single "
I Love College", was released in January 2009 as the
lead single on his debut album. The song is considered the first song of the
frat rap subgenre of
hip hop. His second single "
Lark on my Go-Kart", was released March 24, 2009. After the two singles were released, Roth's debut studio album
Asleep in the Bread Aisle was released on April 20, 2009, in honor of
cannabis subculture's
420 holiday. During the summer of 2009, Roth joined fellow
XXL freshmen alumni
Kid Cudi and
B.o.B, for 'The Great Hangover'
concert tour. Roth also joined
Blink-182 in the second half of their reunion tour in the fall of 2009.
2010–2012: The Rawth EP and other projects After touring in 2009 and releasing a second mixtape titled
Seared Foie Gras with Quince and Cranberry in March 2010, Roth began working on his second studio album, then-titled
The Spaghetti Tree. From his friend Boyder's YouTube page, he was seen working with high-profile record producers
Pharrell Williams and
Nottz Raw. While working with Nottz, the two of them decided to collaborate on a project together, due to having a number of records rejected by the label due to
sampling and copyright issues. The result was an eight track
extended play (EP), solely produced by Nottz, entitled
The Rawth EP. The EP, which features appearances from Colin Munroe, D.A. (of
Chester French),
Rhymefest and
Kardinal Offishall, was released December 27, 2010. On July 26, 2010, Roth released "
G.R.I.N.D (Get Ready It's a New Day)", the initial first single from
The Spaghetti Tree, and promoted the song by traveling to different radio stations across the country. In a July 2010
XXL interview, while speaking on
The Spaghetti Tree, Roth revealed four tracks from the album. One was said to feature West Coast rapper
Game, one produced by
Swizz Beatz and another was revealed to be titled "Run it Back". On May 25, 2011, it was announced that Roth's second studio album would no longer be called
The Spaghetti Tree. On July 19, 2011, Roth released a song titled "Last Man Standing", as a single. The song, which features African-American singer-songwriter
Akon, was featured on the soundtrack to the 2011 video game
Madden NFL 12. In an interview with Rikki Martinez of
Power 106, Roth announced he would be releasing a mixtape titled
Pabst & Jazz and revealed the new title of his upcoming second album to be
Is This Too Orange?. On November 11, 2011, he released the first offering off
Pabst & Jazz, a song titled "Common Knowledge". In November 2011, Roth signed with
Def Jam Recordings through the resurface of defunct label
Loud Records, which is now still a subsidiary label of
SRC Records. In April 2012, Roth revealed he was once again working with producer Nottz Raw, as well as
Blink 182 drummer
Travis Barker, on an EP titled
Rawther. In late 2012, Roth revealed he scrapped the
Is This Too Orange? title for his second album, out of respect for Def Jam label mate
Frank Ocean's debut
Channel Orange (2012).
2013–2016: RetroHash On June 5, 2013, Roth announced he would be reuniting with DJ Drama and Don Cannon, to release the sequel to his critically acclaimed mixtape
The Greenhouse Effect The Greenhouse Effect Vol. 2 was released on June 25, 2013. In December 2013, Roth revealed his long-awaited and often-delayed second studio album is titled
RetroHash which was released on April 22, 2014. In a December interview, on a
Juan Epstein podcast with
Peter Rosenberg and
Cipha Sounds, Roth announced he is still planning on releasing his collaborative EP
Rawther, with Nottz Raw and Travis Barker; as well as an EP with renowned hip hop producer
Pete Rock, tentatively titled
Pete Roth. Upon its release,
RetroHash debuted at number 45 on the US
Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 6,100 copies in the United States. In March 2016, Roth announced that he is preparing his third studio album
Red Hot Revival.
2016–present: Flowers on the Weekend In 2016, Asher Roth moved back to his home state of Pennsylvania after many years living away in Atlanta, New York, and Los Angeles. He reconnected with an old musical friend, Rob Deckhart, and they started working on a number of songs. Over the years, they came up with the album
Flowers on the Weekend that was released in April 2020. ==Musical style==