Video: Homeless - "An Open Letter To Asher Roth"

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Download: Homeless - "An Open Letter To Asher Roth"
*MP3: Asher Roth - "I Love College"

I've had an essay kicking around in my head called "Why Atmosphere Must Destroy Asher Roth" for quite some time. I never got past the conceptual stage of it though, which would revolve contrasting the blue-collar anthems of When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, with collegiate-themed rapper Asher Roth's huge breakthrough hit "I Love College." (Discussed earlier here)

For those of you who don't know who Asher Roth is, he is a suburban-based rapper from Pennsylvania. He recently released his debut record, Asleep in the Bread Aisle (haha, white bread, get it?), which contains his aforementioned hit, which is basically all about how college is totally rad and filled with parties. Which, at times, it is. (Incidentally, I bet Asher Roth would totally hit on the overworked, overwhelmed waitress in Atmosphere's "You." Whether or not she'd dig it is a less clear proposition).

But, you know, and the risk of being Captain Buzzkill, there's also that whole studying thing, and not pissing away the multiple thousands of dollars spent paying for college, and working for study loans. But hey, why work, when there's a ubiquitous red cup that needs to be filled?

Naturally, given my ambivalence toward Roth, I was really curious when Midwest Broadcast posted a video by Minneapolis emcee Homeless posted a video called "An Open to Asher Roth." It pretty much lays out all the objections one could have to Roth, but does so in a constructive, thought-provoking manner. It's essential viewing for anyone who cares about popular music. Watch it at the top of the post.

Homeless MySpace Page

(Jon Graef)