POPSCREEN: Asher Roth

In his debut, “I Love College,” Asher Roth takes us into his world of collegiate debauchery by inserting a DVD marked “Last Nite!” into the television and singing “That party last night was awfully crazy / I wish we taped it”—what a relief he did! The party he spends the next four minutes rapping about is a modern day version of National Lampoon’s Delta House, complete with mattresses falling from second floor windows, a strip poker game, and even a grandma shooting a ball out of her mouth to score a winning shot in beer pong. The camera work makes it feel as if I really am watching a video a frat brother made on his handheld.

I want to be at this party. I want to “Pass out at three, wake up at 10 / Go out to eat then do it again.” But I don’t want to be Asher Roth. Where are his friends? Why did he arrive and leave alone? How many pictures of him and the bulldog mascot are going to appear on Facebook at approximately 9:07 a.m. tomorrow morning? Sure, the party seems epic, but Roth’s night, save for random hookups with debatably catatonic girls, is nothing special.



Roth finds salvation in that his message—drilled into your head via lyrics, images, and his Belushi-knockoff T-shirt—is a universal one. After all, what normal college student doesn’t love a night of ridiculous drunken fun? If I was Asher Roth and this was my college experience, I’d find some real friends, hopefully kiss the hot girls playing poker, and never ever leave.

Apparently Roth, a real life West Chester University dropout, is not one to practice what he preaches. Perhaps a few more years in school will teach him proper Saturday night social conduct.

—Victoria J. Benjamin