By Melanie Wolfson and Lindsay Wallace
Whoever said that skinny white boys from suburbia can't rap? Anyone on the 24th floor of the MTV headquarters on Tuesday could surely vouch that the fresh beats from Asher Roth suggest otherwise.
The 23-year-old redhead from Pennsylvania broke it down for MTV Networks employees on Tuesday afternoon, pouring his rhymes and wit into a performance that left audience members impressed if not stunned. (Check out photos from the event!) Roth forced even the most timid of audience members to clap and sing along to his beats. This forced audience participation made for an entertaining sight — the floor was shaking from the drum beat, and Asher's constant jumping up and down had everyone dancing and clapping.
Roth kicked off his shoes (literally!) and played four songs, saving his hit single "I Love College" for last. He also told a handful of stories about everything from "not" smoking weed, to releasing his album on 4-20 (i.e. April 20) to his low tolerance for alcohol.
He laughed, "These 18-year-olds are crazy! I have all these college kids come up to me and challenge me to games of beer pong, but I can't drink like I'm 18 anymore. It's like, one glass of wine and I'm f---ed up for the night."
Although he expressed fear that he'll now always only be known for "I Love College," Roth made light of the fact that he comes off as a "douchebag" in that song and others. He told the crowd, "I'm actually a really nice guy. I have two older sisters who taught me right. So even though it might be cool to go out and get laid every night, I'm not like that."
With that, we must admit: We kind of fell for Asher Roth today. After seeing his music video for "College" nonstop on the television here at work, we somehow missed out on the fact that Roth is actually a really adorable and charming young man, not to mention a compelling performer. See him live: You see much more of that side of him!
Once Roth was done with his shoeless dancing and jumping around, we decided we had to say hello and thank him for the intimate performance. We made our way over to Roth and introduced ourselves. But instead of being greeted with the handshake we were expecting, we both received big hugs — leaving us blushing and crushing on the skinny white boy with the beats.