Both interviews after the jump, Roth is high, and Bobby is humble.
Asher Roth is high on life—but today he’s just a bit more lifted. Out promoting his debut album, Asleep in the Bread Aisle (SRC/Universal Motown, 2009), Roth’s made a bit of a mistake. Thinking he had a day off, the 23-year-old ate a special brownie. So when he found out that he’d be meeting with VIBE at his Universal Motown label’s Midtown Manhattan offices, Asher begged our pardon for his “green” gaffe. We continued and, after the formal interview, Asher told us how he got this batch, provided the recipe, and set the scene for how to properly enjoy them.
VIBE: Is this how you cope with the craziness of the music business?
Asher Roth: Well, I thought I was traveling today. I didn’t know I was going to have a bunch of interviews.
Oh, okay.
That’s my fault. I thought I was traveling to Panama City [Fla.].
But that’s tomorrow.
Yeah, it’s tomorrow, but today was going to be the travel day. So I was going to vibe out on the plane, relax.
When’d did you find time to make them?
I didn’t. What happens now that these shows are going on, people are bringing me goodies. I guess it’s because, you know, I’m an open pot smoker or whatever. So people bring me brownies and always bring Js and blunts. Dude, it’s really crazy.
And you’re partaking.
Sometimes. I pick and choose.
This batch is from Manhattan?
It was in Providence.
Oh okay, Rhode Island.
Quality.
How many does it take before you feel it?
I just had one. It was a good one. Plus I didn’t eat anything yet.
How do you make them?
I’ve never personally. I’ve always been with people that really led the way. I know that it’s a strange process with the weed. Boil it in butter, either butter or whatever.
Margarine.
Yeah margarine. You strain it and then that’s what you use in the brownie
Oh. So it’s not like you’re chewing on herbs.
Nah.
It’s more of a liquid ingredient.
Yeah. So you strain it. You just strain the THC out of the plant and put it in the butter and then you put it with the batter. Bake a brownie, and then you eat it. This is a really good one. I’ve done it before. It’s really for a nice spring, 78-degree day, just to lay out on with the blue sky and fall asleep.
Who do you have with you when you’re grubbing on them? The homies? Or are you solo?
There’s like five heads, maybe two honeys and a homie, you know what I mean? And maybe a third wheel chick. Everybody’s real nice. It’s like 78-, maybe 82-degrees.
Where are you?
Some San Diego-esque place with a blue sky.
You’re on the beach?
Yeah. The experience? I don’t know about the beach, maybe the Bay. I don’t know ’cause I’m fair skinned, man. I get burned real quick. So it can’t be a hot summer day. I don’t like those. I’m uncomfortable on those. I wanna be able to wear long sleeves. Nice weather. That’s good. Maybe watch a good game.
You only do this once in a while, right?
I don’t do it all the time. It’s just like, I’m gonna cool out today and really not think about much. I’m just relaxing and enjoying the simplicities of what this life, what this world gives us. Peter Rosenberg wanted one of the brownies actually. He hit me up. They’re done. He’s bummed out.
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Eminem cosigned him on a recent stop at BET’s 106 & Park, T.I. is his boss, and Drake, Kid Cudi, Asher Roth, and Wale are his peers. Needless to say, B.o.B, aka Bobby Ray, as he’s now known (“aka” included) keeps good company. But if Drake makes mood music and Kid Cudi makes moon music, then B.o.B. makes pop music, or at least that’s the point.
At just 19, the multitalented rapper/producer/singer musician from Decatur, Ga., has drawn inevitable comparisons to OutKast’s Andre 3000. But in truth, B.o.B. is more like Andre at 19, if Andre at 19 had been as interested in making “Hey Ya” as OutKast’sSouthernplayalisticadillacmuzik (LaFace/Arista, 1994). Point being, over the course of two impressive and impressively playful mixtapes,Hi! My Name Is B.o.B. and Who the F#*k Is B.o.B.?, he’s shown an equal commitment to both rap and pop as well as to exploring that infectious, bouncing-ball, rap-and-sing-along place where the two genres meet. The results are records that are at once completely outside the box and yet sticky as all hell once they get in your ear. Now if only he could get his debut, The Adventures of Bobby Ray (Grand Hustle/Atlantic), out the door….
VIBE: Let’s start at the beginning, how you got started, why you started rapping…
B.o.B. aka Bobby Ray: Why I got started? You know, honestly speaking, I really started making music for therapy, and then I just kept doing it because I got pretty good at it, enough to where it was more pleasing, [rather] than a headache, to listen to. [laughs] And I started out really just rapping, you know, really just being an MC. That was my comfort level at the time, and as I’ve grown, my comfort level has expanded such to where I feel most inclined to just be a musician, in totality, you know, just playing instruments, rehearsing a lot more for shows, just whatever I can do.
You grew up playing instruments, right?
Yeah, definitely. I wish I would have kept playing the trumpet. I think I’m gonna pick that back up again. [Laughs]
Anything else?
I played the guitar and the piano.
I’ve seen you play guitar onstage, so you obviously kept at that. And I know you’re doing a lot of your own production.
Oh, yeah, definitely. And now that I’m working with other musicians, I’m actually challenging myself productionwise, because it’s actually easy for me to go in the studio by myself and just make a good song. But I’m challenging myself from orchestrating different musicians—and even beyond orchestrating, there still has to be a spontaneous element in musicmaking that you can’t orchestrate, and it just has to come to you—so I’m kinda learning how to be patient and really manifest what I see musically.
Do you go into the studio with an idea in mind of what you want to do, or do you prefer it to be more spontaneous?
Most of the time you try to mastermind everything, but in actuality, when you do that, you always end up with what you didn’t intend on doing. So really, in actuality, the majority of the time in the studio is really experimenting, and things happen that you don’t intend on happening. Really, all you can do is just be able to play, be able to sing, be able to do whatever you can do, and then inspiration will hit you when you least expect it.
Do you have a particular studio or particular place where you feel most comfortable making music?
Yeah, definitely. The studio I’m recording at in Little Rome, in Atlanta, [in the] preproduction room. I am still able to orchestrate and make demo songs, and even though they’re kind of demo songs, they don’t sound like demo songs, in terms of just getting live instruments on them. I can definitely make an album in there, which I’ve been doing. The last bit of my album, I’ve been recording there. And other than that, I’ll just record at Grand Hustle. I like recording at Grand Hustle because there’s enough people there to where you can kind of gauge their reactions from your music, so you can kinda see how people respond to it, different crowds of people, what they like.
When you’re working by yourself, do you find yourself going off on tangents? Like, “whoa, that’s a little too out there”? As opposed to when people are around, maybe staying more grounded?
With me, the hardest thing for me to do is to not think and just do it. Because when there’s nobody else who’s committing time to it, you feel like you have all the time in the world, so you just kinda play around. But I’m getting to the point now, where I know how to just do it and just not think, and just go and just do it, and that’s really the hardest part. And when you’re working with different musicians, you have to be that way, you have to just, go with it and go with inspiration, and at the same time recognize what everybody else is inclined to do. And then you’re like, “Okay, y’all are inclined to do this, and I can bring this to the table….” And then, there you go: It’s working like clockwork.
Sure. One of the things that’s struck me about your music is the record “Generation Lost,” where you rap about having a grill and getting tats and trying to fit in.
[Laughs] Oh, oh, yeah.
You’ve obviously moved away from that idea. Can you talk about that?
Yeah, yeah. That phase that I went through is a phase that a lot of, a lot of, I mean, shit, 99 percent of teens go through…and, it’s like this unspoken rule book, and that was the chapter that dealt with rappers. Like you gotta have tattoos, you gotta seem aggressive, you gotta seem really, really, really confident, even if it comes off as being arrogant, just whatever the case may be. It’s so self-conscious that you don’t realize it until you take a step back and you’re like, “Wait a minute, why am I doing this?” And as I evolved out of that, the hardest thing for me to do was to continue to be—just as a commodity, but being true to myself—and not just being an image, but actually being a person that people can click with, and not just look at and be like, “Oh, he looks cool.” And so that’s really what that song was about. And of course, it goes deeper, through different lines that I said, talking about, you know, slavery has changed, it’s a modern-day disaster, and some different types of things. But really it’s just, I was touching on that unspoken rule book with things.
And then now that you’ve got through the name change. Telling everybody to call you Bobby Ray seems to speak to that idea that you seem to really hold dear, which is that you are an individual, you are a person, you aren’t just this rapper whom you can put in a box. And yet you’ve caught a lot of flack for that, especially changing your name without having an album out. How have you felt in the face of that reaction?
Um, really…it’s really…it’s actually good to see that. Any reaction is a good reaction. And I feel like there are people watching. And as long as people are watching, I feel like I’m satisfied. And it’s not even an attention type of thing, but the type of influence that I could have on people to shed some light on certain topics and touch on certain areas, because I have things to say, some of which I can’t make into a song at this point because I just don’t know yet, or it hasn’t dawned on me, but I feel like there are things that I need to say. But you know, all the flack and all the different comments and critiques, that’s just a part of the game. You have to expect that. But at the end of the day I have to be me. I have to be me regardless of any uproar or all else, because if I’m not me, then what’s the point of me doing anything? Then you’re just a puppet. Then you’re just somebody else’s fool. So I have to be me and just continue to realize how much of me I’m being.
Were you surprised to see the blowback?
You know, I was so set on being myself that I didn’t really expect it or not expect it. I just kinda wanted that relief. I just stopped checking everything. I stopped getting online. I didn’t really check my e-mails. I was just in my room, just really trying to meditate and get centered. And I’m continuing to grow, you know? I like that. There’s this poem called “Empty,” and basically, it just talks about how you gotta keep the cup empty, and the cup is your mind and it’s like, no matter what you hold true, or what you feel like you know, you have to always keep an open mind and keep an empty cup. And who knows, next year I may be like, “You know, I don’t really like Bobby Ray….” I mean, I’m not gonna change my name again, but you always continue to grow. So I don’t feel like I’m at a point where I know everything. I just feel like this is just the steps that I’m taking for my own happiness and my own sanity
You’ve been grouped with the so-called Freshman Class. How much has that helped your career, and how has it made it more difficult to define yourself as an individual?
Yeah, it probably… I talked to Kid Cudi and Asher Roth and Wale on several occasions, and even though there are different perceptions for all of us, I mean it’s all benefiting. I talk to them, and like, just because we’re even in this position, and it’s a very powerful road that we’re on, you really have to be responsible and really think about what you do. And if you really allow the pressure to get to you, it will get to you. But you can’t even think about it. You literally can’t think about it, and a lot of the times you just have to just roll with the punches. But really, it’s really helped me, you know what I mean? Just being put in situations where I have to identify with self, those types of situations are what give me the skills to do something really huge and something big. So you have to go through the rites of passage, so to speak.
How are you dealing with the attention? Cudi obviously went through that moment when he said he was retiring…
Hmmm. You know, it’s definitely changed my life, but I learned to embrace it because life is a family, you know. Whether your family is five people, 10 people, a million people, the world…it’s still a family, and you have to treat everybody the same way, and that’s something that I had to learn. Like, when I meet people, I don’t draw a line, like, “alright, well this is a fan, and this is…” Now, you know at the same time, you have relationships with people, and you have to acknowledge that, but at the same time, you have to understand that people are people, the same way that I am, that’s how somebody else is, regardless of what, what your skills are, regardless of your background, and the level of popularity is. It’s always relative. You know, to a huge, super world artist, I’d be still up and coming, but to an up-and-coming artist in my eyes, I’d probably be a celebrity, so it’s all relative. And you always have to keep that in mind, that it could be better, could be worse, but at the same time, this is the situation that you’re in, and you have to make the best of it. And I feel like that’s something that you have to learn regardless of how popular or unpopular you are.
Have you found that the music industry is as dirty of a game as everyone says?
[Laughs] Um… [Laughs] You know what? I understand why the music industry gets the flack that it does, and basically, the best way to deal with that is, “See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil,” and just continue to do what you have to do, and that’s how you win.
Did you grow up wanting to be a superstar? Or did you grow up just wanting to have a creative outlet to be able to make music for a living?
You know, it’s funny because it sounds backwards for me, [but] it’s kinda like the actual “superstar” part is what attracted me to it. I didn’t know it yet. I didn’t know, okay being on stage, and just really giving your energy to people; I didn’t understand that aspect, but that’s what attracted me to it. And now, I can make a living off it, which is great, because I don’t have to worry about… You know, it’d be one thing if you couldn’t make a living off of it, and you have to travel the world, but at the same time you can’t make a living. Then you have to worry about that. But you can make a living off of it, and you can reach people, and it’s like, everything’s taken care of, as long as you do what you’re supposed to do.
So you were interested in being a star, as opposed to just being an artist who was like, “You know what? I just wanna be able to make stuff.”
Yeah, definitely. And you know, deep down, I always wanted to write songs and sing, but I didn’t know…I just didn’t know how to do it or what to do, and then I started learning more about music theory, and I started taking vocal lessons and learning how to sing, the correct way, instead of screaming, scream-singing. [Laughs] But you know, I’m still learning how to build the endurance to do like a two-hour show or something and just do it consistently night after night. And if you sing the right way, and if you balance yourself the right way, have a right diet, you can do that.
Do you consider yourself a rapper?
Um… nah. I consider myself a, um… a musician.
Right.
And I still don’t feel like everybody else realizes that, but it doesn’t matter. You know, whether I’m a rapper, trapper, slapper, whatever, I’m still gonna do what I do, but, I don’t know, something about the term “rapper”…I feel like the term “rapper” is bad. Rap over the past two years…So I’m like, “eh,” I’m not inclined to consider myself a rapper.
When you first started, did you consider yourself a rapper?
Oh, definitely. There was definitely a phase I went through when I was like, “Man, I’m gonna be the best rapper….” But then, I was like, “You know what? I wanna sing, too.” But singing is like…I’m more inclined to sing than rap, which is funny, even though rap is my first thing. I’m more inclined to sing something, or just make some music and just play something than rapping, and it’s not because I don’t like rap, it’s just that it’s more of a challenge to me. Not to say that I’ve mastered my craft as an MC, but it just got kinda boring after a while, just rapping, you know what I mean? And I wanted to do more and explore more.
Are you…
And you know, one thing, I will say, honestly, it feels great when you’re performing and people are singing lyrics. That feels great, know what I mean?
It feels better than when people are rapping along with you?
[Laughs] Yeah, exactly. Definitely.
Why do you think that is?
Because when you’re singing, you’re actually going through different melodies, and you know, different notes hit your body at different points, so when the crowd is singing [it’s] more dynamic. As opposed to rapping, which is damn near monotone, you know what I mean? It is more dynamic when it’s singing. It’s like, “Wow.” It’s like you can really feel the sonics, and sometimes when I’m performing at shows and I look down at the crowd, and they’ll be feeling it more than me! And I’m like, “Wow….” Like, that’s great. I wanna keep doing it.
Are you surprised that you’re here? Like, when you think about when you first got in the game, and to be here now and be like, “Now they call me Bobby Ray, I’m actually a musician, my album’s probably gonna be more singing on it…”
Definitely. Definitely. If someone would have told me five years ago, I woulda been like, “Get outta my room, you’re crazy!” [Laughs] I guess that’s the best part about it. And I guess where I’ll be five years from now, I will have never pictured it. Maybe I’ll be on Neptune or something. [Laughs]
Everyone wants to move to space now.
[Laughs] I know, right?
Can you talk a bit about how important the Internet has been to your career?
Man, the Internet is like teleporting yourself at warp speed, like in Star Trek, because when I made “Generation Lost,” that song, that night, it got blasted out the night that I made it, and it was on the Internet that night. And it was just crazy watching how quickly something can manifest and get into the hands of people. And the Internet is definitely a huge community, and that’s where most of the information is found out, through the Internet. Like new media is definitely something you have to utilize to your best ability, and now I’m glad that I’m at the point to where people look for me, as opposed to me trying to reach people, you know…. And really, whatever you put into it is what you get out of it. And I feel like I put in so much that what I’m seeing now is simply what I put into it, but the fun part is not knowing just how it’ll come back to you, and you’re really just watching, you’re really watching how it comes back to you, how people respond to songs, how people speak of you. It’s all interesting watching that.
Do you like that immediate feedback?
Oh, definitely. I wish I could get that feedback as quick… because, you know, in the music industry, there’s a delay. If the song’s good enough for an album, then you can’t leak it, you gotta hold onto it. But then if it’s a song that’s just like a leak song, you just put it out there just to give people music, because aside from making music, there is a side in this industry where people just need music, you know? You have to give them music, whether it be free, or just mixtapes or just even selling it, it has to be a constant flow and a circulation of music. But to see that feedback is definitely a great aspect.
Are you focused on maintaining your presence on the Internet? Or do you have other folks doing that for you these days? Like, do you have a Twitter page?
Oh, yeah, I got, I got a Twitter page. I do Twit. I like Twitter because it’s not too much, and you can Twit constantly…And I’m on Facebook. I check my Facebook every now and then, and with MySpace, I check my MySpace every now and then, but my main thing is Twitter.
Can we talk a little bit about the Grand Hustle relationship? Obviously you grew up in the Atlanta area. Were you a T.I. fan before your working relationship?
Oh definitely… Trap Muzik was definitely my favorite T.I. album. And it’s crazy, because I used to ride the school bus listening to it, and then, to just be inside of the organization is definitely an honor, regardless of what type of music you listen to, you know, because it’s a legacy. And to be to be a part of that and be a part of your own legacy, and just combine the two, it’s a blessing in itself…and I’m just glad to be on the ride.
Do you and T.I. have a lot in common outside the booth?
[Laughs] We connect, man. You know, it’s funny because it’s the regular shit you would be talking about, whether you’re just smoking a blunt talking about something, or I mean, I don’t smoke blunts anymore, I gotta smoke out the pipes, because I can’t… [laughs] Blunts make my chest tight, but uh… [laughs] You know, it’s just your regular talk, you know what I mean? I’m the type of person, I just keep good energy. But really, really, just honestly speaking, the only way that you would know that we were different is through listening to our music, but all in all, it’s just regular people. I kinda taught T.I. some guitar the other day.
Oh, yeah?
Like two weeks ago. [Laughs]
I know you keep saying he wants to learn, but he doesn’t seem to put in…
[Laughs] Yeah, definitely.
What’s the energy like? Do you guys get to work together a lot, or is it too hard to track him or the rest of the Grand Hustle team down? Or is it more you’re working on your project, and they’re working on their projects, and you guys just happen to be a part of the same umbrella?
Just getting in the game at a time when everyone says the music industry is failing, are you concerned about that?
I look at people saying that the music industry is failing, and it makes me laugh, because it’s not…. It wasn’t failing, it was just like, you get out of it what you put into it. And on the business side, the only reason that it was failing is because the record labels weren’t putting enough into it to where people wanted to buy it, and you can’t underestimate consumers, you can’t underestimate fans at all. Like, if you do a bad show, fans will know; if you put out a bad album, fans will know. I guess there was a part where our record labels started looking at fans like robots or whatever, and they would just do stuff just because. But after awhile, people started waking up, like, “Wait a minute, this is trash, I’m not buying this.”
What do you think is right or wrong about rap music right now, today?
What I feel is right about it is that a lot of musicians are striving to better themselves with their craft, whether they’re picking up new instruments or whether they’re just continuing to do more as artists. I feel like it’s something good, and I feel like artists have to be more proactive in their approach to music as opposed to just it has been in the recent past, how people were just being puppets, not necessarily thinking about our effect on society, and it has a bigger, heavy effect. A very heavy effect. And I’m just excited. I’m excited about Santigold right now; I wanna work with Santigold. I wanna work with Janelle Monae. I wanna work with Cee-Lo. I wanna work with Death Cab for Cutie, and, hold on, there’s one more [laughs]. I wanna do something with Kid Cudi. Those are my five I wanna work with, at this moment.
It’s inspiring to hear you talk abut working to push the needle in a different direction, even further than it’s already gone….
Yeah, you know, people honestly, on the artist side and on the fan side, people don’t wanna be bored anymore. They want something new, you know? Even if it is just hip hop or even if it is just R&B, just musically, people want something new. They want new ideas. Lke Coldplay just released a live album for free. And you know, even beyond it being free, they just released a live album. Something new, something that hasn’t been done. And another thing I’ll say is, artists need to get in the studio more when they collaborate with somebody, as opposed to MP3-ing things back, because the music that you make when you’re in the studio with somebody, it’s different than when you MP3 it. And this is my job, so if I’m gonna work with somebody, I wanna be in the studio with them. I don’t wanna MP3 something. You can tell when something is put together or when it’s like an actual collaboration.
What can you tell us a little bit about the album? I know everybody’s waiting on it…
I know, it’s slow. I’m waiting on it [laughs]. [But] I feel like what I put into it I feel good about, and I feel good about the album because from the album I can release an EP so people can get a taste for what’ll be on the album and just open minds and open ears for the album. And I’m still recording now, even though it’s done, I’m still recording, you know, because you may get that one song that’s really like, “Oh, man, that’s gotta go on the album.” [Laughs] And just the sound of it, I’m real excited about it. When people ask me about the album, it’s kind of challenging because I can’t describe what it’s like, because it’s so genre-bending. It’s kinda like, when you’re talking about a hip hop album, you talk about different beats and different lyrics, but then you got rock-style songs on there, and you got just different genres, and it’s kinda hard to brush on everything, but it’s definitely enjoyable. It’s definitely not boring at all! [Laughs] And I feel like I’m able to look at it from outside looking in because I’m more unattached to my music. And unattached doesn’t mean I’m not connected to it, but unattached in terms of bias…. I’m not biased toward my music anymore; now I can look at it from an objective eye.
How anxious are you to get your album out?
I’m very anxious. I wish I could just put it out now. I will tell you this: When I put my album out, I’m gonna put out another album, not immediately after that, but very close, just because I have so much music, and it’s like we’re backed up. It’s like we’re a manufacturing plant, and we’re just backed up, and we gotta get all these shipments out.
Everyone’s saying that the door’s been thrown open by 808s & Heartbreak. Do you agree with that?
First off, I feel like 808s and Heartbreak was the most obvious action to change the music industry. But it’s been going on since back in the ’90s or in the ’80s, with different artists just playing around with melodies, and it just kept reoccurring, reoccurring, reoccurring, to the point Kanye West just decided to put out a pop album. And it sounds like it’s very satisfying to him because he enjoys doing that, and now artists are starting to realize that it’s okay to do what you enjoy doing. And releasing, not just making a song to listen to around the studio, but it sounds good releasing [it], because people want that. And the lines of the genres are blurring, and it’s kinda like, “What are you?” What you are doesn’t necessarily matter in terms of limitations, but what you are matters in terms of how you express yourself, as opposed to what you have to fit into.
I wouldn’t be surprised if when The Adventures Of Bobby Ray comes out, people say, “Oh, no, no, Bobby Ray was able to make that album because of 808s and Heartbreak.” But then if you follow your career and everything that you’ve been talking about…
See, I’ve been…
…you’ve been on this path.
I’ve been rapping and singing for a very long time, and it’s very natural to me. When you listen to the music, it’ll be obvious that it’s my sound and I’m not trying to sound like anybody. And it’s a very organic sound, not even organic in the sense of just live instrumentation and congas and stuff like that, but just organic in the sense of every sound in there is just me expressing myself; me just being me.
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