Asher Roth – "Is This Too Orange?" Review: Yes. And Also Too Forgettable.
- Daniel Rasul
- May 4
- 2 min read
Quick Verdict
I Love College was 2009's frat-rap anthem — a Weezer-sampling, keg-standing, bottom-shelf-vodka-drinking celebration of higher education that charmed enough listeners to go platinum and become one of the year's most recognisable singles. Asher Roth seemed like a genuine commercial prospect. Asleep in the Bread Aisle, the debut album that accompanied it, received mixed reviews but demonstrated enough personality to generate real interest in what came next. What came next was two years of silence, a label departure, and Is This Too Orange? — an independent EP/mixtape released in 2011 that suggested the answer to the question in the title was: not too orange, just too forgettable. The project debuted to minimal commercial impact, generated no major singles, and left critics and fans wondering whether I Love College had been an accident. Pitchfork Media gave it a below average score. The project confirmed that without the novelty of the college-rap concept and a Weezer sample doing the heavy lifting, Asher Roth did not have enough to sustain a career. Rating: 3/10.
At a Glance
Context: After the Keg Was Empty
I Love College worked for several reasons that had nothing to do with Asher Roth's rapping ability: it sampled a recognisable Weezer keyboard riff, it arrived at the exact moment frat-rap and comedy-rap were gaining mainstream traction, and its subject matter — the communal experience of college parties — was genuinely relatable to its target audience. The debut album Asleep in the Bread Aisle was mixed but functional. The two years that followed saw him leave SRC Records after the label folded into Universal, experiment with mixtape format, and eventually release Is This Too Orange? independently. Without the Weezer sample, without the novelty of being the first commercially successful frat-rap act, and without a major label's promotional apparatus, Is This Too Orange? answered its own question: yes, this is too little. The concept had been fully explored in I Love College and there was nothing meaningfully new to say.
Final Verdict and Rating
Is This Too Orange? earns a 3/10 because Asher Roth's technical skill as a rapper is demonstrably above average and some of the production is genuinely interesting. The project earns three points for craft. It earns nothing beyond that because I Love College used the Weezer sample and the concept before this project arrived, and Is This Too Orange? could not generate a compelling reason for anyone who had moved past that moment to revisit it. The question in the title got answered by the market: nobody cared enough to find out. Final Rating: 3/10.
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