Matisyahu and Asher Roth Light Up The Stage

Two rappers took the stage at Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Music Hall on Saturday night. One rapped about beer and the other sang about God. One showed the cool confidence and swagger of a wunderkind and the other showed the intensity of a prophet or a soldier. One has become a mainstream attraction that is picking up Jewish fans while the other is backed by Jewish fans and has crossed over into the mainstream music world. Both drop their highly anticipated albums in the spring.

One awe-struck fan may have said it best.

“One Jewish kid is rapping, a Chasidic guy does Reggae and we have a black president,” said a 25-year-old named Max from Queens. “What year is this? Where are we? Is this real? Amazing.”

The Jewish kid is Asher Roth, a 23-year-old from Pennsylvania who is on his way to stardom. Often compared to Eminem, Roth is already legendary for walking into Jay-Z’s office and spitting 150 bars. His online mixtape “The Greenhouse Effect,” has generated a buzz and Roth had the honor of gracing the cover of XXL Magazine.

Akon and a host of others sing his praises. Not bad for a newcomer. But how would he be live? Roth had the crowd going with his take on Lil’ Wayne’s hit with “A Millie Remix” and his single “I Love College,” which boasts extremely simplistic lyrics about having a crazy party and playing beer pong. While Roth showed he can run-off furious rhymes, he showed he has a soft side. In a sight rarely seen at concerts, Roth asked the members of the audience to turn to the person next to them and give them a hug. A good portion of the sold-out crowd did so. In his next song, the audience chimed in with their call and response portion of “La Di Dah Dah Dah,” which followed the Roth’s lyrics “When I can’t take it no more,” an approach signifying that bad things will blow over.

Roth, who took the stage with a drummer a DJ and a back-up lyricist, at one point took the microphone A Cappella and rapped in a slower speed that was more like spoken word: “If my voice didn’t work but my hands could talk/would you take the time to see what a deaf man thought?.. If I’m Jewish or Christian does it effect your decision to see past religion and simply listen to wisdom.”

Roth, who showed he has the makings of a star, pumped up the crowd for Matisyahu’s entrance by saying “That man is something serious,” and his words proved to be true. With the huge centerpiece dreidel attached the ceiling as it had been at Webster Hall, Matisyahu spun around and showed that he’s improved not only his voice, but his showmanship. He wore no black coat or black hat, but did wear all black.

The crowd was jumping with hit “King Without A Crown,” which he performed first in a slow speed before jumping to the speed, as it appears on his last album “Youth.” Early in his set, several non-Jews sang along to the words of “Jerusalem,” and “Time of Your Song,” which the chorus of “Moonlight illuminate my night and my days sunray make the people say.”

In the balcony, 25-year-old Anna Chen from Queens was screaming.

“He has such a great presence and his beat-box is awesome,” she said. During helicopter-like beat box solo, some uttered expletives, like 26-year-old Colin Harte of Westchester.

“I’m not even Jewish and this is unbelievable,” he said. “He’s a great lyricist and his charisma is endless. And the best part is he used to play hockey and is from White Plains.”

Matisyahu also commanded the stage on “The Struggle,” a song from his upcoming CD and then he invited up a friend, rapper Nosson Zand, who is working on his own album and is also someone who became religious after being exposed to hip-hop. He even invited up someone he said he met at the shabbos table to rap and Matisyahu warned the crowd that he might “flop.” The rapper was nervous at first but did a decent job about glass at wedding. He then brought up his neighbor’s fiancé to light the Chanukkah candles and told the friend he didn’t have to sing the blessings, though many in the crowd urged him to sing and he did so, with his voice shaking somewhat.

“I wasn’t nervous until I looked up and saw the crowd,” he said later.

The highlight of the show was when Matisyahu and Roth were on stage together.

“When I came back on stage, you could just tell it was very special,” Roth told The Blueprint after the show. “I don’t think a person in the whole spot didn’t have their hand up. The energy was out of control,” It’s just a beautiful thing when people come together and forget about everything else.


Source: nyblueprint.com