Pharrell may be one of Hip Hop’s biggest hitmakers, but his advice once inadvertently “ruined” Asher Roth‘s chance to work with fellow rap icon Q-Tip.
In an interview with Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg, Roth reflected on the ups and downs of his career, which took off in the late 2000s with the hit single “I Love College” but quickly hit bumps in the road.
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The Pennsylvania native explained that after his label, the Steve Rifkind-founded SRC, folded, he became “lost in the shuffle” of the major label system and wound up on Republic Records, another imprint under the Universal Music Group umbrella.
Unsure of what to do with him, the label arranged for Asher to get in the studio with Pharrell in hopes of him creating another hit.
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“They’re like, ‘I don’t know, put him in with Pharrell.’ That’s essentially what I’m hearing at the time. And no one cares what the fuck I want to do. It’s just like, ‘We need hit records,'” he said.
The pair cooked up several songs, but none of them saw the light of day — which, according to Asher, is a good thing.
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“I’m happy that stuff never came out,” he admitted, “because I wanted to do something on The Pharcyde tip.”
The Neptunes producer, however, didn’t share his vision.
“I remember talking to Pharrell about it and he was just like, ‘Not right now. You gotta do this first,'” Roth recalled. “That was always the conversation, whether it was through Scooter [Braun, Roth’s then-manager] or Pharrell.”
Unfortunately for Asher, this hits-driven approach didn’t do him any favors when he found himself in the studio with Q-Tip, one of his Hip Hop heroes.
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“That conversation, that coaching — do this first — actually ruined my experience with Q-Tip […] who is, like, my dude, as far as the world that I want to be in,” he continued.
“Here I am getting in with Q-Tip and he’s like, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’ I have Scooter and Pharrell in the back of my mind. He’s like, ‘Name a song that you [like].’
“I’m in panic mode and I [reply], ‘I don’t know, ‘For the Nasty,’ something like that.’ And he just goes, ‘I fucking hate that song.’ And I’m like [buries head in his hands], ‘Oh my God.’ Just ruining what could be a true experience.”
Asher Roth’s story echoes that of fellow XXL Freshman J. Cole, who recently recalled his label pressuring him to hit the studio with Pharrell and make a hit for his debut album, 2011’s Cole World: The Sideline Story.
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“It was incredible being [in the studio] with Pharrell [but] I think [Roc Nation] hit him with the same energy like, ‘We gonna send Cole to you, we need one.’ And I think that ruins [the magic],” he said on his audio series Inevitable.
“If I would’ve got in with Pharrell on my own time with no pressure, I think it would have been amazing. But it was tainted with the pressure — from his side and from my side. Even with that, though, it was still a hella enjoyable experience.”
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Much like Asher, Cole’s work with Skateboard P didn’t produce a hit single. However, he did play two unreleased tracks from that studio session, including one that he still “fucks with” to this day.
