Asher Roth Talks New Single, “Wrestling Is Fake”

Asher Roth is finally gearing up to release his sophomore album, and the Pennsylvania native is warming fans up with the single "Wrestling Is Fake," a song that scratches the surface on the musical space he's in currently.

"It’s loud; it’s boisterous," the rapper told XXL of the record, which dropped in CDQ last week. "It transfers over well into live show. We start the Fall Clashic [Tour] on November 1. The live show component is so important to me and what I do, so I want to make music that transfers over well live. ‘Wrestling Is Fake’ is a perfect example of something that’s like, a lot of low-end and has this electronic feel; it has this rock feel, but it’s rap music."

Still, Roth stressed that it's not your average rap track—and he hopes it'll leave listeners ready for more. "It’s excitable," he continued. "There’s no hook, it doesn’t sound like anything else. You hear it and it’s like, 'What else is next?' And I would rather that be the reaction than just like, 'Whatever. Ok, that’s cool.' I don’t really think anybody can hear ‘Wrestling Is Fake’ and say, I’ve heard that before. It’s word association. It’s syllables. It’s just some rap shit. But it’s also a sound—which we need to continue to push forward, so five years from now, if and when we’re still doing this, people can say, 'That sounds like an Asher Roth record.'"

His still-untitled new album is due out on Def Jam on January 22. Check out footage of him performing the track below. —Adam Fleischer (@AdamXXL)