Essay 3

Blake Harrington

English 155

23 November 2009

J. Huey

Asher Roth’s Discovery By Web 2.0

In Steven Johnson’s “Its All About Us,” he is arguing that blogging is not a way for people to be experts and rule Wikipedia or express their better knowledge over their professional equivalents. Johnson proclaims that, “These people aren’t challenging David Brooks or George Will; they’re just writing about their lives and the lives of their friends” (Johnson 447). He states that blogging is to express people’s lives and their opinions on the world today. Myspace and Facebook are good examples of these blogs. People post what they are doing or how they feel, or even on political issues. This is not wrong at all and people are granted the right to state whatever they would like on their blogs.

Brian Williams, in “Enough about You,” that “The danger just might be that we miss the next great book or the next great idea, or that we fail to meet the next great challenge…” (Williams 450). While Williams praises the fact that society has come to recognize everyone and be more about “You.” He feels that it is a negative aspect of society because people are too busy worrying about themselves that we are not prepared to deal with challenges that come up in the real world. This is bad because we have a large country to run and this can pose a great problem because people are too into themselves and what they have to do, rather than dangers we face as an entire country. Agreeing with Steven Johnson’s article, that Web 2.0 has given an arena for “local conversations that involve experiences that experts in traditional media have largely ignored…”(448); Asher Roth is a self made, Caucasian, hip-hop artist that made it big because of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 gave Roth the chance, through Myspace, to become a major star because the music industry is extremely tough to get into, allowed him to present his music, through a predominantly black industry, and because he was white people became more attracted to him.

Johnson proclaims that Web 2.0 is not negative, and that it has given people chances to use the Internet as a place to voice their opinions, their feelings, and show their artistic abilities. In his article, Johnson’s says, “What’s so interesting about those local conversations is that they involve experiences that the experts in traditional media have largely ignored…”(448). People are now allowed to voice their opinions and show off their abilities. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that, “The vast number of people with the desire to perform will continue to greatly exceed the number of openings” (Bureau of Labor Statistics: Employment). This statistic shows that the music industry is extremely competitive. Johnson’s idea proposes that the Internet helps people to get their voices out. With, “22.4 million (35 percent) [doing] so daily; more than double the size of the audience last year” (Cellular-News), using the Internet, the chances of people having their voices heard is extremely large.

Asher Roth was born in Morrisville, 20 miles outside of Philadelphia. Growing up, Roth was exposed to little hip-hop. During sophomore year, at West Chester University, Roth posted some of his verses on his Myspace page and sent a Friend Request to Scooter Braun, an Atlanta-based promoter and former VP of Marketing for Jermaine Dupri's So So Def. One week after speaking to Braun, Roth flew down to Atlanta and was immediately signed by Braun, who subsequently became his manager. This is not proving that Roth used Myspace as a marketing tool, but he used it to voice himself and because of it, he was heard. Web 2.0 gave Roth the chance to be heard through a music industry that is almost impossible to even given a glance by producers.

Johnson’s ideas promote how great Web 2.0 is. Web 2.0 allows people to post bulletins on how their day is going, blog about a specific topic, and for people to share and download music. Johnson states that, “These people aren’t challenging David Brooks or George Will; they are just writing about their lives and the lives of their friends” (447). This idea that Johnson proposes coincides with Asher Roth’s beginnings. He began rapping songs and one day he posted a bulletin on Myspace and because of that bulletin, he was discovered. What other way could Asher Roth have been discovered?

Works Cited

Johnson, Steven. "It's All About Us". Signs of Life 2009: 446-448.

"Mobile Internet Becoming A Daily Activity For Many". Cellular-News.23 November 2009 .

"Musicians, Singers, and Related Workers". Bureau of Labor Statistics. 23 November 2009 .