The city of Cleveland has a history of being brutally agonized and demoralized. Blistering moments have punctured this city time and time again. The Jordan shot over Ehlo, the Browns relocating to Baltimore as part of Art Modell‘s “The Move”, and the anguish of watching their most legendary superstar in LeBron James chuck the deuces for South Beach distinctly tarnished the glimmer of Ohio.
Yet Cleveland has managed to find several diamonds through the muck. Kyrie Irving was drafted No. 1 in the 2011 Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, and was honored as Rookie of the Year last season. Musically, Kid Cudi and Machine Gun Kelly have elevated on the rap scene.
Next up to catapult himself is King Chip, formerly known as Chip the Ripper.
Known for gracing tracks with the likes of Kid Cudi, Hi-Tek, Kidz in the Hall, Freddie Gibbs, and more recently Travis $cott, Chip is gaining momentum and making noise. He sat down with Dime to talk about Cleveland’s worse moment in sports, his relationship with LeBron James, his favorites Jordans, and his thoughts on which were the worse sneakers ever made by the man.
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Dime: When did you fall in love with the game of basketball?
King Chip: Man! Man, I fell in love with the game of basketball when I first saw a dunk. (Laughs) I would just see people hoop in the ghetto because that’s when I first really saw it. Then when I started seeing it on TV, I was like, “Oh man. That’s the same thing they were doing outside!” I must have been like four or five. All my friends wanted to be hooping at the parks. That’s how I got introduced to it – in the ghetto.
Dime: I know you’re from Cleveland, Ohio. A lot of people have associated Cleveland as a place with bad luck in sports, ranging from losing the Browns, to Jordan’s shot over Ehlo, to LeBron’s decision. Which was more of a painful experience for you?
KC: Man! (Laughs) I think the first taste of pain I got in sports was when the Browns got taken from Art Modell to the Ravens. I was in elementary school when that happened. But that was my introduction to Cleveland sports. Ever since that Ravens incident, I always began paying attention to how the sports section has been in Cleveland.
Dime: I’m not a Cleveland fan but I know you guys were hurting when LeBron made the decision to leave.
KC: You know ‘Bron, that’s my homie. I already knew before. I was one of the very few. It was probably no more than six people that knew but I was telling people. When the TV program came on and everybody found out, I already knew what was going on. It was like I was just watching people’s reactions to what I already knew were going on. I wasn’t even looking at the TV. I was looking at people’s faces to see the impact. It was at my house and I had a whole bunch of people there. You see, it wasn’t that bad for me. I mean ‘Bron, that’s my homie for real. That’s still my dog. He pushed me and held me down. He respects my music. He’s been a fan of mine.
Dime: How did that friendship with LeBron come about?
KC: Well man, we both have a mutual friend. His new agent that he just signed with named Rich Paul is actually from my area. He’s from the east side of Cleveland from where I came up. He basically was the guy who introduced me and had a label back in the day. When I was like 18-19 years old, they actually had a little record label that I kind of joined forces with. They really just focused on sports and wasn’t full-time with music. But they’re my guys.
Dime: You know, a lot of basketball players have been trying to take your job man. (Laughs)
KC: Yeah man. (Laughs)
Dime: How you do feel when you see basketball players trying to do what you do best and that’s hit the booth and make music?
KC: Well what I think with sports and music is that there’s an interlock vibe. We have artists who make the music so we call ball. That’s what we call it. You know when a player wants to adapt swag because they’re already balling on the courts, they do rap and join the rap factory so they could ball with the swag. They go hand in hand. In order to swag, you gotta ball. In order to ball, you gotta swag. It’s the same thing with ‘Bron. ‘Bron came to my show as my hype man. Like after the game, he came and swagged out. It’s all hand and hand.
Dime: Switching gears, many people knew you originally as Chip the Ripper as your stage name. Now you’re donning the name King Chip. Why the name change?
KC: Well King Chip was actually the first time I got to pick my name. My rap name came about when I was in high school. I used to battle rap when that was cool. I got named Chip the Ripper because my name was Chip. My father’s name was Chip. My real name is Charles Worth. I was just always winning battles. They were like, “Man. This nigga be ripping niggas. We’re gonna call him Chip the Ripper.” I thought it was corny. I hated it. I never really tried to show love with it. I also didn’t think I was gonna make it out the ghetto. So when people were like, “Oh. That’s Chip the Ripper.” I would be like, “Yeah. That’s me.” It was just identification. That name sort of got too big. So that was my only way of letting people know that that was me. It got to a point where I was like I wanted to pick my own name. Chip the Ripper didn’t really go with anything. Granted it was original but it was too much. It was just weird. It was uncomfortable telling people my name. But, Cleveland gave me that name and buzzed me up. I’m just taking it to the next level.
Dime: How did your relationship with Cudi come about considering you guys often collaborated with each other and are both from Ohio?
KC: Man I met Cudi like eight years ago. I kind of made my step internally and he made his externally. What I mean by that is that when you come to Cleveland, on the inside looking out, you would think I’m on TV. When you go outside of Cleveland, you saw that the new kid named Cudi was coming up. We were like the Ying and Yang of the whole thing. I started out not knowing anybody. It was all on the strength of DJs playing me. He went up to New York and had his shit buzzing. He started working with Kanye and went to Australia touring while I was going ham in the Midwest. We linked up and been rolling ever since. That’s my brother, man.
Dime: Speaking of the Midwest, MJ’s shot that destroyed Cleveland popped in my mind. (Laughs) How bad did it hurt when Jordan hit that shot over Ehlo?
KC: Ahhhhh man. Yo, you know that Jordan just released a shoe. I wanna say it’s the IVs. It’s Cavs colors. It’s all black with the blue and orange. It was dedicated to that shot, when he hit that shot in Cleveland. I bought the shoe. (Laughs) I was thinking he was showing love to Cleveland. My boy was like, “No fool. This was when he hit the shot on everybody in Cleveland. This was dedicated us losing.”(Laughs) But shout out to Michael Jordan.
Dime: I hope you brought the shoes back. (Laughs)
KC: Nah I had to keep them. (Laughs)
Dime: What’s your favorite pair of Jordans?
KC: Damn. That’s a tough one man. Damn that’s really tough. My favorite pair of Jordans I would have to say is the black and red XIs.
Dime: That’s a good choice. Why is that?
KC: I don’t know man. I got so many memories with this shit. Like with Jordans because they’re doing so much retro shit with it now, they’re bringing back memories into my life. They’re bringing certain memories from certain parts of my life. Like the XIIs, the black and red XIIs, I remember those because my mama bought me a pair because I made honor roll. They were a size 12 and I was only in the fourth grade. But I still wanted them. (Laughs) I remember running from the police with them on. (Laughs)
Dime: Did you ever see a pair of sneakers you looked at and you gave the stink face like, “Damn these are ugly.” If so which sneakers would you say were the worse pair you’ve seen in your life?
KC: Damn, the ugliest sneakers? That’s a tough one man. There’s a lot of ugly sneakers out there but I’m trying to think of the ugliest. (Laughs) The ugliest sneakers would have to be… (Pauses). Damn man. I love Shaq but those Shaq shoes had to be whew! Man! (Laughs) Oh man! Those babies were whew. (Laughs) I feel Shaq though but the design team should have gone back to the drawing board on that. Shaq’s a boss though. Shout out to big Shaq.
What’s your favorite song from King Chip?
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