You talked and explained a bit on Twitter about your new name. So why now for the sudden name change?
Man, I really never had a say in my name. My name was given to me through battle rapping. Probably in the 10^th or 11^th grade, I was battling in 117th Detroit on the Westside of Cleveland and that’s where I got my name, from going there and winning a lot of battles. My dad’s name is Chip and my real name is Charles Worth. He started calling me Chip Tha Ripper. I never really got to choose my name and after a while, it got to a point where I never thought my music would make it out of the ghetto and now, a lot of people know me by a name I never got a say in. King Chip makes a lot more sense.

You later continued and said Rest In Peace to your mentor & former King Hawk. Can you talk a bit about the impact he had on you?
He died at age 33. He’s a legend in Cleveland. He was paralyzed from the waist down maybe eight years before his death. Anybody from the Cleveland ghetto knows him. He was an amazing person and my mentor. He dealt with a lot of situations, learned from them, and told me about them so I didn’t have to go through what he went through. From a standpoint of being a man, he showed me another way of thinking. He was like a big brother and his life was taken November 9, 2011 and I saw him the morning he died. I remember seeing his smile. When he died, I moved to California after his death and he didn’t even make the news. With all these things going on in music, like working with Cudi, there’s a lot more to King Chip. Hawk is responsible for the wisdom I have.

Recently, you and Cudi released Just What I Am. How are you feeling right now seeing Cudi getting back to more rapping after doing the WZRD album?
One thing about Cudi is that he’ll always stick to rap. I got to where I am just from watching him a lot. As far as rapping, he just wants to show people he can do a lot more. Being a rapper is so corny. Telling people that you rap is so embarrassing. As far as Cudi, he’s always going to rhyme because it’s in him. Hov tried to stop and even he couldn’t stop.

Why do you think being a rapper is corny?
Well because you have a lot of corny rappers. They kind of mess up for the people who are actually making audio gold. What we do is worth more than that so being a rapper has such a terrible rep.

But wouldn’t you say you’re a fan of experimenting with different sounds? Like you don’t want the public to put you in a box, right?
Yeah. The sound King Chip has is just good. When people ask me what’s my sound, I can’t tell them because I do whatever sounds good. I don’t have a formula or structure on how I work. It’s just whatever sounds good.

So are we going to see a lot more different sounds from you? Sort of like that house record Chuck Inglish gave you on your last mixtape.
Yeah, yeah. He kind of threw that in there because it made no sense. That’s what makes a mixtape so people can get an idea of the depth that I have. I’m from the ghetto so I’ve been going to the clubs for years and after a while, going to the same kind of place for so long, it’s like what else is out there? I started travelling, experienced the whole fist-pumping thing, and I’ve gone through that –the house and techno.

Would you ever drop an album where you get away from rap and just do a house or techno project?
I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t do that but I do dig that type of music. It’s positive and makes you move, so Creating your own techno music must be a good time. Perfect example, my homie A-Trak has a couple amazing songs –I’m sure he has way more than two, but these are my favorite– and they’re Big Bad Wolf and Barbra Streisand. It’s like a feeling. That’s what I bring. I bring a feeling and a lot of these rappers just have words. You hear punchlines and all that and you look up and it’s a pile of nothing. But when you can hear a verse and have something to take with you for the rest of your life, those are the records people live off. The Internet is like a gift from the curse. A new record is only new for two weeks and then it’s old. Back in the 90s, a new record can go strong for 10 years. People still bump California Love.

What about your album, Charles Worth? How’s that progressing so far?
It’s progressing. It’s good and I’m just doing a lot of recording and trying to gather as much audio gold as I can. I don’t like to drop a lot of music because I feel my music is worth more than that. I also try to let people live in between my records so I can actually share with you. Living is how I make music. I don’t just book studio time to make gibberish. I actually document my life.

You used that term twice already. What does that mean? Audio Gold?
Any record that King Chip is on is audio gold.

Charles Worth is your name, so why choose that as your album name?
Well because my first album is my first outlet where people get to know about me. My name changes a lot. I have a lot of diehard fans who moved in a negative way when they found out my name change. I was confused because it was just a name. My name could be Rupert. It’s about the music and how it makes you feel.

You guys have a really good connection, so is Lex Luger going to be the main beatmaker on that album?
Man, I love working with Lex. He’s an amazing producer and I’m blessed to have worked with him. For him to send me beats, like he’s on another level. It’s just gratitude. I still have a few Lex Luger beats that I haven’t used yet but it’s safe to say you’ll see more of Lex Luger and King Chip.

And sticking with producing, where are you right now in terms of your producing and engineering skills? Because that’s something you started doing a lot more of since the beginning of the year.
Yeah, I’m actually my own engineer. I’ve learned a lot about the digital world from my other mentor who goes by the name of Hi-Tek, who’s also from Ohio. I’ve spent hours just watching him. I’ve been paying for studio time since 11^th grade so I’ve been sitting there watching him engineer and after a while, I’m like, “I can do that. That’s easy.” Mixing, now that’s the hard part. Hi-Tek taught me stuff like how to shortcut. He was explaining to me when he was around during a time you would actually see music on film and tapes. You would have to cut film and put it back together. [Laughs] Now, we actually get to see music on the screen, everything’s digital now. He mapped that world and taught me. I can engineer my whole album. It can just be me in that room. I can produce a whole album. I think artists should at least learn how to record and stuff since it’s 2012.