Charles Jawanzaa Worth (born October 20, 1986), known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

s King Chip and Chip tha Ripper, is an American rapper from

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. He is notable for amassing several self-released mixtapes, as well as for his work with longtime associate and fellow Cleveland rapper

Kid Cudi Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), also known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and fashion designer. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Cudi would move to New Y ...

Musical career

2006–2011

Worth began releasing music on hip-hop blogs and mixtapes in 2006. Much of Worth's recent work has been performed with rapper

, also from Ohio. Worth's musical style has been described as a slow,

chopped and screwed Chopped and screwed (also called screwed and chopped or slowed and throwed) is a music genre and technique of remixing music that involves slowing down the tempo and deejaying. It developed in the Houston hip hop scene in the early 1990s by D ...

southern hip hop Southern hip hop, also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip hop, or dirty south, is a blanket term for a regional genre of American hip hop music that emerged in the Southern United States, especially in Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Memp ...

. One of his biggest songs that shook the city of Cleveland, is "Catch The Beat", featured on his Money Mixtape. This track is one of the many, that introduced him to the industry

In 2007, the song "Club Rockin", from his ''Money'' mixtape, featured

Akon Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (; born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of " Locked Up" (featuring Styles ...

singing chorus. Worth remained an independent musician, and did not sign with a production company. In 2008, Worth frequently visited

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, where he eventually performed with

Kidz in the Hall Kidz in the Hall is an American hip hop duo from Chicago, Illinois. History Group members Jabari Evans (Naledge) and Michael Aguilar ( Double-0) met in 2000 during a talent show at the University of Pennsylvania. They began recording songs, ...

on their album '' The In Crowd'', on which Worth performed the song "Mr. Alldatshit". In late 2009, Chip released a mixtape entitled ''The Cleveland Show'', named after the animated sitcom of the same name. The single, "Fat Raps", features

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. Anderson began his music career in 2007 and gained popularity in 2010 with his third mixtape '' Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big''. He then s ...

and

Currensy Shante Scott Franklin (born April 4, 1981), better known by his stage name Currensy (often stylized as Curren$y), is an American rapper. In 2011, he founded the label Jet Life Recordings. Music career 2002–2008: No Limit and Young Mone ...

, and is produced by Chuck Inglish. On September 5, 2010, Chip Tha Ripper announced plans to form the musical duo "The Almighty GloryUS" with Kid Cudi, with whom he shared a mutual appreciation. Worth was featured on producer

Hi-Tek Tony Cottrell, better known as Hi-Tek (born May 5, 1976), is an American rapper and record producer from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is best known for his work with Talib Kweli. His father is singer Willie Cottrell of the Willie Cottrell Band, whom Hi- ...

's album '' Hi-Teknology 3'' in 2007, and on Kid Cudi's first mixtape '' A Kid Named Cudi'' in 2008. In 2009, Worth was featured on Kid Cudi's first album '' Man on the Moon: The End of Day'', which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Worth performed with Kidz in the Hall again in 2010, on their '' Land of Make Believe'' album. Also in 2010, Worth performed the song "The End" on Kid Cudi's second album '' Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager''. On February 18, 2011, Worth,

Freddie Gibbs Fredrick Jamel Tipton (born June 14, 1982), better known by his stage name Freddie Gibbs, is an American rapper from Gary, Indiana. After initially being signed to Interscope Records in 2006, Gibbs recorded his debut studio album under the labe ...

, and

The Cool Kids The Cool Kids are an American hip hop duo composed of rappers Sir Michael Rocks and Chuck Inglish. The Cool Kids' music had been released primarily to the independent Chocolate Industries via their own label C.A.K.E. Recordings. Reed and Inge ...

formed the hip hop supergroup "P.O.C.", an acronym for "pulled over by the cops".

2012–present

On August 9, 2012, Worth changed his stage name from "Chip tha Ripper" to "King Chip". He also said that he had signed a contract with

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. It is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous clients. In March 2016, CAA had 1,800 employ ...

. Regarding his changed stage name, King Chip

tweeted Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, an ...

I am King Chip. Actually born in the ghetto slums of
East Cleveland, Ohio East Cleveland is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, and is the first suburb encountered when travelling east from Cleveland. The population was 13,792 at the 2020 census. East Cleveland is bounded by the city of Cleveland to its nor ...
. Rest in peace my mentor and former king, Hawk. His death made me....My birth name is Charles Jawanzaa Worth. Jawanzaa is
Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...
and it means 'great leader and great warrior.' Look it up. I am King Chip.

King Chip performed on Kid Cudi's single " Just What I Am", taken from Cudi's third studio album '' Indicud'' (2013). On September 4, 2013, King Chip released the mixtape ''44108''. On December 26, 2013, King Chip released a music video for a song titled "Action Plan", from his ''44108'' mixtape. His next project was to be titled ''Rebel Castles''. On September 16, 2014, a

deluxe edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

of ''44108'' was released to digital retailers through King Chip's "Rebel Castles" imprint. In 2019, King Chip started referring to himself as Chip tha Ripper again on recent singles. In early 2020, an old 2007 freestyle from Chip's visit to Street Starz TV Radio resurfaced and became a

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

sensation gaining over 70 million views. In the same year Chip teamed up with New Zealand rapper Lil Mussie to take part in his charity EP helping kids in poverty.

Interior Crocodile Alligator

In 2007, Worth appeared on PrettyBoy Floyd's show, "Street Stars' Radio", and performed a freestyle song to the beat of Ali & Gipp's "Go 'Head". It became known as the "S.L.A.B. Freestyle" (after his own label), but it has, in recent years, come to be known more commonly as the "Interior Crocodile Alligator" song (or rap), after the iconic final two lines: "Interior crocodile alligator / I drive a Chevrolet movie theater." This snippet of the freestyle became very popular on the internet, especially for usage in memes.

Discography

* ''Gift Raps'' (2011) * ''CleveLAfornia'' (2015) * ''Bonfire with

Lex Luger Lawrence Wendell Pfohl (born June 2, 1958), better known by the ring name Lex Luger, is an American retired professional wrestler, bodybuilder, and football player. In 2011 he began working with WWE on its wellness policy. He is best known for ...

'' (2022)

Concert tours

Headlining Supporting *The Cud Life Tour (2011)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:King Chip 1986 births Living people African-American male rappers Rappers from Cleveland Underground rappers African-American songwriters Songwriters from Ohio Midwest hip hop musicians 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people Indie rappers American male songwriters