This past Monday, the Internet went nuts. The once partner to Kid Cudi’s psychedelic raps has now gathered his own cult following. In four years, Cleveland native Chip Tha Ripper has drop fan favorite mixtapes including Gift Raps and another treat in From Me To You: A Prelude To Gift Raps.  When Tell Ya Friends released earlier than scheduled, just minutes before 11 AM, the 25-year-old got all the props he deserved. From fans to Miami Heat’s LeBron James, the general consensus is you shouldn’t stay sleepin’ on Chip.

The unsigned hype artist is enjoying the success of Tell Ya Friends. But he’s no where finished in dishing out new music. His debut album Charles Worth is next on the horizon, tentatively scheduled for a summer release. Of about 100 songs recorded for Tell Ya Friends, he says about 75 leftovers are considered for the album. But knowing Chip – the perfectionist that he is – fans are going to hear the freshest tracks ripe for consumption.

To cap off Tell Ya Friends release week, RESPECT. got on the phone with Chip to reflect on the mixtape’s success. We talked about his favorite songs off the project, possible videos, and the photographer behind his hilariously cute cover of his son Cash. We also couldn’t forget his come up as a battle rapper, so it’s interesting to hear that he still keeps his ear to the Cleveland streets (Bankie Travolta and Ray Jr. anyone?) And you didn’t forget about his duo with Cudi called The Almighty GloryUS or his supergroup Pulled Over By The Cops? Don’t worry. Chip didn’t either.

Interview By: Eric Diep

Tell Ya Friends released on Livemixtapes and Complex. How does it feel to finally let fans have this project?

It’s a good feeling to know they are really receiving the music and digging it. I had to chose from 100 to some odd songs, and narrow it down to 22 to 23 records we put on there. Some of those records are old, some of those are brand new, some of them are recorded the day before it came out, and some of them were done in the beginning of 2011.

And you had LeBron tweeting about it?

Yeah! That’s the homie, Bron. Shout out to the homie, Bron. That’s the fam right there.

The cover art of your son Cash is a great shot. Who took the photo?

His mom took it of him and sent it to me. I was just dying laughing when I seen it. I’m like, ‘this is the face I want people to have when they hear my music.’ I want them to be blown away to the point where they don’t even know they are making that face. First we were just joking about doing it, but we just really did it. It was pretty good.

Out of all the songs, which one is your favorite right now?

It’s hard to say. Those 23 songs were basically like, not necessarily the best ones, but the ones that made the most sense to put out right now. It’s kind of hard to say which one is my favorite. It’s got to be a tie between “Boomshakalaka” with Bun and “Stay Sleep” with Krayzie because those guys are such pioneers in the game. Those weren’t like features, like some rapper hopping on my record like that. They really made the project authentic.

You mentioned you worked with Krayzie. How did you link up with him?

We really met through some mutual guys, at the time, when he did the verse for me, he was out here in California and I haven’t moved here yet. The verse was done before I got to move out here and it was really like somebody brought it to his attention. ‘Yo, man if you want to do something with Chip, I can arrange that.” And he was like, ‘Yeah, I want to do it.’ It was insane.

He’s a legend.

Yeah, Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony. There have never been four guys that can outdo Bone as far as rapping. There’s never been a group of four or five that can do it bigger or better than Bone. That’s amazing.

These other tracks off the tape, “Out Here” and “25 Wives” were monster records. Are we going to see some visuals for them?

Yeah, we working on that right now. When you dealing with features and everything like that, you got to make sure all the stars and the moons align where you get different guys schedules to all coincide and meet up at the same place. I want to do a video for everything on the record.

What would you like to see as a video then?

“25 Wives” would be dope because it’s limitless as far as the topic we on and what we can do. The visual would really serve its purpose. Sometimes records aren’t really complete without that vision. Like ““Boomshakalaka,” if we ever get to do the video for that one, the vision I had for it was post-apocalyptic. Like a Book Of Eli type of situation. During that time, imagine if we are living in that Book Of Eli type of world, and I took your girlfriend. We already scavengers, we just trying to survive out here, everything is crazy, and on top of that I got your girl? That’s why I make all these girl references in the verse. If you don’t see the video, you don’t get that vision. Hopefully, I get to knock that out.

You and Cudi have a history of helping each other out and making music. At this point in your solo career, what has he taught you – and likewise – what have you taught him?

I learned a lot from Cudi. Just a lot of things I watch him go through and I don’t have to go through because I know how to handle it. Or from watching how he made a mistake, ‘ok I know not to do that now.’ Or, vice versa, ‘ok, I wouldn’t have done that, but I know I should.’ Same with him, I’m sure he did the same for me, just from him being so far in the game sometimes that would throw you off in your decision-making, or throw you off on how you handle things, sometimes you need to refer back to the guy who’s on the up and up. I know I got  a lot from Cudi, and I’m sure he did with a thing or two from me every now and then. That’s my brother.

What piece of advice has stuck with you?

One piece of advice that he gave me was to not worry what’s going on as far as other rappers and all these other guys. Sometimes it may seem like, ‘this guy, he’s not better than me’ or if I’m trying to collab with somebody or somebody trying to collab with me. A lot of times trying to do a record with me and me being the guy that I am, if it makes sense, let’s do it I’m not opposed to that. But Cudi taught me to not spread myself so thin; it’s not all about collab-ing or keeping up with these guys. You always want to be on your rise, you don’t want to be at your peak.

You have a couple of tracks with Cudi on the mixtape. “GloryUS” stood out to me. Is the Almighty GloryUS going to put out an album sometime? I’m sure you guys are very busy.

We definitely working on an album.  We record all the time. We just finished another record last night that was pretty dope. It’s crazy. We got nothing but time. We are going to be doing this for years and years to come. It’s really like you don’t want to start the show until everybody is in their seats. You don’t want to start the show and people are still coming in, you are almost done with the show, and people are still coming in. You don’t want that. Wait until all the seats are filled, dim the lights, and start the show. Right now, that’s not necessarily the hold up, but that’s what we are waiting for my album. We are waiting for those seats to get filled so we can dim the lights and drop the album.

You are based in LA, but you still rep for Cleveland. Who do you see in the underground that’s making a buzz or has caught your attention?

Yeah man! There’s a whole lot of talent in Cleveland. There are a whole lot of new guys that I didn’t necessarily get a chance to run with or get a chance to vibe with or deal with. When I first came into the underground scene in Cleveland, we were kind of the first of the Mohigans to really start up another movement. There were a couple of guys before us, but never really nothing to what we be. It was me, and a group called the Royal Camp.  If you lived in Cleveland, you thought the world knows about us. [laughs] People who only knew was in Cleveland, but from the inside looking out, you like, ‘Oh, these guys are famous all around the world.’ I would go to the mall and people would scream in Cleveland. And I would go out of town and they be like, ‘who’s this guy?’ The talent and music scene has always been there.

Now that we have Tell Ya Friends to hold us over, will your number one priority be your debut album?

Yeah, the name of the album is going to be called Charles Worth. It’s my real name. My name, it’s kind of like James Bond. I always went by Chip because my father’s name is Charles Worth but his nickname was Chip. When I was born, they called me little Chip. I never really picked a rap name. I didn’t pick Chip Tha Ripper, it was given to me because I used to battle rap. The album, we been talking about summer.

Did you get anybody in the studio for your album yet?

For my album? I just been so focused on making this Tell Ya Friends just so good enough somebody who would want to investigate more and gain as many fans as I can. Lately, I’ve been putting my blood, sweat and tears into Tell Ya Friends, just trying to prefect it. It was ready until the last minute, I had to make little improvements and little things, and I’m real tedious when it comes to music. Everything has to be perfect.

The perfection is there. It’s a wealthy amount of tracks.

We had to cut some songs out. I said we had over 100 records. To trim down to 20 to fit into an 80 minute CD, it was really hard. I still got about 75 records that I’m curious for the album, but I like to record all the up until I drop a project. People get the freshest, latest work and some of the old work that’s just amazing.

One song I do want to talk about, “Authority.” You have a supergroup, Pulled Over By The Cops. Are you guys still working together, or is that still up in the air?

We just four guys who just came together. We have so much fun making music. It’s kind of like a Dungeon Family. You know kind of like OutKast, they were in Dungeon Family as well. Most of those guys in Dungeon Family were in Goodie Mobb. Just guys coming together, making music. It says we a group, we just four guys love making music, and we good at it. And we so good and we can just clown around and form a group.

It’s really dope. Bun is definitely down with it. I talked to him in Switzerland, and he asked me about Pulled Over By The Cops. He was like, ‘Yo, when are we going to do another record?’ I’m like, ‘Ahhh! [laughs], let’s do it G!’ Bun is amazing. I don’t even feel worthy enough of knowing him.

Like Chip Tha Ripper on Facebook, follow him on Twitter. Download Tell Ya Friends here.