Was there any part of you that was worried the name change would confuse people?

I thought about it, but something came over me and gave me the strength to not even care. Whatever happened, I knew I had the ability and tools from the first chunk of my [career] to get back at that status. So I changed my name and the first record I got on was Cudi's "Just What I Am." So that was a big alarm to let everyone know I changed my name. Instead of dropping a little mixtape, that was a single Universal funded. And then I did the Game's album, Jesus Piece.

I moved to California and bumped into Game and just dealt with him organically. We didn't have anyone to hook us up, and I made his album [on a track with ] Trey Songz and that was another alarm to everybody. Same with Curren$y's tape and Big Sean's Detroit mixtape. Everything fell into place as if that was how it was supposed to be. The reason I chose King Chip was because I believe everybody I respect is a king. If I can look in your eye and I respect you as a man, I believe you are a king. And that's how I want to be seen. It's not like everybody else is peasants and I'm King Chip. It's not like that. It's uplifting and I want to represent self-greatness and the recognition of self-greatness.

Speaking of names, I heard your actual debut album will be titled your real name, Charles Worth.

Yeah, I want to do an album—my first album—and I want to call it Charles Worth. But before that I want to do an EP or two and definitely a mixtape. And I want my first album to be crazy. Up until your first album, everything else is kind of the appetizer.

My first album, in my mind, is when I'm in the rap game. Granted you got iTunes songs, but it's about dropping your first album. That's the name I want on the billboards. I want that name, Charles Worth. There's such a glow to it because that person is a really genuine, good person. There's an energy that comes from it.

Is King Chip a different personality than Charles Worth?

It's really just a name to me. To me it's just letters. Only it's less letters and cooler letters. I never liked Chip tha Ripper, ever. I always thought it was wack. I mean, people loved it and I grew to love it and the love I was getting from it. But sometimes it was awkward when I was introducing myself or my music to people that hadn't heard it. Then it's kinda awkward for a second until [they listen to my music] and realize it's dope.

Even from a business side, if you're trying to get someone interested and put some money up [it's awkward]. If they've never heard of you and you have a great name, it's cool, but if they haven't heard of me it's like, "What? Chip tha Ripper? What the f-ck is that?" If you zoom out and put yourself in the shoes of someone who's just clueless, then before they've even heard the music they're like, "What?"

What about the mixtape you mentioned earlier. How far is that along?

I'm going to release a project called 44108, that's the zip code to my ghetto, where I grew up on the East Side of Cleveland. I just really wanted to zoom in on that area, because there's a famous phrase in Cleveland I created. It's—quote, unquote—"Bitch, I'm from Cleveland." I made it up when I was 17, 18 and it got huge in Cleveland. It was a thing I made to be aggressively uplifting. But it got too popular where you had people attaching themselves to it that were from the general area of Cleveland and not where I was talking about.

So I wanted to make a project just to zoom in on 44108 because I have over 20 dead friends that have been taken away from this earth by murder. And to see people treat it like candy or Teletubby-fy it kinda hurts, because lives were lost. My friends' lives. So I'm about to zoom in and focus on my neighborhood, the same one as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Bone Thugs are my friends now, believe it or not. It's crazy to say that because they're such icons, but I was just talking to Krayzie the other day. Those are the oracles right there, the OGs.

You mentioned working with Curren$y earlier? Did you meet him the same way you met Game and Cudi?

I met Spitta in a real organic situation. I was in Chicago and a buddy of mine, Chuck Inglish, put this beat on in the studio and I laid something to it. A week later the engineer hits me up and says, "Yo Curren$y was here and we were playing him what you got on that beat and he just jumps right on the record was like, 'Yo, cut the mic on.' And I was like, 'Damn, wow, that's amazing.'" And Big Sean did the same thing for that record, "Fat Raps." I was just blown away because he was at such a high level. Spitta's the homie man, he's a real genuine dude. When I was having my son and sitting in the labor room, he hit me up and was like, 'Yo man, just giving you mad love.' That's the homie.

My Hustle: King Chip on Making It in Cleveland, Hating Former Rap Name

Fuse Q&A