Digital Social Hour - Spotify SCANDAL Exposed: Major Labels CHEATING the System! | Chip Tha Ripper DSH #573

Episode Date: August 9, 2024

🎧 Tune in now to uncover the Spotify SCANDAL Exposed: Major Labels CHEATING the System! 🚨 In this explosive episode of the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly, we've got King Chip aka Chip tha Ripper spilling the tea on the dirty secrets of the music industry. From his early days in Cleveland to his breakthrough moments, Chip shares his journey and the shocking tactics major labels use to fake their Spotify streams. 😱   Get ready for a deep dive into how these inflated numbers manipulate the charts and bookings, giving an unfair advantage over independent artists. Chip also opens up about his independent career, his thoughts on modern rap, and his unique approach to dating. This episode is packed with valuable insights and eye-opening revelations you won't want to miss! 🎤🔥   Join the conversation and watch now to get the inside scoop. Don’t miss out—subscribe for more insider secrets! 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀   #DigitalSocialHour #SeanKelly #Podcast #SpotifyScandal #KingChip #MusicIndustryExposed #IndependentArtist #CheatingTheSystem #MusicInsider #WatchNow #Subscribe   #MusicIndustryScandal #SpotifyControversy2023 #SpotifyFakePlays #MusicStreamingScandal #DigitalSocialHour   CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:39 - King Chip on having two names 01:15 - King Chip on his early music career 03:33 - King Chip on growing up in Cleveland 06:35 - King Chip on moving to LA 09:30 - King Chip on his new album 10:28 - What message are you trying to get across with your music 13:35 - Russ on Spotify Streams 15:02 - Why did you stay independent 17:35 - How do you feel about modern day rap 20:14 - Your interesting perspective on dating 20:55 - Monogamy vs Polygamy 23:45 - Outro   APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail]   GUEST: Chip Tha Ripper https://www.kingchip.com https://www.instagram.com/kingchip   SPONSORS: Deposyt Payment Processing: https://www.deposyt.com/seankelly   LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Because I was on your Spotify, you don't drop many albums. You know what? I don't. I try to go quality over quantity, but I'm going to start trying to, I want to balance that out. Yeah, because it was 10 years. Yeah. That's a long time, man. You really perfect that stuff. I don't want to just give people music just because it's time for music.

I want to give them something they can use. Yeah. Wherever you guys are watching this show, I would truly appreciate it if you follow or subscribe. It helps a lot with the algorithm. It helps us get bigger and better guests, and it helps us grow the team. Truly means a lot.

Thank you guys for supporting, and here's the episode. All right, guys. Chip the Ripper, King Chip. You got two names. Yeah, two. Not many people are established enough to have two names, man. I got two, man. When did you make that switch?

Well, I did a sad attempt to change my name, but little did I know Chip the Ripper was not something you can just tuck away and bury. Yeah. And then I ended up doing some really cool things as King Chip so I just kind of got stuck with two names two Spotify accounts nice you know but uh all roads lead to me I love it man and you've been in the music industry for pretty much your whole adult life right yeah yep and was that always the plan growing up it was I mean yeah since a kid yeah nice since a kid and what was that first kind of breakthrough moment for you where you started seeing some big traction um high school oh high

school high school yeah man um it was you know my story was was one that kind of started out it was started in the neighborhood the neighborhood is where neighborhood is where I'm from. It spread into the high schools and went high school to high school. Then it, you know, got into the clubs. The club DJs would start playing it. And then the radio caught wind of, you know, how much noise it was making. And then at the same time, there was like LimeWire.

I remember LimeWire. Yeah. Soulja Boy. Yeah, you know? So simultaneously, as it's as it's spreading like cancer and regionally where it's coming where it's from is is making its way on line wire and going to places i don't even know i have no idea so i'm showing up to places and they know who i am and been knowing who i am for years and i'm like well i've never even been here

yeah it was line wire that's dope. What was that first big hit song? Oh, man. In Cleveland, I had this big song called I'm Fitted. And I'm Fitted just means I got a really nice outfit on. And then there was another record called Get It, Girl. And yeah, those two were pretty big. And they were solo episodes, just you? Well, one of them just me, and there was the other one,

Unigirls featuring another artist from Cleveland named Al Fats. Nice. Yeah. So the scene in Cleveland was pretty popping back then in the music scene? Honestly, it was something that we kind of kick-started. There was myself along with a few other artists so my very first mixtape i just kind of pulled all those artists you know onto the project because i felt like it would be a lot stronger instead of me just making my first mixtape um i would just do it with all

the artists that i that i saw that were around me that were doing really cool things as well. So that project is called Bitch, I'm from Cleveland. What a name. It's a legendary mixtape in Cleveland. That's cool, man. For sure, yeah. So you grew up watching LeBron? Oh, yeah, man.

Yeah, I grew up. Actually, his agent, Rich Paul, grew up in my neighborhood. So he was always like a staple like a superhero in our in our neighborhood yeah you know and uh and then and then he met and then he met brown and you know but he was already somebody in the ghetto oh yeah yeah and then yeah in our neighborhood you know i'm from the same neighborhood as bone thugs and harmony so it's damn east side of cleveland saint claire but yeah he was yeah he was definitely somebody the whole time yeah i saw you say on another uh podcast it was like a pretty rough

neighborhood a lot of crime right yeah i mean you know hopefully we can we can get it better but unfortunately yes it's like that yeah so this was kind of your escape to get out of there right the music oh yeah without a shadow of a doubt yeah i definitely use music to escape and to offer a different perspective to to whoever was listening on behalf of where i'm from right and i think growing up in that environment like inspired your music too yeah i mean the two biggest inspirations of my music is of course being, being from the part of Cleveland that I'm from. But also, you know, I was born into that family that's in the ghetto where we weren't like our surroundings. Like my grandmother, she wasn't having it.

So, you know, I was born. Hey, Prime members. Are you tired of ads interfering with your favorite podcasts? Good news. With Amazon Music, you have access to the largest catalog of ad-free top podcasts included with your Prime membership. To start listening, download the Amazon Music app for free or go to Amazon.com slash ad-free podcasts. That's Amazon.com slash ad-free podcasts to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads. Into a family of educators and, you know, like my dad got his master's degree.

You know, he got it right out of the ghetto. You know, him and my uncle. Damn. You know what I mean? So, like, we live in the same place, but we just, in our household, it was just, we're striving for greatness. We wasn't trying, it wasn't just we're striving for greatness we wasn't trying it wasn't no adapting to our surroundings that wasn't an option yeah so that's interesting so that being said did you have trouble finding people to hang out with and relate to with that

mindset no I was just different yeah yeah it was I mean we was in we definitely was all in close proximity so you know finding a friend wasn't hard. Oh, okay. But I was just a little different. Nice. When did you make that move out here? You ever play GTA and then you beat the game? Yeah.

And then there's nothing really else to do? Yeah, yeah. So I felt like I got to that part. In Cleveland? Yeah, and I just wanted to put the next game in and play that one. I feel that. What year was that? 2011.

2011. So now you're taking over L.A. next. Man, you know what? Everybody in the world wants to take over L.A. L.A. is a hard one to take over. I don't even know if it's takeoverable. You can just surf the wave, but you't like own the ocean because there's too many big people here you can't even yeah you can catch a nice little wave and surf it and

like but i don't know if it's a place you can just take over it's too big it's too too much politics already going on here like for sure but you have collabed with some of the biggest man i was checking out your new album you had wiz khalifa on there right yeah yeah wiz man shout out to wiz. Dude, that's legendary. Super talented brother, man. What was that like making a song with him? It was really, it was clutch. It was like, it wasn't even something that was planned.

It was just something that, I don't know. I think the album kind of made itself in some ways, but that was one of the ways because, um, I just bumped into him and was like, yeah, my turn to album me. He was like,

Oh, where is it too late? I'm like, no. He said he was going to knock the verse out. And, you know, I'm sure he's busy.

So I didn't really like, I wasn't really holding him to it. He just said he would do it, but he did it but he did exactly what he said he was going to do. Wow. He just randomly ran into him. Yeah, yeah. So it was clutch, because that record wouldn't have made the album, but I loved it. It was so good.

But it wasn't done, so it wasn't going to go on the album. Yeah. But then Wiz turned it all around, and it's like the best one. That's so cool. Yeah. And you must have had a good reputation, right? Because he wouldn't just do that for free for anyone. No, I mean, you know, we definitely go back, man. He's a big inspiration to me and he's really a real, he's a real dude. That's awesome. You know what I mean? For real. Yeah. And you also are super tight with Kid

Cudi too, right? Oh yeah, that's my brother. You've been on so many songs with him yeah how did that relationship start uh man it's you know mutual friend um mutual friend years many years ago in cleveland yeah in cleveland is that where he grew up too yeah wow i didn't know that that's cool man dude he's got so many iconic songs most definitely i mean it was all I listened to in high school. That's the guy. Most definitely. That's my bro, yeah. Hell yeah.

I want to talk about the new album because I was on your Spotify. You don't drop many albums. You know what? I don't. I try to go quality over quantity, but I'm going to start trying to, I want to balance that out. Yeah, because it was 10 years. Yeah, yeah. That's a long time, man. You really because it was 10 years. Yeah, yeah. That's a long time, man.

You really perfect that stuff, huh? Yeah, man. But you know what? The experiences are important, though, to me. I don't want to just give people music just because it's time for music. I want to give them something they can use. So sometimes I got to, like, looking back, it's like I wouldn't change it because I got so many useful experiences

that I can incorporate into the music now so it's like it makes the music more rich you know I mean it's got replay value and you can use it it's a perspective that you can implement that may be more powerful than one you already got so you know I mean like that's kind of how I see the use for music I love that do you have a main message of the songs you're trying to get across your listeners or is it different on each song I mean I think that overall I'm trying to have a relationship with the listener so when you any relationship the goal is to relate that's why I call it relationship so I goal is to relate. That's why I call it a relationship. So I just want to relate to the listener and then also incorporate a perspective.

So I guess that's the goal, really. How'd you get your own Fortnite map, man? I'm jealous. Man, I teamed up with some really cool developers, man. And they are, well, like, Ryan, yo, Greg, Jesse, like, they get it popping. You know, I had to put on the motion capture suit because I got a live, I mean, I got a performance in Fortnite. And I got a map, map too they're not the same thing two separate things so you performed i performed yes the performance is in fortnight right now dude yeah i got like a 80 foot crocodile that's like behind the stage it's like it's crazy that's awesome man yeah i saw a couple of those concerts on fortnight they're sick and then did

one yeah yeah and i think uh olivia rodrigo might have done one yeah there's a couple of those concerts on fortnight they're sick and then did one yeah yeah and i think uh olivia rodrigo might have done one yeah there's been a few big ones on there man they're changing the game yeah it's definitely a dope experience man i i did a map of cleveland well like specific landmarks from cleveland and put it on the map um um it's a zone wars map cleveland verse uh la i think it's called i love that man dude that's it's one of the most popular maps too i see it on my home page uh though you get thousands of players right yeah man it's really cool you know i'm gonna start doing some cool stuff like just giving fans incentive to play in the map my son he's really good i'm not that good but every time i get a kill on him i act like it's like the greatest thing that ever happened

i'm gonna add you man we'll play i'm pretty good man my son is really good okay he's i'll have to play with him because i'm in unreal like the highest one yeah yeah i'm pretty nasty dude oh you guys should get together, dude. I was a PC gamer my whole life, and I quit for business for five years. See, I can't build. I don't play build. My son, he plays, and he has, first of all, he's not even using the controller. He's using the keyboard and the mouse.

That's what I do, yeah. And he's going crazy. They call that a sweat in Fortnite. I don't play build do, yeah. And he's going crazy. Like, he's going. They call that a sweat in Fortnite. Yeah, I don't play build mode, dude. He's building on the keyboard and mouse. He's going crazy. He's building, doing. I'm like, how are you moving that fast and that accurate?

Yeah, I'm good with that. Oh, yeah. If he wants to play zero build, man, hit me up. And that's what I told him. I'm like, yo, the building, you're going to get me every time with this building. But like, yeah, zero build. That's what I need to get him. Russ has been exposing some of these labels.

I don't know if you saw it. Russ, the rapper. Yeah, yeah, yeah. On Andrew Schultz's podcast. What did you think of that whole incident? What, he exposed the labels? Yeah, for faking their Spotify streams. The labels are doing that?

That's what Russ said, yeah. Wow. Man, I mean, yeah, you, does it make money? Does it make, when you fake your Spotify streams, is it, do you get, is it like printing money? No, I don't think you make money, but when you inflate the numbers, he was basically saying it leads to you getting on the charts oh and then that leads to bookings and then it's like uh they make money in the long run i see then that's kind of i don't know how i feel about that yeah so basically someone like you who's not doing that people are outranking you and it's because he's alleges it's from the labels basically i mean you know what at the end

of the day you know it all boils down to what you can pay for you know what i mean if there's if there's always going to be something new that hits the market whether it be the black market or the retail market that is going to spark your interest and you're going to pay for it so everybody's looking to provide that yeah and it you're going to want to pay for it. So everybody's looking to provide that. And it just so happened to creep, that plague just so happened to creep onto the Spotify streams. And the billboard, you know, it's affecting all that. But, you know, it's just how, you know, I guess it's just how it goes. Yeah.

Were you ever signed at any point, or you've been independent? I've been independent the entire time. Damn. My entire career. Because back then it was normal to get signed. So why or you've been independent? I've been independent the entire time, my entire career. Because back then it was normal to get signed. So why did you not pursue that road? You know what? The closest I got to signing with a label was, I think it was in like 2020, 2013.

No, 2014 or something like that. But I got an offer from a major label and it wasn't the money the money was great it was just the back end terms it was kind of

they wanted a 360 I don't even I didn't even have a problem with that it was just like they almost like owned me in the sense of like

my likeness like I couldn't even sell a shirt with my silhouette because that's my likeness you know what i'm saying so it was tough it was like if i didn't do if i didn't like do really good numbers and they were pretty much drop you not drop me they would just own me right so you were like a slave to them almost yeah i wouldn't you know it's just like i think the smarter thing to do now um now that we live in this day and age is get a line of credit get it you know get with the ls get your lc and stuff together and get business credit you know just get a bunch of lines of credit and pay for the things that the label pays for yourself with the credit.

And just route just tours and do all that and make them money back. Because labels, they're a little more than a bank, but they're kind of like a bank. Yeah, if they're not doing any marketing, they're pretty much just giving you money. Yeah. So you can get a line of credit and your music's not involved with that. So no one owns the rights to your music because you got lines of credit to spend on it.

Yeah. You know what I mean? I agree. There's so much you could do on your own these days. I feel like labels have lost their value for the most part. I mean, I don't think they lost their value. It's just that they got to come up with a better business model right because you know people are smart now you know i mean like

and people aren't as desperate as they would have been when there was no other way to be a star except to be on a label now that being on label is not the only way to be a star so it's like they got to kind of you know compromise you know and kind of step off their high horse a little bit you know what I mean how do you feel about modern day rap and hip-hop as someone who's been in the game for a while you see most of the people that have been around hate on it a little bit but how do you feel about it you know what i love anything that brings feeling and um i don't let the politics of anything get in the way of me seeing how it makes me feel or seeing how it makes other people feel because sometimes i might not get something on my own but when i'm around a bunch of people that do, maybe there's something about it that I can, like, appreciate.

And then I can, then it's hitting me differently. So, you know, I don't look to hate on things. That's just a lot of people's problem. They look to hate on something. And, you know, that's cool. You want to test the durability of it. Yeah. If you're seeking it out, it's going to manifest, right?

Yeah, yeah. Do you have any favorite artists right now? You know what? I got favorite songs. Because I don't think there's many artists that I love everything they've done, except for, like, Curtis Mayfield. Curtis Mayfield? Mayfield yeah yeah like I like like oh they're like old school but um I love a lot of stuff that uh that I hear like like a lot of like a lot of new songs you know whether it be from you know like Travis Future from Travis, Future.

Man, I can go on and on. I feel like naming two people already. Now I feel like I got to say 30 more names. No, no, I feel like that. Certain people I used to like a lot, sometimes their songs don't hit the same. So it's more song-based rather than artist-based. Yeah, I mean, it's just about song based rather than artist based yeah yeah i mean it's just about you know the way you let people listen to music in different ways and like the things that they're

looking for in order to call it good may be different than what i'm looking for yeah like like and i and i used to have a different my criteria used to be different for that like now it's changed like now i just want to feel it before I went to hear it. I wanted to, you know, analyze the lyrics, you know, dissect it,

really look at, you know, look at it under a microscope. Yeah. But now I just kind of absorbed the overall vibe and the overall, you know, it doesn't have to be as clever and intricate and witty and everything. I was now I can just like make me feel like something.

100 percent. All right. Enough with the music. Let's talk dating, man. You got an interesting perspective on dating. Oh, yeah. I want to dive into how that happened. Like, has it always been that way?

Well, I think I think polygyny is what for someone like myself I think it's my nature it's not the same for everybody every man because every man is not the same you know but for myself um I feel like it's always been my nature and um to have someone you could share that with and like who can encourage it and like you know like kind of like live with me in that space too is is really really cool so you all live together or is it different well not at the at the moment i mean but the idea is to yeah have a tribe you know that that know, lives and works together and contributes, you know, together. I've seen dating shows on it. I think I forget what type of religion does it, but somewhere.

And they have like eight girls and one guy in the house. Hey, whoa. Never works out. I mean, eight is a lot, man uh cap like number not really i don't really think of it like that yeah um you know um i think it's kind of odd to like have a projected number of women that you want to be with for some reason i don't know it's like you just if it happens it's just yeah it's just real yeah yeah um damn that's interesting i just feel like i don't know it's like you just if it happens yeah it's just real yeah yeah damn that's interesting i just feel like i don't know jealousy and stuff has it worked out for you

like when there's two or more i mean it has to be honest and true you know because sometimes you may have a party or a person involved that's in it, you know, for a particular reason and not because that's their honesty and that's their truth. You know, so they may have something they're trying to accomplish. Right. Or, you know, like sometimes you have a woman that's really not, you know, she's not really her thing, but she's just doing it because she really wants the guy. And then it just kind of gets crazy. Yeah, because someone in your shoes, people want that recognition, right? I mean, you know, a love connection is a powerful thing.

It doesn't even, I mean, I've seen a lot of guys with a lot less going on have, you know, the same, you know, happiness, you know, when it comes to that kind of thing. That is interesting, man. Yeah. I don't know if I could do it. I mean, it's. It's not for everyone, I guess. For me, it wasn't something that I proposed. It was something that my lady.

Really? Yeah, my lady. What? My fiance was like,'all it would be cool if when she first told me I was just I thought she was trying to set me up aha yeah but uh but no she was she was honest and true that's so in my case I didn't have to you know I didn't have to like convince do any convincing or anything like that. So she get hooked up with other guys too? No, polygyny

is specific to there being only one man but multiple women. Got it. You know, so like no other dicks in the mix.

Should hang that on your wall, man. Dude, it's been fun getting to know you, man. Anything you want to promote or close off with ah man

just kingship.com alright cool link in the video check out the new album yeah new album the Charles Worth LP man pouring my heart and soul

21 tracks yo check it out awesome thanks for watching guys as always see you tomorrow