Kid Cudi’s 2012 “Just What I Am” is an undoubted fan-favorite from his discography and King Chip’s memorable assist was nearly scrapped at the time.
HipHopDX caught up with Cudder’s frequent collaborator formerly known as Chip Tha Ripper earlier this week and he explained that his iconic bars almost didn’t make the cut for the Cudi-produced “Just What I Am.”
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“I was on the verge of scrapping that line because I thought it was corny,” he began in reference to his “Neighbors knocking on the door, asking can we turn it down” lyrics. “Like I’m writing it and first of all I was completely possessed. I’m sober — I think I was just smoking weed but I was sober as a goat.
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“When I come in the studio, Cudi made the beat and I hear the synth like, ‘Oh my God.’ I started writing the verse and something came over me but when I got to that line I was just like, ‘This is so cheesy, people are gonna like laugh me off the stage for this.”
King Chip continued: “In my mind, I just thought it was corny — I don’t know why I was on the verge of scrapping it but I didn’t really have anything to replace it and we were pressed for time… And it ended up being a super line.”
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“Even when we do shows we drop the music and we did a world tour and every place when we dropped the music, they all shouted that line.”
Luckily, Chip kept the lines in, and “Just What I Am” went on to serve as the lead single into Cudi’s 2012 Indicud album.
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The track gave both Cleveland natives another Billboard Hot 100 entry with the platinum-certified song reaching a peak of No. 74. The trippy music video boasts 75 million views on YouTube and features cameos by the late Mac Miller and Steve Aoki.
Watch it below:
