Stan Ipcus’ latest song “The Great White Hope (Asher Roth Diss)” has been causing quite a stir online since its debut on nahright.com this week. Westcheddar sat down with Stan to discuss how the song came about and some of the misconceptions surrounding the diss. Check out the song first, then the interview:
Stan Ipcus- The Great White Hope ASHER ROTH DISS
wc- ip, thanks for sitting down with us. first off, you’ve never made a diss record before. why asher roth? he’s certainly not the first white rapper to come out since you’ve been recording.
ip- well at first, i wasn’t even gonna do it, but then he just kept getting more and more gassed so i had to step up. everyone was just jocking him too hard, and for someone like me who is unsigned, it was getting to be too much. he’s corny, and i don’t want the general hip hop public to think the only voice of the suburbs is a cornball. he sounds like eminem too which is unfortunate, like why does the next big white rapper have to be a herb and sound like eminem too? i’m from white plains, new york and i have my own angle to share, and since i’m out here with no label or manager backing me, i have to put myself on the map the best way i know how which is to spit. plus, it was fun.
wc- in your interview with bombin magazine you said you weren’t going to diss him though.
ip- i know. i changed my mind. he deserved it, and so did everyone who gassed him up like he’s the greatest thing ever. sure he can spit, but let’s not get crazy.
wc- so how did you come up with the lyrics? and why that beat?
ip- i was in bed the other night watching tv and my girl was asleep, and the first line came to me, “asher roth is a herb, i put my balls and my word on that…” then i grabbed my laptop and reached for that beat, it’s off the latest prodigy album and i’ve had it for a minute. i love that beat and i’ve been wanting to get on it for a while. i thought it was perfect because it’s such a new york beat and it’s so hard, which are the kind of beats i love. it got me excited and an hour later the rap was done. that was monday night.
wc- but the song came out tuesday morning?
ip- i know, i went to sleep, and i couldn’t wait to wake up and lay it down. i woke up, grabbed a glass of water, and went in. it was done by like 11am. i sent it to nahright, took a shower, drove to work, and when i got to my office i checked nahright, and it was up. isn’t the internet amazing?
wc- wow that’s hilarious. there’s a lot of people commenting on the song. someone said you should use a compressor on your mic, i guess they weren’t impressed with the quality of the track.
ip- maybe i should use a mic then! yo for real, i did that track on my laptop in my living room with no mic, i just spit into the keyboard and use the internal mic on the mac. i do a lot of my tracks like that. it makes the vocals sound gritty, plus i don’t even own a mic, so when i do tracks at the crib that’s how i have to go in. shit, i did “my ferris buellers” that way too, and they play it on hot 97, shade 45 and all that.
wc- that’s crazy. you mention that in the song too, how you got your song and your video out there without any agent or label help. how hard was that?
ip- it was more strategic than hard. i knew cipha sounds liked the ferris bueller dunks because i heard him talking about them on his podcast with rosenberg, the juan epstein shit. so i sent it to his hot 97 email, and he hit me back like “yo that song is fresh, send me the radio edit i’m gonna play it on the radio”. and he started playing it that weekend, which was crazy cuz i had never heard my shit on hot 97. then after the song had spread a little and been getting some blog and radio love, people were telling me to do a video. but i had no chips. so on my day off from work while my girl was cleaning the crib, i made the video on my laptop and edited it up myself. i sent it to nahright the next day and boom, it was all over. shout out to eskay at nahright, he’s been posting my shit. he hit me up after i thanked him for putting up the asher roth song and told me “i can’t front, you went in.” i don’t know him personally, so for him to support my shit as an unsigned guy is a good look. nahright is big. and shout out to cipha sounds too, he played my shit and didn’t even know who i was.
wc- i saw some people saying they thought you were making a reference on your song to your intro on the cipha sounds and rosenberg show. i guess they didn’t understand that you were talking about “my ferris buellers”.
ip- hey, i’ve had some small wins, but it doesn’t mean that everyone is up on me. i’m still very unknown. even being on matisyahu’s platinum album people don’t know me. plus matisyahu is not in the hip hop world so much as he is in the reggae and pop rock world. but yeah, me and matis did an intro for their show after they had us on as guests and they use it alot, almost everyday, which is a great look, but not what i meant by getting my shit on the radio. i was talking about ciph breaking “my ferris buellers”.
wc- i saw rosenberg co-signed asher roth and labeled you a hater. what’s up with that? isn’t he your boy from university of maryland?
ip- yeah, rosenberg is my dude, he def looked out for me by having me on his show and has always been supportive of my music. it’s funny cuz ciph played “my ferris buellers” before he even knew i was cool with rosenberg. we know each other from maryland and have a few mutual friends. i guess him and asher are new BFF’s, which is cool with me. i’m sure asher is a great guy. it’s all hip hop at the end of the day. i discussed it with peter, he told me the song was hot but unfortunately asher was his man. at the end of the day, i got love for rosenberg, but i let him know that he could have co-signed asher on his website without making it sound like he doesn’t fuck with me or that we’re not peoples, but it’s all good regardless. i also told him i didn’t mean to put him in a tough spot. we’re cool, he told me he didn’t mean it like that, he just meant that he fucks with asher and he disagreed with what i was saying about him on the song. he knows i’ve got nothing to lose and that i’m in it for hip hop and nothing else. and on the song at the end i said to asher “i don’t hate i congratulate, best of luck to you.” that was my way of saying it’s nothing personal, it’s just hip hop. whatever, if rosenberg and asher want to ride together it’s all good i understand, rosenberg doesn’t owe me anything.
wc- are you a hater?
ip- i don’t think so, though alot of people might call me one. a real hater just talks shit and doesn’t do anything about it. me, i went in.
wc- there’s alot of haters on the internet huh?
ip- the funniest thing i saw someone say about me is that they wish there was still a draft so i could get sent to war and and get shot in the face! hilarious. but hey, even kanye west, jay-z, nas, and all the greats have tons of haters. it comes with the territory. it’s much easier to be a hater than to actually be an artist. but there’s some people out there that are definitely with me, a bunch of them.
wc- in that bombin interview you also mention charles hamilton as someone who is gassed.
ip- yeah, but i also said i like the kid, he’s a weird guy with all the sonic the hedgehog shit but i feel him, he keeps it real. he is too gassed, as a fan of hip hop and an artist i’m not sure his music deserves that much credibility just yet. but i’ve been knocking this one song he has that pete rock did called “stay on your level”. that shit is fresh. plus the kid can freestyle his ass off.
wc- just to clarify, you don’t rap full time right?
ip- not at all. that shit is a hobby to me. i work full time with the youth, i direct a cultural arts center in northern westchester, doing art, music, dance, photography, stuff like that with kids, all ages from little dudes up to high school. most of the people that work with me don’t have a clue i rap. some of the kids know the deal though. i’ve got some young kids that come to my center that can spit. we make tracks, i put in a little studio up there and they make their own beats and all that.
wc- word?
ip- yeah, my dude sosa, he’s dmx’s son actually. kid is nice, he one takes everything and is a beast. they just did a story on him in xxl. him and his boy young 1 have a group called hood legacy, they’re honestly real sick, and they’re only like 14, 15. they got songs with hooks, and they do shows and all that.
wc- that’s crazy. what about you, what’s next?
ip- not sure yet. i’m still waiting for people to catch on to my last couple mixtapes, especially my latest one bachelor party. i’ve got a ton of dope songs on there.
wc- yeah, i saw the cover, i saw you used the john belushi college picture, same as asher roth. i like how you changed the college letters to ipcus.
ip- yeah that was a coincidence. true story, i had that out before he came out. i’ve had the idea for that since i was in college. actually, seeing dude wearing the college shirt on his site is what made me check him out in the first place, i thought it was cool that we were on the same page. i even hit his manager up scooter to see if he was interested in another whiteboy, but he never hit me back. i mean, if he got asher a meeting with jigga i thought maybe he could get me one too. i’ve always wanted to spit for jigga, i know exactly what i would spit for him too. it’s all good though. anyway, i was going to use the cover for an ipcus greatest hits or something, but it seemed appropriate once i got the idea for bachelor party.
wc- why bachelor party?
ip- well, i’m about to get married next year, i’m engaged, and all the songs on that cd were recorded when i was still living wreckless. it’s kind of my last hurrah. listen to the cd, you’ll understand.
wc- no doubt. yo, do you think asher is gonna respond?
ip- not sure, he’s big right now, i don’t think he needs to, i’m basically a nobody to him in the industry, though he does know i’m cool with rosenberg and my shit is up on nahright and a bunch of blogs. it’s not like people aren’t checking for the diss, but for most people it’s their first introduction to me. i wonder. i’d love for him to, it would be sick. it probably would be my new favorite song.
wc- i’m sure if he does he’ll find a way to make fun of your name. it’s such an easy target.
ip- well the truth is i didn’t make the name up, my boys gave me that nickname after the mask came out back when i was in high school, and it just stuck like crazy. people who don’t know me personally sometimes think i gave that name to myself as a stage name, but actually it was given to me. bring it on though.
BONUS: “GEORGE MUSH” VIDEO VERSION
and here’s the link to the Bombin Magazine interview too:
Westcheddar 