John Brown isn't happy. In this HHNLive.com exclusive, John Brown (of VH-1's "The White Rapper Show") sounds off on new SRC Records signing Asher Roth (who Brown calls Ashton Kutcher) claiming the MC stole his style. Brown also comments on the White Rapper Show, what he's doing now and much more.

The following is the initial statement John Brown sent to HHNLive.com:

"The comments made in your recent interview with the SRC burbs biter needs to be addressed. Since your publication initiated the conversation regarding the show, I think it would be appropriate to hit ya'll up about responding to this fuckery. This dude and his Scooter Libby sidekick are so obviously a bunch of Stans that watched the WRS (White Rapper Show) show and then completely bit the whole burbs branding and lifestyle that I represented on the show and continue to represent in hip hop...all of sudden this kid pops up on SRC with Don Cannon's co-sign and his moto is "burbs first to murder a verse", his lead off single is "I Love College" and talks about his weekly "keg parties" with videos of him playing beer pong with red keg party cups. He says "he's not a rapper", which is like my slogan I used to sum up my philosophy on the show: "I'm not a rapper I'm an entity". His photoshoots are very similar to my photoshoot with Complex magazine as he tries to all of sudden embrace suburbia. So to hear that he watched the white rapper show religiously and then turned around and bit my whole burbs style is disgusting. It's like his team tried to take the branding from John Brown and the sound of Eminem and create a Burb Frankestein."

Brown then requested an interview with HHNLive.com to further address the issue. The following is that interview.

HHNLive.com: Everyone knows you from VH-1's The White Rapper Show. You seemed to have taken offense to new SRC signing Asher Roth's style. You said that an attorney was pushing you and your "King of da 'Burbz" project to SRC first? What happened with that? Did you receive any feedback from Steve Rifkind? Was this before Asher was signed?

John Brown: In the Summer of '07 (before this kid's myspace page was created), our attorney had been excited about pitching my project to SRC because he felt it was a good fit. He never verified how Rifkind responded and we wound up
moving on independently as most of the offers we were given were some unappealing 1960 deals. Labels wanted control of the merchandise, show money, even publishing. So we been grinding and getting this independent money in the meantime.

HHNLive.com: You mention a lot of similarities between you and Asher including talking about "keg parties", his tagline "burbs first to murder a verse", the whole suburban/college backdrop to his music, etc. Do you not think though that visually you and Asher are quite different? Asher really seems to look like a typical white college guy where you definitely lean more on the side of the Hip-Hop look. Do you agree? What other similarities do you see?

JB: I think he does lean towards the safe, watered-down white boy look and even his use of his government name is part of that hipster-hop trend. But I'm a multidimensional artist with an "image" that reflects how hip-hop heads and regular kids from suburbia dress. You can look at my complex magazine shoot or my new Pimp Mode video about to drop to see that. The kid's whole photoshoot has him by a suburban picket fence, which is a main visual on my photoshoots and mixtape cover. They're trying to market a John Brown that's completely void of any elements of Ghetto Revival
influence. I never try to front like America's ghetto's don't influence its suburbs.

HHNLive.com: You said to us "It's like his team tried to take the branding from John Brown and the sound of Eminem and create a Burb Frankestein." Do you really feel this way? Do you think there was a conscious decision to steal your style so to speak? Or is there just some coincidence involved here?

JB: There is no doubt in my mind that this kid and his Scooter pal from Greenwich, CT who refers to himself as a "marketing guru" were a bunch of white rapper show Stans that tried to dismiss me as a caricature and bite the branding. So much of the industry is filled with followers that are like uncreative chemists that mix different elements of others in the game rather than create a new chemical. There's been a lot of biters since I came on the scene but this is the worst case by far.

HHNLive.com: Asher said that he thought the White Rapper was somewhat of an embarrassment to white MCs. What are your thoughts now looking back on the show? Let's say Asher was on the show, how do you think he would have done?

JB: A lot of white rappers can be very sensitive when it comes to this hip-hop culture but i think they need to lighten up and just be themselves. Stop worrying about who's embarrassing you. What's embarrassing to me is being labeled a biter. It's all about creatively adding to this hip-hop culture. With the white rapper show I can't defend everything that was or wasn't done on the show. There were clearly some elements that leaned more towards TV entertainment than hip hop skills. But regardless, it's obvious that this kid and his sidekick were studying the show and are now trying to
pretend that I don't exist.

I have no idea how he would of done on the show but I guarantee you he wouldn't have been reppin the burbs like i was. All of that came after the show, for him.

HHNLive.com: Prior to you seeing the HHNLive.com interview with Asher Roth, had you ever previously had interaction with his team or Asher himself?

JB: No.

HHNLive.com: Asher said that he feels in some ways all white rappers are influenced by Eminem. Do you agree?

JB: It's hard not to recognize the colossal achievements by eminem no doubt, no matter what race you are. I didn't exactly listen to em coming up but it would be hard to overstate eminem's contribution to hip hop as a whole. But
that doesn't mean you start rapping like him.

HHNLive.com: I guess the funny part of all of this, is although Eminem never technically repped just for the burbs, he was really the first white rapper to truly bring the burbs to Hip-Hop on a larger scale (excluding Vanilla Ice who doesn't count). So in essence, isn't everyone biting Eminem?

JB: Eminem represented the struggle of the working class whites and the trailer park and his 8 mile hood - not the burbs. If he claimed to represent the burbs, it wasn't obvious. I represent the burbs in the sense of the irony behind the American dream where those with money can escape the cruel realities of an unequal society and attempt to live isolated. I represent kids who grew up in communities where those citizens own property and companies, have real wealth and hold political influence. The kids who will grow up and be the management class. This is not the segment of society that Eminem represented.

HHNLive.com: I mean obviously you're pissed about the whole situation. How do you see it being addressed? Are you going to go at Asher on record?

JB: I don't get mad, I just get focused. And the thing is in a lot of ways it's good to see another white rapper doing his thing and putting it down for the burbs. Shit I thought "maybe he been doing this", "maybe he really was on that burb shit before me". But after hearing how he was a white rapper show Stan and then created this on-line persona of himself less than 6 months ago made me realize that some good 'ol fashioned industry biting was going down.

HHNLive.com: What are you working on right now?

JB: I recently signed with two different digital labels, Ingrooves (the biggest digital label right now) and Amalgam Digital (home of Joe Budden & Peedi Crack). I think that digital labels are the wave of the future. I'm also dropping a new mixtape next week called "Burb Life" with the homie DJ Rah2K from the bay area and I'm dropping an amazing music video at the
end of June for my song "Pimp Mode" featuring Dred Scott. My "King of da Burbz" mixtape is still doing really well. Everything I do is pure grind from myself and Ghetto Revival. We get it in.

HHNLive.com: Do you have any final message for the HHNLive.com readers?

JB: When you're an independent company building a brand it's important to respond when that brand is either stolen or disrespected.