the_content() wraps <p> tags

Im redesigning a blog theme from the ground up. One problem I am running into is that the the_content() tag automatically applies tags whatever is produced.

I cannot use any php to strip the codes out like str_replace() because the output from the_content() is being output directly to the browser.

I was able to get around this problem with the excerpt by using the_excerpt_rss(), which outputs without those tags. However, it doesn’t seem like the_content_rss() does the same thing.

How can I get rid of these tags?