Kreayshawn Talks Snoop Co-Sign, New Girl Gang — Video
Kreayshawn has finally got a piece of the pie. She's moved on up in the same vein as George Jefferson, leaving her "cement cave," as she calls it, for a more modern pad in Los Angeles, upon signing a hefty deal with Columbia Records. Listen to her brand-name blasting track, 'Gucci Gucci' to get an understanding of who she is. The East Oakland, Calif., native may be rhyming but according to her, she's no "rap hip-hopper." "People don't understand it," she tells the BoomBox. "There is no name for it really."
From resting her tattooed body on broken mattresses to recording songs with Snoop Dogg in a studio, life has dramatically changed for the 21-year-old. She reveals all the newfound attention is a bit weird, but the former film student is adamant in her claim that her play with genres is just what the music industry needs.
People love her, others hate on her movement. Yet there's no denying it took a whole lot of trying on her behalf just to get up that hill that is the music industry. Read on and watch the video to learn what words the Doggfather instilled on the pint-sized artist, which girl group inspires her tracks and the movement she's set on making a worldwide entity.
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What sparked your interest in becoming more serious with your craft?
Well, I've been freestyling and making music since like forever. Like I have videos of me goofing off when I was 10 years old. I just started taking it super serious maybe a year ago. I was shooting music videos at the time for an artist -- DB the General; he's the hardest out. His manager, he listened to it and was like, "Oh my god, you should just do this and see where it goes." Before that I was just doing film. I sat in the studio and focused and that's when we came up with the 'Gucci Gucci' song.
So let's talk about 'Gucci Gucci.' What inspired the song?
Just moving to L.A. from the Bay, you get to see a whole different type of girl. In the Bay, everyone has their own style and is different and everyone's in each other's stuff. But you just see all those basic bitches out there [in L.A.]. It's not even about like, "Don't wear Gucci and don't wear Louis [Vuitton]." You can wear it but don't let that like define you. You can still wear a Louis belt and be cool and have swag, it's just how you wear it.
What's your vision since this song has received so much attention?
When this happened, it happened in the process of us working on a whole bunch of other stuff. Everyone saw 'Gucci Gucci' but that's when we were working in the studio on other stuff. It's not something like I just made 'Gucci Gucci' and now I gotta think and develop. We already had a vision.
We're just gonna put out an album. There's gonna be more music videos. I want to get my hands in everything. Hopefully, if I have enough time, I'll be doing everything from videos to movies, books. I don't know. I'll do whatever.
Can you speak on the next track you want to bring as a follow-up to 'Gucci Gucci'?
We have a song that I want to come out with next called 'Left Eye.' It's basically about catching your man cheating and getting revenge. It's super angry but funny with the little witty comments and rhymes. Two Stacks produced that. Were kidnapping him from Staten island and bringing him to L.A.
I heard you've been conceptualizing videos since you were 10. Is that true?
Well, I had the little cameras and stuff. I have all these videos of me [saying], "I'm gonna do a documentary on men," and then film all the guys in the house and be like, "They got hairy feet." S--- like that. I've been pretty smart with the visionaries. I went to Berkeley Film School. I always want to take classes. I don't think I have enough time to enroll into a whole commitment like that. I'm always down to learn. I just took DJ classes a couple months ago and learned how to DJ.
There's a big deal about you signing with Columbia Records? Did you sign for $1 million?
Any situation like that when you do sign, its not like you get a million dollar check. This is funding your project, which is what you're working on for everyone. I got "X" amount of money but it wasn't like, "Hey, I got a million dollar check this big." And we're like, "Yeah!" It's not like that. A lot of it goes to the album. It's really your guys' money.
Where have you drawn inspiration for your rapping style?
I grew up listening to the Spice Girls. And I think that's what puts me in the mind to make a movement. I want to do something big. Listening to Missy Elliott when I was in the second grade, I think that is a lot of inspiration for me. Even though I don't look to them to take style. Its not like I'm taking their music and turning it into my own thing. I'm just influenced by great people.
You have your own movement you're building. Let's speak on that.
I just think we need a new age Spice Girls thing. I just think, s---, we just need some girl empowerment. Music has been kinda formulated, lately, I feel like. You're told what to listen to and they kinda make it so it's easy for you to deal with, not really brainwashing... I want to do something different and give women, like, be creative, be random, be an individual. I don't want you to listen to guys rapping about having sex with you and girls crying about love songs. The movement is what I've been calling it: Girl Gang. Then we have a separate band thing going on with DJ Lil Debbie and V-Nasty, which is White Girl Mob. People are going crazy over that. Those are the little movements I'm working on.
Is there an artist out now that you're not feeling -- creatively or artisticly -- and you feel like you're going to push them out of the way?
You're scandalous. You're trying to get me to diss someone. No, I mean I respect everyone. There's stuff I don't listen to. I'll make a song with Katy Perry. I'll make a song with Ke$ha. I'm doing whatever I want. That's the best part about everything -- I have the creative freedom to do what I want.
Have you met someone in the music industry thus far whose given you sound advice?
Snoop Dogg gave me some good advice. We made a song; me, him and V-Nasty, my sister. He's the one that told me, like, "This is what's missing. This is bridging a huge gap that was never really bridged before." You know what I'm saying. Like I go to a show and there's all these chicks there and I'm like, what do I have for these girls? What am I saying? I'm not saying anything positive for them. But they love it. I think it's pretty cool. If Snoop Dogg can relate to 'Gucci Gucci' and a little girl in Minnesota can, that's like a huge thing right there.
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