Somethin ‘Bout Kreay


Band: Kreayshawn
Album: Somethin ‘Bout Kreay
Best song: “Gucci Gucci” is still good, even after all the plays.
Worst song: “Summertime” is an insult to ears.

I’ll admit that I found the charm in “Gucci Gucci” when it was released last year. The video’s pretty entertaining, the beat’s pretty good, Kreayshawn’s lyrics are simple yet interesting and she wears a Blackhawks logo on a necklace in the video (this is how I came to the song. Someone sent it to me with that hook). Ultimately, there was a huge backlash against “Gucci Gucci,” but I still pop it on and enjoy it.

Really, the song’s charm is threefold. The first (and likely least important) aspect is Kreayshawn herself. Her backstory — white girl from Oakland, daughter of a punk rock lady of reknown, bisexual, all around “artist” (filmmaker, rapper, etc.), etc. — is not without value in a sea of the same backgrounds. Secondarily, the record does have an infectious beat and catchy hook; these things matter.

Third, though, is the entire lyrics of the song. The backlash against consumer culture is interesting and the song’s hookline of “Basic bitches wear that shit, but I don’t even bother” (in reference to Gucci, Fendi and Prada) is something. The actual verse lyrics bounce between battle bits (the dig on Nicki Minaj is pretty transparent with “Bitch, you ain’t no Barbie, I see you work at Arby’s”), very modern (“bitches follow me like Twitter”) and the general rap boasting (“I put that on my partner, I put that on my family/Oakland city represent, address me as your majesty”). It’s a fun little song, destined for one-hit-wonder status.

And then the press got ahold of Kreayshawn.

I work in journalism — thankfully, not in entertainment journalism — and I do think we could improve the industry a ton. In the case of entertainment journalism, the first instinct to attach/cover/exploit the Next Big Thing is troubling, though I get it. The problem is when it becomes overkill, as it often does in the modern media landscape (there are simply too many media entities to not have overkill happen).

And that happened here. Kreayshawn is a novelty. But, mostly, she’s willing. Unlike some artists, Kreayshawn was all too willing to talk to anyone who asked about her music, her art, her sexuality, whatever. So, before she had anything other than an awful mixtape, she was everywhere, all on the strength of one song.

So, because of that, we all got mad at Kreayshawn. She sounded like what she is: A not particularly smart young creative woman who exists in a culture that rewards such things. She’s not all that good an MC (the best song on her mixtape is “Bumpin Bumpin.” And that song has a grand total of, like, five lines of lyrics.) and I’ve yet to see any of her “art,” whatever that is.

Which is why no one should be upset that Somethin ‘Bout Kreay is garbage. “Gucci Gucci” still holds up after so many listens, but there are no other songs of value on the record. “Left Ey3” is essentially classless, while “Bff (Bestfriend)” is really really stupid. The worst, of course is “Summertime.” The song has the world’s worst chorus of “It’s summertime and your bitch is on my mind,” coupled with the world’s worst guest bit by Kreayshawn’s crewmate V-Nasty.

It’s not a very good record in any way, shape or form. The various people producing these songs are clearly not talented, which sorta fits with the record and absolutely fits with Kreayshawn.

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  • About Me

    I'm Ross Jordan Gianfortune. I am not a writer, but I sometimes write here about music and my life. I live in Washington, DC.

    I used to review each of Rolling Stone Magazine's top 500 albums of all time. Now I'm writing about albums I own.

    My work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Gazette, The Atlantic, Sno-Cone and a bunch of defunct zines.

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