Kreayshawn

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story / Koko Ntuen. photography / JOSHUA SPENCER.
stylist / Natalie Toren.  hair / Taylor Bond Stevenson. makeup / VICTORIA ARONSON.
stylist assistant / Chuck Willis

After releasing the video to her single “Gucci Gucci”, Kreayshawn’s music has been showing up all over the internet, press and on people’s ring tones. The Oakland singer/songwriter/DJ/director/swag-assassin,  has been dealing with the fame modestly, but continues to extend her talents as she just signed with Columbia Records, directed Red Hot Chili Pepper’s latest video and was nominated for the MTV Video Music Award’s “Best New Artist”. She’s now on tour and is preparing to drop her first album by the end of this year.

What are you crushing on right now?
I have a crush on Waka Flocka, but before he got fat.

A lot of people have actually been mentioning him as crush-worthy in this issue.
He is. Oh god, when he first came out in his little press photos with his shirt unbuttoned and he had his abs going, I was like, “Oh my god, I need to take this guy back to Oakland with me.”

How’s your life these days? What have you been up to and how do you feel about all the media sensation around you? You’re getting a lot of attention.
It’s crazy because you do all the interviews and everything all day and then you go online a week later and they’re all posted up and you’re thinking, “Oh my god, I really am all over the internet.” But it doesn’t feel like that because for me, it’s just like talking to a whole bunch of people and telling them about what I’ve been doing. Like one-on-one conversations. Then next thing you know it’s everywhere in magazines. It’s definitely been cool to see myself everywhere.

Did you see MediaTakeOut’s claim that you’re dating Da Brat?
Oh my god. Yeah! Speaking of crushes.

Is there any truth in that?
No. Everyone had their promo twitter team and hit me up and they were like, “Hey yo. Da Brat wants to get in contact with you.” Then when it went on Media Take Out and my manager was like, “Are you ready for this? You’re gonna die laughing.” I was like, “What?” and then he was like, “Look what’s on Media Take Out.” It was so funny. I think it’s good publicity.

They love you. Because when they hate, they hate hard.
Yeah, thank god. Me and Da Brat we haven’t even talked, so we’re not in love and we haven’t been Skyping. Although, I wish it was true.

You have a pretty wide internet presence already, so do you think you may be regretting anything you’ve posted in the past? Have you been getting a lot of people talking to you about all your past posts on your blog and videos? And more specifically, about Kat Stacks, has she reached out to you?
Oh man. I wish she would.  When she was out of jail, she heard the old song “Bumpin Bumpin” and she tweeted “Kat Stacks grimy, but I feel so elegant.” That made my day right there.

So what’s your next single?
I’m not sure yet. I just want to put the album out.

When will the album come out?
By the end of this year. Hopefully in the Fall.

How does it feel to be so famous? Do you notice a difference between now and six months ago?
Yeah. I noticed a difference between getting stuff in the mail for free and doing a lot of interviews and stuff like that, but as far as my headspace, it’s exactly the same. Yeah, I’m not one of those crazy chicks.

You’re not like, “I WANT IT NOW MOTHERFUCKER!” or  were like that and still like that.
Sometimes I get like that. I really like drinking milk and sometimes I’ll get all pissed off if I don’t have my milk.

That’s really cute and disgusting at the same time.
Yeah, I call myself Baby Kreay when I get angsty. I’m like, “I’m just tired okay. I’m a baby!”

Were you surprised by the popularity of “Gucci Gucci”? Has anyone been offended by the song?
As far as I know, everyone’s been super into it. The craziest thing is definitely when you walk down the street and people recognize you and they all love it. No one’s ever come at me and slapped me in the face with their Gucci purse or anything. Can you imagine a girl coming up to me with her Gucci purse and being like, “I am not a basic bitch!” then slaps me with it? Laughs. That’s MediaTakeOut right there.

Within the last two or three months I’ve heard it on so many cell phone ringers. Just yesterday I heard it four times. Have you heard that yet, people answering their phone to your song?
Nuh-uh. That’d be crazy! I need to hear that. None of my friends have that. They all hate me.

What are you looking forward to in the  Fall?
I’m definitely looking forward to the [MTV] VMA’s. Also just doing more crazy shoots, getting my hands into some other business and working on the album for sure. And having [free] time because ever since the day “Gucci Gucci” dropped we’ve been non-stop in motion. I’m looking forward to that vacation time already.

What did it feel like when you signed your record deal?
I don’t know. It’s crazy because I never made music with the intention of getting a record deal. It wasn’t like,“Oh my god. Yeah, we’re gonna make this video “Gucci Gucci” and this song and we’re gonna get a record deal.” We even have meetings with people who’ve told us, “This song will never get on the radio. You’re crazy. It’ll never work.” Now it’s kinda like, is this really happening?  You get the check and you’re thinking, “Oh my god. This is real money? No it’s not!” So everything has still been sort of unreal. Just doing a whole bunch of press has been keeping my mind from going crazy and stuff like that.

Have you bought anything extravagant since you’ve got all the money?
Well, I got a car. It’s a 1990 Buick Riatta, which is like my dream car. It’s cool to get my dream car that I could never afford, even though it was only $4,000 dollars.

Do you feel like you’ve won the lottery? Do you have all kinds of relatives coming out of the woodworks like “Hey, I gotta get my teeth fixed” or “Take me shopping girl”?
Yeah, it’s kinda like that. I think people believe I have more money than I actually do because they read, “1.4 million dollar deal”, so they think I have a million dollars. But it’s nowhere even close to that. But you know, I’ve been helping out my mom and my grandpa and stuff like that. I help all my friends.

Is your mom super excited about your career?
Yeah, she’s super happy. She’s always reading about me non-stop and texting me like a bitch from the internet world. I’m like, “Mom! Stop!”

Wasn’t your mom in a band too when you were growing up?
Yeah, she was in an all-girl surf cult band called the Trash Women.

Are you guys going to make any music together? Have you already made music with her?
I told her that if I ever do MTV Unplugged that she would be my livestand.

Who’s your typical dream person? Who do you wanna be with?
My typical dream person would have to be funny. And he’d probably have to smoke weed ‘cause if he doesn’t then he’ll probably think I’m a loser. They gotta be cute. I’m not a person who judges by race or gender or religion or anything. It’s all about making me happy and I’ll make you happy-if you make me happy. I’m a giving  person, you know. I’m also a person who likes to fight and argue, so you have to learn how to fight and argue with me, but not break up with me. Because arguments are good especially if you don’t know how the other person is feeling. If you’re gonna push their buttons then you know how much they care about you. I’m a button pusher.

Who do you wanna date? Do you have anyone in particular that you have your eye on or that you have a crush on, other than Wacka Flocka?
I think me and Tyler the Creator would make a cute couple. I don’t even think he likes me that much, but I like him. Can’t you just see our little babies? Maybe one day. Maybe he’ll read this.

How did you link up with the Red Hot Chili Peppers? How did you end up directing their video?
It was crazy because they were looking for someone to direct their new video and they were reaching out to a whole bunch of different directors and they ended up picking my treatment out of a whole bunch of other peoples’ treatments. Me and Anthony talked like a week or two before and everyone told me that those guys were super chill. They’re super nice. It was all good.

You make really beautiful videos, are you going to continue to do that?  Are you going to do a feature film or anything?
I’ve been thinking about writing a script in my spare time because I don’t have time to direct anything new as of right now. So if I am secretly working on the master plan script then that’s like killing two birds with one stone.

Anything you want to talk about? Any questions that you wish someone would ask you during all your press junkets?
I don’t know. I can’t really think right now. Can you think of anything random? I can tell you about my first crush. Okay, this is gonna be so hilarious. My first crush was on this El Salvadorian boy named Boris. This was in the first grade and my real name is Natasha, so it was like Natasha and Boris from Bullwinkle. I super crushed on him so hard. My mom would always make fun of me. It was like puppy love. I was writing his name on everything with hearts around it. It was so funny!