(See also: “Kreayshawn Reconsidered”, in which I realize I went way over the top with some of the things I said in this article.)
I guess I’m late to this party; a quick look around the interwebs demonstrates that debate has already been raging for months about whether or not Kreayshawn, the Oakland-based white rapper, represents America’s cross-cultural, post-racial future, or if she’s simply recycling and regurgitating tired old racist stereotypes for fun and profit.
At first I was in the pro-Kreayshawn camp; contrary to what some people are saying, I think she’s a decent rapper, she seems to have a good sense of humor and style, and I’ve always been favorably inclined toward any new artist capable of outraging my less-mainstream-than-thou friends.
Curious to learn more about her, I subscribed to her Twitter feed, and for the first couple weeks saw nothing more remarkable than the usual swagger and bluster I’d expect from a rap star on the make and a bold yet insecure girl not all that far out of her teens.
But yesterday she posted a couple things that had me re-evaluating her. The first was “Snitchin in the hood aint good,” the gangbanger mantra that has made it all but impossible for police to get a handle on the murder and mayhem that has become endemic in the America’s inner cities. She followed it up a few hours later with “Ridin round and lookin for something to shoot.” To both of which I was like, SHUT YOUR STUPID FACE, WHITE GIRL.
Kreayshawn, you are not from “the hood,” and I’m not talking geographically. I don’t care where you come from (her bio says East Oakland), you are a pop star for whom “the hood” is a marketing device you can pick up or put down as it suits you.
Ditto for your playing at being a bad-ass gangsta chick mimicking the tragic trope of brain-dead thugs tearing the heart out of one black neighborhood after another with pointless beefs and drive-bys. For countless African-American families, gang violence has meant death or crippling injury for their sons, brothers, and fathers. To your silly white ass, it’s a fashion accessory.
Mouthing mindless slogans isn’t necessarily the worst crime in the world; let’s face it, we’ve probably all done it at one time or another, especially when we were young. And honestly, I don’t think she’s doing it just to sell records or promote her image; more likely she’s just after what white kids have been aspiring to for generations: to be a little more “black.”
Nothing wrong with that: hipsters, musicians, entertainers, or just repressed white suburbanites in pursuit of a makeover, have been doing this since at least the Jazz Age, maybe, if you wanted to stretch a point, all the way to whites performing in blackface minstrel shows in the days when slavery was still the law of the land.
The knock against minstrel shows – and against mid- 20th century counterparts like Amos and Andy, was the way they pandered to the worst stereotypes about black people, mocking them as lazy, conniving, shiftless, unintelligent. The 21st century version of the minstrel show, perpetrated by black artists like Odd Future as well as white ones like Kreayshawn, has added violent, misogynistic, homophobic, drug-addled and sex-crazed to the mix.
Unlike some of her critics, I don’t care if Kreayshawn sprinkles her speech or her raps with n-bombs. As the product of a time when “nigger” still functioned as one of the most hateful words in the English language, I dislike hearing anyone, black or white, use it, but worrying about it is a lost cause now that it’s become a conversational mainstay for kids of all races and backgrounds.
And I don’t think Kreayshawn’s obvious, almost desperate desire to “be” black makes her a racist, either. There are innumerable things that people can learn and adopt from African-American culture, starting with but hardly limited to most of the music I grew up with or the heroism and devotion displayed by pioneers of the civil rights movement. Language, fashion, politics, philosophy: all have been immeasurably enriched by African and African-American influences.
But what does make Kreayshawn a racist – and, you might say, the most problematic, even dangerous kind of racist – is the kind of “black” she is trying to be. I’m reminded of another well-intentioned white guy (at least I’m sure he thought he was), William Upski Wyatt, who in his mid-90s book Bomb The Suburbs urged privileged white kids like himself to show solidarity with black people by turning their own suburbs into urban-style ghettoes.
Cover the walls with graffiti, hang out on your front stoop smoking blunts and drinking 40s, he told them, apparently never considering that there’s nothing intrinsically “black” about vandalism, unemployment, or drug and alcohol abuse. On the contrary, millions of black Americans – no doubt the vast majority – would profoundly love to see all of them banished from their own neighborhoods.
If you’re a white kid who seriously wants to “be black,” there’s no end of admirable African-Americans to pattern yourself after: authors, scientists, community leaders, even the President of the United States, not to mention the millions of working class men and women who faithfully devote themselves to supporting their families and building a future for their children.
But racists like Kreayshawn don’t see any of that. Say “black” to them and all they hear is hood rats, ghetto bling, and prison-bound thuggery. The only thing that distinguishes her view of black culture from that of a Ku Klux Klansman is that she wants to be part of it – at least as long as she can retreat back to her safe suburban home whenever things start to get unpleasant.
So hire a bunch of black actors to be in your videos, pay a bunch of black “friends” to be in your entourage, live out your fantasy, Kreayshawn, but no matter how famous you get, how much money you make, you’ll never escape the bitter truth: that you did it by spreading negative, hateful images of African-Americans that will poison the minds and attitudes of your impressionable fans while letting you believe that you’re “down” and dripping with street cred.
Know it or not, admit it or not, Kreayshawn, what you’re doing, is racist to the core. It will hurt people, a lot of people, while you’re laughing all the way to the bank.
Ok, so I also skimmed your article, and from what I understand, I agree with what you’re saying on some level. I don’t know that much about this girl, but from what I’ve seen, she needs to STOP. She’s not talented at all! Her song is called “Gucci Gucci”, talking about people wearing designer things. She can’t rap at all, she’s a hipster/ stereotype and she needs to stop representing Oakland. I’m from Oakland and I’m embarrassed. My younger cousin showed me her “Gucci Gucci” video, and I’m thinking to myself how stupid this is and I’m thinking how she’s inspiring these young girls, this kind of stuff needs to stop. Anyways, that’s what I had to say.
One more time, “Kreayshawn”…Please STOP REPRESENTING OAKLAND, YOUR EMBARRASSING.
^meant “YOU’RE EMBARASSING”^
I met a bunch of kids like this a couple of summers ago. They were redneck fuckers from a rural area. They just talked about how much weed they smoked and drank. They’d drop names like Wu-tang clan, Tupac, etc. Shit from the 90′s. I mean, Wu-tang is good and all, but these white ass rednecks were just like you say, they were stereotyping. I really hated them. I’m not black, either, but I don’t really understand what drives kids to act this way.
She gravitates towards the more grimey element of the hood and clearly blacks in her circle must have never checked her…or felt the need to check her for saying the word nigger…its a ugly word but it eas blacks who have over time transformed it into regular speak…I think that in most situations a white person be met with confrontation..shit is ridiculous but I’m not buying that she is rascist
Ah naw…I doubt she “pays” blacks to hang out with her. May seem like I am being a cheerleader for her “street cred” (for lack of a better turn .Ha! In truth I don’t care.. In my experience the bay area is a microcosim of urban kids reffering to each other as “blood”.
Looking for something to shoot
As in a video to shoot.
Y’all non-Oaklandish types are hella dumb.
Not nearly as dumb (or as dishonest) as people who believe (or pretend) that words are only capable of having one meaning.
you know why this article doesn’t make sense? You keep mentioning acting black. But then you mention if white kids want to act black, they should mimic blacks like Obama. But Obama is an example of how any person from any race can be anything. I mean, it would be one thing if he delivered his speeches with a slang that is commonly associated with hip-hop, and which YOU would therefore associate with black people, but he doesn’t. He has distanced himself from hip-hop culture. The bottom line is you are mad at her for doing things that you say are offensive stereotypes of black culture, but really you are the one associating the things she does with black culture in the first place. The real problem here is that even though you love hip-hop, you cannot stop yourself from feeling that there are problems with its messages. But you keep those anxieties under raps, because hip-hop is fun and you have to ignore those feelings to enjoy it. So when she acts a certain way you interpret as a negative, stereotypical black behavior, and you then claim to have a problem with it, you are actually revealing that you have a problem with what you perceive to be the negative aspects of hip-hop, and thus, to you, the negative aspects of black culture. When you see Kreayshawn behave like she does, you feel comfortable attacking her about it because you feel a white person should see these negative things in hip-hop culture and distance herself like Obama has. But remember, you are the one that considers these aspects negative. You are frustrated that she would behave this way, because you associate her being white with having a choice not to behave like this. You have the same feelings towards black artists, but will not admit it because you like what you think is negative about hip-hop (making you a hypocrite), and therefore want to protect black people from being labeled as negative due to their involvement in hip-hop by acting like what is reflected in this music is black culture in general and therefore it is expected of them to have particular qualities that you feel are negative and so they cannot be criticized for it because of that reason, but really you are wrong. Everyone knows that any black person can behave in any manner they want, and that when they do, it is that person’s choice. You are the one associating hip-hop with black culture, no one can force your mind to do that… After all, these are all just attempts for you to persuade yourself that you are not a hypocrite for thinking it is wrong to make music about the topics hip-hop covers even though you love listening to it and you love the feeling the music gives you. GET OVER YOURSELF. If you attack Kreayshawn for acting the way she does, it reveals that you believe NO ONE should act like this, which means YOU are the one throwing dirt on black culture, because you are the one who associates hip-hop with it. But if you believe she should not behave like this, then you must believe it is unacceptable for anyone to behave like this, or else you are being hypocritical and racist which it seems that you have no problem being.
furthermore shes 22.. you understand the implications of being from such a generation, do you not?…
No. What is your implication? That being 22 absolves a person for being responsible for their words and actions? Perhaps you’d also like to raise the voting age to 35 or 40, so as not to give power over electing our leaders or establishing our political destiny to “such a generation?”
cite an example of her dropping the “n-bomb”
http://www.vladtv.com/blog/49198/kreayshawn-defends-her-right-to-use-the-n-word/
Brilliant article and I agree with you wholeheartedly. When I first heard this on our DMX music system at my workplace, I thought to myself ‘What is this bullshit? Did someone sneak a mixtape in on us?’. Then I heard it again and I was intrigued so I looked it up. The song itself is utterly mediocre and looks like it was produced on a home computer with a 30 day trial, mixing software. Furthermore the song itself sounded like someone with minimal education originating from a ghetto could’ve come up with it. I was a bit unnerved to see a scrawny hipster white girl with hipster accessories ‘rapping’ like a hoodrat. At this stage I’m wondering if this ‘Gucci Gucci’ crap is satire and whether she’s poking fun at the ‘ghetto life’. Furthermore if it were a black girl who came up this crap, would an exec at Sony even entertain her for more than 5 minutes?
http://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/2011/12/oakland-rapper-kreayshawn-back-track
Hi Larry. This is an interesting article. This person is kind of a ding bat. The only thing I would take issue with is calling the criminal element she is trying to ape “brain dead” thugs. One of my best friends ended up in prison for doing some really stupid shit in Oakland about a decade ago. Through that relationship I’ve had the chance to meet some people who would fall under that category and about the only thing I can say is that the reasons why they did and in some cases still do what they do are extremely complicated and the sad truth is once someone becomes a part of the criminal subculture in a place like Oakland it is extremely hard to leave it behind. Some became a part of that culture as early as 10 or 12. Anyhow, thanks for the interesting piece. I’m using a phone so please excuse any typos. Cheers.
This is a very good point. Through my volunteer work I’ve come in contact with a lot of criminals, and in my younger days, to be quite honest, I was somewhat of a criminal myself. While, as you say, people might not always make good choices, that’s far from the same thing as being “brain dead,” and I should have known better than to make such a glib and facile generalization. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
The crazy thing is that Kreayshawn is on the new issue of Marie Claire wearing designer brands (Gucci, D & G etc…) How hypocrite! She puts down the “basic bitches” (women of colors)in her song Gucci Gucci because they are label whores according to her and here she is! I noticed that she NEVER put down the corporations (Gucci or others) but it’s easy to go against poor women of color who have been brain washeed by corporations to buy designer brands! I guess she is cashin’ WHO IS THE WHORE?
@me-gawd SO SPACE OUT! Ahaha! You sound like Sarah palin talking about why she can negotiate with the Russian (remember?) She said that after all she could see Russia from her kitcen window! RIDICULOUS! Don’t make any sense.
“Looking for something to shoot
As in a video to shoot.”
I think your article is a bit confused. I agree wholeheartedly with the idea that there isn’t anything intrinsically ‘black’ about violence, drugs and alcohol abuse, but I think that illustrates that this girl and others like her aren’t trying to be ‘black’, they’re trying to imitate a cultural idea propagated by (mainly) black musicians. Black musicians also tokenistically use the ideas of shooting and smoking blunts and blah blah blah when they don’t come from the ‘hood’. There are middle class black rappers. It’s annoying that lots of people want to imitate this ideal of being ‘street’ and everything that entails, but it’s not racist. In order to consider that it’s racist for her to take on these stereotypes you have to assume that ‘black’ is synonymous with all those bad things, which you (and I) don’t seem to think? I just thought this was a confused piece. Admittedly, so is my response to it, but I’m a bit tired.
Me Gawd well put… “Ridin round and lookin for something to shoot.” To both of which I was like, SHUT YOUR STUPID FACE, WHITE GIRL.”– this is beyond stupid… Riding around and looking for something to shoot has historically been a white american thing..Ask millions of Natives & Blacks killed at the end of a barrel of a white racist. How did the roles reverse. When did violence become synonymous with being black? We still have yet to commit the type of genocide against any people (including ourselves) at the rate of our white brothers & sisters.
There are a lot of logical fallacies here, and there are more broad arguments against your point then there are for it. Also, I think you’re promoting just as much (if not more) racism as her.
You’re welcome to cite some examples.
Logical Fallacies: the fact that the entire article is about her acting like a black stereotype which you yourself are stereotyping/categorizing. Also, she was looking for a “video to shoot” with her camera, because she edits and directs videos (which is publicly known). Another is the fact that V-Nasty says the N word and Kreayshawn has answered to many allegation with the fact that she does not say the N word, and it is in fact one of her White Girl Mob members who does. Perhaps next time do a little more research before presenting an argument like this!
My bad on the grammar there. She grew up in that environment and mocked what she saw, creating a personality that balances the suburban / hood aspects that she integrates into her lyrics (if you listen to her music where she mentions that she had the opportunity to go to college as a photography major but decided on being a “self taught prodigy” instead), which is okay at her age to do. It’s not a huge deal.
All points which have been brought up a number of times already, but I’m happy to address them again.
1) There are indeed some people who stereotype “black” or “ghetto” behavior in the way it is portrayed in Kreayshwan’s video. I am not one of them. Having spent the majority of my life in big cities with racially diverse populations, I am aware that that kind of behavior does go on, but so do lots of other kinds. You can debate until the cows come home about what Kreayshawn’s intent was (and maybe she’s not even totally sure herself); the one thing that’s difficult or impossible to refute is that she portrays a predominantly black group of people in what is clearly meant to be (or is) “the ghetto,” behaving in a stereotypical way, and, in my opinion at least, glamorizes it.
2) Yeah, like people never use double meanings to make jokes (or serious statements) about sex and violence. Only an idiot would not realize how “looking for something to shoot” is going to read, especially when posted by someone who routinely tries to portray herself as hard-ass and thuglike, and when read by someone (e.g., the vast majority of the public) who is not aware of her photography hobby. Kreayshawn is not an idiot. She knew how people would read that remark.
3) I seriously don’t care who said or didn’t say the N word; what matters is that Kreayshawn is providing a platform from which that word is being said, and not only said, but said without being challenged.
She said in an interview that she constantly told V-Nasty not to say the N word and that she doesn’t condone it. Also, she directs all her videos and mentions shooting videos/photographs in her songs, which is known by her fans, who follows her on twitter? her fans.
Also telling her to “shut her face stupid white girl” is immature and racist in itself. Perhaps drop the stereotypes and racial slurs yourself before you write about someone else who does the same thing… just saying.
i honestly think its more racist to say things like, oh hes acting black, or shes trying to act black. kreashawn is not trying to act like anything, she just is.. my mom spent most her life on the streets and ive lived in the hood for a very long time.. i think its fucked up when white people put black people in a box and try to pretend to be something that their not, but i for one am a product of my environment and kreashawn is too!
It’s amazing how much heated debate about “racism” against blacks goes on solely between sanctimonious limousine liberal-type white people with zero input from actual blacks.
It is clear Larry regards general American subversive urban “ghetto” behavior as “predominantly” black behavior. That’s partly because of his age and partly due to the areas in which he has lived, and partly due to his own cultural biases. Urban ghetto behavior exists everywhere. In many different countries, it takes different cultural forms. There is nothing inherently “black” about any of it. Go to Korea, Russia, or India, places where there are no “blacks,” and you will see similar urban ghetto behavior with gangs, vandalism, drugs, and violence among youths.
It’s clear that you need to review your reading comprehension skills. In fact, my argument is not that this type of behavior is specifically or predominantly “black,” it is that artists like Kreayshawn, by perpetuating that stereotype, help contributed to people making that mistake.
And in fact I have seen urban ghetto behavior in such widely disparate places as New Zealand, Hawaii and Greenland, although it’s only fair to note that the style, slang and sound track in those places are heavily influenced by American thug/gangsta ways.
But where you really reveal yourself as a menace – worse, really, than Kreayshawn, who I think was mostly trying to have some fun without realizing the underlying message she was putting out – is where you romanticize or idealize “urban ghetto behavior” as “subversive.” This is the schtick of dunderheaded white liberals since at least the 1960s: trying to use the tragedy of wrecked lives and dysfunctional societies as masturbatory fodder for their revolutionary wet dreams.
I’m sorry, but there is nothing remotely “subversive” about the dead-end cycle of drugs, machismo, drive-bys and death that our ghettos produce. It is a straight-up tragedy, and the fact that a few enterprising artists have been able to spin it into lucrative songs and stories to enthrall gullible consumers like yourself doesn’t make it any less so.
Lest I sound entirely negative, of course the ghettos are filled with stories of inspiration and hope as well, but all too often they get buried beneath the imagery that people like Kreayshawn promote and that you apparently fetishize.
Well first of all, taking your time out to write a article to degrade Kreayshawn’s personality is fuckin stupid. Then you wanna call her a white girl ? Seriously, your making yourself look racist.How the fuck do you know where she’s from or if she’s acting ? Saying people want to be “black” is racist/stereotyping, because acting black in your case is being ghetto, or being from the hood, or the way you speak, or type of music you listen to, which is ignorant, because your degrading the black society, & your categorizing black people on how a majority of them act, which is wrong, like saying if your white you cant be from the hood, which in your case is kind of sounding like what your saying. Which is wrong, look at eminem, he’s white and he raps about shit like being from the hood. So this article isignorant, and you and everyone else that has something to say about her lyrics or tweets should hush because everyone has a freedom of speech and can act anyway they please.
KREAYSHAWN’S A #BADASS!! && I AM BLACK! this article is bullshit! People can act && be as they want and i dont think this girl’s Racist at all..SmH People Needa get over Some shit!
You know what, Justina? I think she’s a badass, too. And pretty talented, too. I didn’t write this to tear her down, though I know it could have come across that way. I wrote it because I felt she needed to think more carefully about what kind of message she was putting out there. With great talent comes great responsibility. Yeah, people can always “act and be as they want,” but truly great people want to be truly great, not just pander to the lowest denominator.
ya’ll are some funny ass wanna-sound-smart motherfuckers talkin hella shit bout a young lady who grew up in a very unique locale. I’m a white boy from the south and i was called nigga way before i ever used it and i wasnt all “OMG he just called me black or a ‘nigger’ because you gotta be clear enough to realize whats beneath the word. Dude. Man. Cuz. Bro nigga. Forty years ago some youngster calls a random older stranger dude and he gets beat down when all that’s meant is ‘my fellow human being’ or buddy. I’ve heard black buddies talkin bout this white supremacy skinhead in our neighborhood like, “that nigga Grumpy (dude’s name) just got a new car…” and nothing was meant by it. Now my neighbor grumpy calls me a wigger and a race traitor and he’d get mad if he ever heard himself called nigga. So fucking stupid, him and you. I act black?? Like how the fuck am i supposed to “act”? White? Non-black? Hey man, 60′s youth weirded out squares and check this out, nigga you trippin 4 nothing
so anyway I’m from the south, raised with blacks and was never taught that i was white or that there was a white way i should adhere to. Grew up on hip hop, WITH hip hop being born in 77 myself and in the seventies nigga hadn’t grown as a word beyond blacks. I imagine. The 80′s hit and you got this new term, wigga, or to be accurate, ‘wigger’, as I’d heard it. This is before nigga’d been assimilated still. Then in the 90′s I’m being called nigga by blacks who dont even know me, got my homies coming in the pad, ‘what’s up my niggas?!’ to a mixed race room… Then it was years of hiphop culture evolution and race lines just dont get drawn amongst my peeps, my homies, my niggas. Relevant to that subculture of course. I dont roll into church and say ‘hey nigga put something in the collection plate’ cause in that environment they’d take offense. Maybe cause they’re sensitive or whatever but I’m not stupid. Then i moved to the bay and its all street love AINT no real niggas giving a fuck
then you got your fake niggas and i ain’t talkin bout blacks, fake people are fake niggas. Fake niggas is fake people. They the ones, no matter what race, giving a big fuck. And i can dig it, it’s a got word with lots of emotion tied to it. But settle down, dont cry, dont threaten, dont trip. Just like the term motherfucker, some people get offended if it’s used “on” them. Like CHILL OUT MOTHAFUCKA. But they dont hear me tho and you dont either. For those that do, you the real ones DONT judge based on color, dont take offense when AINT none given. Or take offense sucka? IDGAF. But i went to the bay area, went to jail and prison and so racial grouping I’ve never seen in jails down south (miss,atl,tenn) and I’m in a elevator at court with all blacks and a youngster is taking all the sack lunch food he can get. He’s now got am armful and I’m like ‘damn this nigga hungry!’ and a og (older) black dude says, real composed, ‘watch your mouth.’ nuff said, i get it. Not the time or place.
in CA prison its race politics. In my pod there is a white shower and a white phone and white tables. I gotta respect the blacks’ tables same as they respect the other races’ resources. Its fucked up especially cause i got blacks in my family and i never liked racist whites (racist blacks aint cool either) or separation BS. But its the law of the land and if your race is saying en like this or get stomped out, you do like they say. And i got over it, rolled with it. Also was out there, called race traitor for listening to rap. Also saw that white pride is just as valid and innocent as any racial pride. I think it’s all dated and just like most ism’s will one day be overcome. I hope. And all ya’ll feeling hurt pride cause i got my niggas and they may or may not be black, nor may i… Well get the fuck over your ego riding all up on me. Arrogant fuck. I had a lame ass associate once and we were talkin and i said ‘dog, it’s been a good day’ or something, and hein complete sincerity says:
he says: dont call me dog. I’m like youre joking? And he’s like no, I’m not a fucking dog so dont call me one. OMG. This nigga’s fo real. And i didnt push it, just said dog, thats how i talk bro but if you ain’t cool with that i wont call you dog. Censorship over something someone is offended by, even when I’m not calling him a dog at all. So silly just like someone thinking I’m being called a nigger when my dogs say what up nigga. Quit raining negativity and regulation on others you prideful cunts, get the fuck over YOUR EGOS. Just words dog, dont mean shit. Unless you want it to, unless you’re hung up on something. And i can respect that. Simply put, my bad, you AINT my nigga. You’s a hoe. Check out YouTube skit ‘the nigga pass’ for some light on this. Peace and love over discord bitches. ‘M out.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=afMd_FnkllU
Racist? This whole article is racist! Your whole point here is that she is racist because “she acts black”. Can you please define that?
No, I did not say that. There is no single or particular way of acting “black.”
You need to read the article more carefully. What I said was that she is acting out a negative stereotype that some people, especially racists, mistakenly believe applies to black people in general.
This article exemplifies your racism far more so than Kreayshawns. She is interested in a ‘culture’ not a ‘race’. The cultural references she takes her cues from are not race specific and could also be found in hispanic communities etc.
“To your silly white ass”
If I came accross an article where someone was referring to a black person as:
“To your silly black ass”
I would find it abhorant.
I do agree some of the things she aparently said on twitter were ignorant and misguided but consider those that you chastice whilst making sweeping remarks.