Unmaterial Girl

Kreayshawn, like any other kid who suddenly finds her every offhand comment published and scrutinized to see if it might possibly piss somebody off . . . somewhere is finding it a bit difficult to adjust to being a flashpoint for controversy.

She’s naive enough to think she can diss Rick Ross under the radar and green enough to show up unprepared for a live radio freestyle. But she’s also cheerfully kooky, disarmingly honest and unrelentingly positive. It takes a certain amount of youthful élan and bald-faced chutzpah to claim you’ve just invented something that’s going to change the world—but that’s Kreayshawn.

The 22 year-old’s initial foray into the limelight has been turbulent and bruising. Even though a bazillion people streamed her YouTube hit “Gucci Gucci,” not many of them will admit they actually liked it. But how else can you explain nearly 22 million viewings of a single video?

In an interview with CULTURE, Kreayshawn (real name: Natassia Zolot)—who’s scheduled to perform at The Galaxy in Santa Ana on Dec. 30—opened up about a lot about her life (with the possible exception of her childhood)—though she remained secretive about some of the details.

And maybe that’s a sign she’s already learning—and maybe not always the hard way—to be more careful with what she says. Her painfully obvious inexperience is what makes these first steps she’s taking into the life of a public figure so fun to watch. You can practically see this opinionated, talented and potentially very successful young woman growing up before our eyes. Does she have a truly great song inside her waiting to be written? Will anyone still be talking about her in a year? And, most importantly, did she really figure out how to make Wonkavision a reality?

How are things going?

Right now I’m just working on recording the album and doing a lot of shows, which is cool because I get to travel . . . It’s crazy because I never thought I’d get the chance to go anywhere and now I’ve gone everywhere within, like, a couple days. So, it’s cool to see all of America. AMERICA!

So, what’s the verdict?

Um, America is cool, you know. It’s crazy because when you’re from one place and you’ve never been anywhere else you’re just like, “There’re other places that people live? That’s crazy.” Going to New York was crazy for me because it’s so huge and I just never knew anything about it.

Did you dig NYC?

Yeah, I got my foot run over by a cab and everything.

Your biggest song to date is “Gucci Gucci,” which is pretty damn catchy. What inspired you to make it?

I was always coming down to L.A., but even living in San Francisco you get all types of women who think their outfit makes them better than someone else. It was kind of a song with a play on “Don’t wear these things because they’ll make you think you’re better than other people.”

And how did it come together?

I was basically on Twitter and I would just hit people up with my email. I can’t do it anymore, but I was, like, “Send me beats everyone” and I was just listening to mad beats all the time. So the guy who produced it—he’s from Staten Island—he sent me the beat, and I was, like, “Man, this beat is hella tight.” It samples a previous song that I did which makes it super-catchy, and so it was basically coming up with a cool idea: make fun of the girls who buy into materialistic things. I never thought it would be something that would go crazy all over the Internet and all over the radio.

We made that song in December and it was something that I played for my friends and we were, like, “This is cool. We should make a music video for this.” And some guys from Canada were interested in shooting it. So everything just fell into place, and it’s just crazy to see everything happen super-organically.

Do you prefer collaborating or making music solo?

I like helping people and collaborating with people through the Internet just because for me that’s how I came about. I think the Internet really levels the playing field for everybody to have an opportunity to be in the music scene from just putting a whole bunch of music online, or just like being able to get beats off the Internet and giving someone the opportunity that wouldn’t think they’d even be able to meet you.

You got signed to Columbia Records almost immediately. Why did you go with a major label?

You know not a lot of people get that opportunity, and I thought it would be a great thing to do to just push everything that I want to do. It’s like beyond music and being able to appear to a lot of people and have people put that power behind you and help you make sense of everything. I knew I wanted to do something big, but I never knew I was going to be signing a record deal. I never made music with that intent. It was always something I did to be creative and, like, have fun with my friends.

Here you are a year later with a major label deal, on magazine covers, on TV hosting the red carpet at the MTV Video Music Awards. Is this all moving too fast for you?

It would be too fast for anyone. It’s definitely a crazy thing to have thrown on your plate, but I think I’ve been handling it as good as anyone else would. I mean, I do a lot of stuff that I know for a fact that my friends wouldn’t be able to handle. They would probably crack.

So, how do you keep from flaming out with all this madness going on around you?

Just, like, smoking weed. That helps.

Any favorite strains you’d like to us about?

As far as marijuana, I’d say Cookies is the best strain out right now. It’s like super good weed and when you smoke it, it kind of tastes like thin mint cookies—like the Girl Scout cookies. It’s definitely my favorite and that’s what I’ve been smoking lately. I like all kinds of weed, but I’m definitely a Kush person. Purple’s cool, but I’ve smoked so much Purple.

Do you belong to a dispensary?

I had a lot of dispensaries hit me up and wanna, like, I don’t know, “weed sponsor” me . . . Yeah, but I have my [medical marijuana patient] card. You have to make sure you have your card just in case.

And what exactly are these lofty goals of yours?

To put out the album by the end of this year and just change . . . you know, I get, like, women and little girls who hit me up and say, “You inspired me to be myself. You inspired me to get a camera. You inspired me to rap.” I just wanna inspire everyone to be creative and I want to write scripts for movies and I want to find time when I’m, like, 27 to write a book about my life or something. I just want to inspire a whole bunch of people because I’ve done a lot and I’ve been through a lot even though I’m only 22. I got my first apartment when I was 17 on my own. I’ve been leading the adult life, you know?

Does being a role model for young people make you uncomfortable at all?

Me and my sister V-Nasty are always checking on my fans. Like, they’ll send us, like, their report cards and shit like that. Weird stuff. We’re always telling people to stay in school. There isn’t a lot of positive messages in a lot of rap music. It’s kinda like, “Buy this, buy that. Get rich doing rap or sell drugs.” And it’s definitely something I’ve seen growing up, but if I have the opportunity to tell people to do different—even just saying it on Twitter. That’s where people are looking, you know?

If you have a voice you should be using it to motivate people or do something positive. Whether it’s making music for people to jam out to or putting positive messages in your music for people to listen to.

Lately you’ve been getting a lot of negative press—mostly for dissing other rappers. Are you trying to cause trouble?

I think sometimes I get surprised because I guess I forget how big I am because everything’s happened so fast. I forget that if I say one thing it can be [misconstrued] as something else and ends up being a big deal. I’m just used to being with my friends and goofing off and joking around. It’s hard, but it’s just about learning when is the right time to say stuff, you know?

Why did you think it would be a good idea to mess with Rick Ross? Why did you call him “fat” and “fake.”

That’s already been squashed. That was just me being goofy and just talking too much, and it turned from a line that I said then it got [misconstrued] into a beef, and then me on Ustream didn’t help it. Just a lot of stupid stuff

And you pissed off Game enough to earn a few choice lines in his new mixtape single “Uncle Otis.”

It’s just weird. I’m making music and then you got all these people coming at me, but it’s just how shit works, I guess.

You’re a white female rapper—which is a little unique. Has that affected how you approach making music?

No. I grew up where nobody cared if you were a girl and you were rapping, and nobody cared if you were white and you were rapping. I’ve always just been making music how I want to make it. It’s something that I don’t even notice.

I saw something you wrote somewhere about the “unfiltered pain and torture you received as a child in the cold world.” Was it really that bad for your growing up?

I had a rough childhood, and a lot of people would say when you grow up you’re going to get it good because it was really hard for you. Sometimes I think that a lot of what I’ve been through helped me make sense of everything that’s going on right now.

I probably went to 10 different elementary schools. I was already moving around a lot for a whole bunch of different reasons, but that will be in the book when I’m 27. A lot of dark shit happened, but I wouldn’t want to put all that out on front street you know. I keep that to myself. Until I’m ready.

Your mom was in a punk band called The Trashwomen. Did you get along with your parents?

My dad wasn’t in my life at all, but my mom and my grandpa were my main people. I’m still cool with my mom. She moved to L.A. and I’ve been helping her look for a job. Me and my mom are all good.

So, on your website you say if the music thing doesn’t work out you have tons of other skills. What kinds of abilities are we talking about here?

Well I went to film school and I’m pretty good at directing music videos and really good at editing them. I do that and I do art. And I got a whole bunch of ideas. I have an invention I’ve been working on. I can’t really talk about it.

Wait a minute. You’ve got a freakin‘ invention?

Yeah, it’s a serious, like [a] technological breakthrough. It’s like an invention that I’ve been working on. And I’m fleshing out the idea of it right now. I’m pretty sure it’s something that can shift, like, the history of mankind through technology.

What?

No, I’m serious. You’re like the third person I’ve mentioned it to.

What is this thing? Can you give me a hint?

A hint would be . . . something that was kind of made in Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, but it wasn’t made successfully.

Holy shit. You’ve perfected Fizzy Lifting Drinks?

No. But that would be cool. Maybe it is. You never know.

Alright, Edison, so you dropped out of high school but then you somehow landed a full scholarship to Berkeley Digital Film Institute. How’d you pull that off?

Once I found out that making music videos was something that was possible I was just super motivated to do them, like, everyday. So, I basically went there with the intention of finding out how much it would cost and try and get a loan. But I couldn’t get a loan and my grandpa couldn’t get me a loan. I just showed them all my work and once the dean found out I wouldn’t be able to get a loan he was, like, “We give out a scholarship, you know, one every year, and I’m going to talk to my wife and some people,” and blah-blah-blah, and I ended up getting it which was pretty awesome.

But then you dropped out.

Well the school is broken up into four semesters and I decided just to take what I learned from the first half—because the second half of the school is just working on your own projects inside the school—so I was, like, I might as well just take what I learned and go to L.A. and just see if I can get on some sets down there.

To tell you the truth, I kind of feel if you get a scholarship you should finish school and get that certificate.

Honestly, it wasn’t UC Berkeley. It was Berkeley Digital Film [Institute]. It wasn’t like you get a degree anyway. It was ghetto. I’m sorry. Everyone thinks that I graduated from UC Berkeley and I’m a like a scholar, but it isn’t true.

Are we going to see a movie written and/or directed by Kreayshawn someday?

Yeah, I mean I definitely have been thinking of what my first script I want to write is going to be about. I pretty much [have] got a cool story; something that happened to one of my friends in the span of a day. It’s going to be a good little movie. Movies that happen in the span of day are always the funniest. Like Pineapple Express.

On your Twitter page you list a bunch of . . . “skills.” I understand “Cinematographer” and “Editor” but what’s a “Screwhead”?

Laughs. A screwhead is someone who listens to chop and screw music all the time.

Okay “Potsmoker” is obvious. Explain “Bitch Snatcher” to me.

A bitch snatcher either does or always has the chance to snatch your bitch. Like you’re hanging at the club with your girlfriend and the [next] thing you know she’s hanging out with Kreayshawn in the VIP and you can’t find her.

Damn you, Kreayshawn! And what’s a “Young Trill.”

Trills just keep it real. I’m just a trill being. A trill being on this earth.

FILM FLAM

The Berkeley Digital Film Institute is a fairly new program but has already seen alums at The San Francisco International Film Festival, The Palm Springs Short Film Festival, The New York Television Festival, The LA Short Film Festival and even some abroad. Recently, the Institute celebrates with three of its alumni at the MTV Video Music Awards. Colin Tilley, Rob Witt and Kreayshawn were all nominated, and Tilley received special recognition for Best Male Video. Tilley’s directorial work with Justin Bieber on his “U Smile” music video earned Bieber a Moonman and puts Tilley on the map!