By: Danny Sedlezak
Ever hear of Kreayshawn? You know, that girl who rapped viral sensation “Gucci, Gucci” last year?
Well, did you know she dropped her major label debut, Something ‘Bout Kreay, a few weeks ago?
Apparently no one else did, because it had the worst first week sales figures of any major label debut album ever. It didn’t even move 4,000 copies.
It’s not like she’s a nobody either. “Gucci, Gucci” has more than 38 million views on YouTube. It was up for a VMA last year. You can still find quotes from that song in 16 year old girls’ twitter bios across the Internet.
Kreay had serious viral buzz…last year.
Still, she had enough name recognition that she shouldn’t have the last-place-silver. Who’s to blame for this? Kreay furiously thrust it down the throats of her twitter followers. She did her part.
You could blame Columbia, her record label. Did you see any promotion of the LP? I surely didn’t and I spend more than a reasonable amount of time researching hip hop. If I didn’t I doubt you did. Still, they probably thought that having one of the biggest songs in a while was more promotion than necessary.
They would be right if this was still 2011. In a world where we forget about international tragedies in less than a month, you have to capitalize on the success while it’s still there. Kreayshawn could’ve had a very successful album by today’s standards if she pushed out the wax last summer.
The delay can be attributed to Kreay’s laziness, or the label’s incessant delays. Regardless of whose fault it is, the fact remains that the album completely missed its windows of opportunity.
However, there might be another party at fault for the bomb that is Something ‘Bout Kreay.
Kreay’s biggest success thus far was “Gucci, Gucci,” but few realize that the song was actually ghostwritten by fellow Bay Area rapper Speak. If you have ever had the displeasure of listening to a different Kreayshawn song, you know that Speak elevated that song immensely. He took Kreay’s usual lazy ramblings and turned them into an annoyingly catchy song full of enough quotables to fill an oil tanker. Recently he’s been speaking out, for lack of a better term, against the label. Speak claims he has received zero royalties for the hit single and is extremely opposed to working with Kreay again.
Since Speak isn’t on board, Kreay didn’t have anything remotely close to “Gucci, Gucci” quality on the LP. The label, in an uncharacteristic move, didn’t want to promote her awful songs.
It’s almost a blessing that the album didn’t get a well funded release. I’m not sure exactly how I’d react if I heard this album on the radio. I do know that the radio would’ve survived.
Still, we can use the tale of Kreay’s colossal flop as an Aesop to teach two lessons:
- Drop your album when your name is hot.
- Don’t mess things up with the man who made you successful in the first place.
