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strippertweets replied to your post: the word ‘kreayshawn’ does in fact appear on my…Well, it’s nice to know she’ll make it into college somehow.
bubbles always has the best burns.
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brand hierarchies
Thursday night at the Highline Ballroom, at her first proper New York show, she was as carefully turned out as ever: two-tone hair, door-knocker earrings, A Bathing Ape T-shirt, cutoff jeans. She’s tiny and hasn’t quite grown into the personality that her sudden flash of fame requires.
So obvious Gucci, Fendi, and Prada-wearing makes you a “basic bitch,” but Bathing Ape is OK? (Retail price on the t-shirt she appeared to be sporting during her show on Thursday night: $100.) See, this is the problem I have with both “Gucci Gucci” and “Rich Whores”: On their face they’re all “up the fashion empire” and “be yourself” (or at least “be like me”) but when you get right down to it Kreayshawn is only making fun of those people who are noticeably indulging in aspirational upward mobility via conspicuous consumption. It’s Etsy (or BAPE, I guess) snobbery from someone who has time, and probably more money than the people wearing the lower-end stuff made by those fashion houses that’s obviously branded as a trade-off for being, essentially, advertising campaigns, to engage in crafting her (not even all that original) persona.
(Also, the fact that she completely crumples when faced with having to explain herself turns my stomach. Girl, your whole rise to success is based on you “go[ing] against anyone or anything”—just ask the people who work at Arby’s instead of on failed RHCP videos!—so you might want to do a spot check, or at least have some talent to fall back on once you realize the error of your ways.)
I didn’t go to the show, but Jeff did. In response to his review, she reminded everyone she was “successful” (whatever that means in 2011) and rich. I hope that her next single’s a broadside against people who wear drugstore perfumes! THAT’LL SHOW EM AMIRITE
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therichgirlsareweeping replied to your post: I SERIOUSLY CAN’T WITH THIS KREAYSHAWN BULLSHIT
i’m trying not to apologize for thinking she’s great, but there’s a lot of peer pressure to trash her, and this bugs me a little.
OK, so here is the song that made me lose my mind a few minutes ago. I didn’t want to link (meta-enabling!) but I guess I should have.
Bad rapping, overbearing beat, terrible lyrics… it’s just a completely repugnant package all around. Maybe going around and shaming women for being “rich whores” who shop at thrift stores is some sort of postmodern class-and-gender consciousness raising? But I really doubt it.
Also I don’t really truck with “Gucci Gucci” either. This might be because I am very wary of “viral” phenomena on first pass! Because so often virality is the result of fitting into some very prescribed box of what is “bad” or “good” culturally to a very narrow subset of people! But it’s also because I find the message of the song confused and gross and, again, kinda shamey.
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although it might sound as good if she was saying ‘etsy etsy etsy etsy’ over and over
this morning i spent a lot of time thinking about how ‘gucci gucci’ is a big ol’ pile of meta-enabling. like, it’s nice that kreayshawn is taking a stand against mass-produced luxury (a stance i’ve had for a while!) but would the song have been as enjoyable if it didn’t employ the houses of gucci, fendi, and prada in its lyrics? and how many people are just quoting her reeling off of brands and leaving off the rejoinder line about ‘basic bitches’?
also, what andy said about the timing of her hype. i guess in like a year or so we’ll find out she just started being managed by people with ties to some big label or other via an aside in a new yorker profile?
