STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

Kreayshawn Talks Azealia Banks, Collabos and Group Hugs

The Bay Area MC is making moves by making friends.

Kreayshawn is getting by with a little help from her friends. Despite the controversy that surrounded the Bay Area rapper when she went viral overnight with “Gucci Gucci” — a huge, much-ballyhooed signing advance, some less-than-flattering freestyle videos, and, above all, her sister and fellow White Girl Mafia crew member, V-Nasty, dropping N-bombs left and right — she’s always had a knack for landing huge co-signs and collaborators. Her forthcoming album, Something About Kreay, due next month, is no different, with contributions from 2 Chainz and Kid Cudi. Even former foe Azealia Banks, who apologized to Kreayshawn last week for their Twitter dust-up earlier this year, says she wants to work with her now. In between hanging out with her talented friends, Kreayshawn somehow found time to sit down with BET.com to talk about her nonstop collaborating, her upcoming tour and settling things with Azealia.

Kreayshawn insists that her work with other artists doesn’t involve money or industry politics — it’s all about the creative chemistry. "It's just artists appreciating other artists," she says. "I've never been paid for a feature and I've never paid anyone else for a feature. Everything was kind of organic. We weren't really reaching out to people for features, certain people just got on it. It's just about finding the right artist you can work with like that."

2 Chainz seems to be at the top of that growing list of creative partners. After she dropped a verse on his song "Murder" last year, Chainz returned the favor by appearing on her "Syrup," which leaked earlier this summer. "I got lucky," Kreayshawn says of her odd-couple relationship with the Atlanta rapper. "Me and 2 Chainz are such opposites, from looks, to size and the type of people that listen us, but in the end it still makes sense when it's together."

Kreay says there was a similar bond with Kid Cudi, who appears on "Like It or Love It." "We were both talking about making punk music," she recalls of the first time they worked together. "I told him that my mom use to be in a punk band. We basically ended up making a punk song together. It's very punk-inspired, and it's definitely a different sound for the both of us. It’s cool to have somebody who's really creative like that on the album."

Unfortunately, one potential collaborator won’t be on the album — Azealia Banks. Earlier this month, over Twitter, of course, the two said they wanted to work together after Banks apologized for dissing Kreayshawn online earlier this year. "I'm happy we got to talk together because when you say something on the Internet it's so permanent," Kreay says of their reconciliation. "You say s--t you don't even mean sometimes. I'm happy we had the chance to talk it out. I definitely would like to work with her soon, we just have to find the right time."

Kreayshawn and Azealia playing nice fits in perfectly with the theme of Kreayshawn's upcoming, all-girl Group Hug tour, which features female rappers Rye Rye, Honey Cocaine, and Chippy Nonstop opening for Kreay. "I named it The Group Hug Tour because I think all female artist are really starting to come together now," Kreayshawn says. "I just wanted all our fans to come together and all the girls come together. It should be that way more often — there's room for everyone."


BET.com is your #1 source for Black celebrity news, photos, exclusive videos and all the latest in the world of hip hop and R&B music.

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. 

(Photo: Kreayshawn/Facebook)

Latest News

Subscribe for BET Updates

Provide your email address to receive our newsletter.


By clicking Subscribe, you confirm that you have read and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers) and other information from BET and the Paramount family of companies. You understand that you can unsubscribe at any time.