About a year or so ago Columbia Records got wind of Kreayshawn and saw she had millions of hits via Youtube for her song Gucci Gucci.. They saw this Oakland based white girl as a major cash cow and figured she would take music and record sales to new heights.. So Columbia did what they didn’t do for artists like Nas, dead prez, Public Enemy and few other notables who at one time or other graced their ‘esteemed’ label, they wrote a rumored fat check for almost a million dollars so this new internet sensation could produce her debut album..
They followed up with that fat check, by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars more to make sure she was on every radio station in heavy rotation.. Not a day went by that we didn’t hear Kreayshawn. Columbia then spent truck loads to make sure she got to co-host parties and events at big time music awards like MTV Video Awards.. Yes indeed Columbia dropped duckets galore thinking that Kreayshawn was gonna attract all the nice little white boy and girls from the burbs who have long been rumored to be the primary purchasers of rap music.
In the minds of Columbia executives, Kreayshawn was hip and happening. She was connected to Odd Future who were already making noise. She had produced videos for Lil B who was also making noise. She was managed by the same team that managed Oakland rapper Mistah FAB.
V-Nasty
On top of all that Kreayshawn had a healthy dose of controversy. Her partner in crime half white/ half Asian V-Nasty of the infamous White Girl Mob which is Kreayshawn’s crew insisted that she had every right to use the N word. There were videos surfacing of her standing on a street corner calling a Black dude ‘nigga’ and daring them to do something about it..Her rationale for using the word, was she’s from the hood, that’s how she talks, she’s been in and out of jail and she’s always packing.The controversy around V-nasty in many ways overshadowed Kreayshawn’s music..but at least people were talking.
Next controversy, some semi nude photos of Kreayshawn surfaced...From Pamela Anderson to Paris Hilton to Kim Kardashian to now, Kate Middleton of the Royal Family, you seemingly can’t go wrong with a sex scandal of sorts in today’s sex crazed world..Hence Kreayshawn was in good company.,
Lastly Kreashwn also saw herself embroiled in some beef. She took shots at Rick Ross on a freestyle resulting in things almost coming to a head at the MTV Music Awards when Kreayshawn was hosting a segment and her crew and his crossed paths.. All big selling rappers need beef of some sorts..
With all that said, everything was in place and ready to go..The tried and true formula to make noise via a major label was in place..Columbia made this big time investment and released her debut album ‘Something About Kreay‘ The end result was them selling a whooping 3900 albums.. yep you read that correctly 3900.. Making it one of the worse major label album debuts in history..
As for Columbia records.. a few things to keep in mind.. First just because an artist has 4 million youtube hits doesn’t mean they’re gonna sell 4 million records. For starters youtube numbers can be gamed and you may also have a significant amount of people watching a video repeatedly. I know I watched that Gucci Gucci video at least 654 times, but have no intention of buying the record or album..
Second..it serves Columbia and any other label right that went for a gimmick vs cultivating and nurturing talent. In this case they saw white girl rapper from the hood who is down with Odd Future and figured that was all that was needed. That was a big time fail..One should not put art and culture into nice little boxes.
Lastly if history is any indication, we should never forget that this is the same Columbia records that refused to put out Billy Holiday‘s Strange Fruit because they hated the message.. This is the same Columbia that refused to put out Charles Mingus anti-discrimination song Ode to Faubus because they didnt wanna anger racist white folks.
This is the same Columbia records that refused to let dead prez release their original album cover of the Soweto protestors from South Africa holding guns during an Anti-Apartheid rally while this same label was simultaneously promoting sipping on syrup by 3-6 Mafia by sending blow up dolls and whine flasks to urban retailers radio station jocks all over the country…
This is the same Columbia records that Michael Jackson said was shady and did him wrong by ripping him off when it was headed by Tommy Motala. I can go on and on.. reciting the missteps of this company and I shall not shed any tears..
-Davey D-
The city of Oakland, has long been a place where people ‘steady grind‘..By that I mean, folks have long hustled goods and services on the city streets to ilk out a living. Rather than sell drugs or turn to prostitution, many have hustled their own music, homemade DVDs, offered up hair breading services, car washes and car repair and most recently food. For most, the extra income has allowed folks to just barely get by.
In recent years the city of Oakland has undergone a lot of changes, among them a significant amount of gentrification. Newer more affluent residents have come to Oakland and have made moves to push out long time street vendors and hawkers. They been doing this by going to city council demanding that folks get expensive permits and for those selling food, purchase expensive equipment.
Last night hundreds of people came to downtown Oakland’s Oakstradam University to hear actress and now Presidential Candidate for the 
Roseanne Barr also noted that she’s been documenting her run for office and will eventually share with the world what’s she had to endure over the past 13 months that she’s been running. She says it will shed a lot of light and hard truths about our Democracy.. Also on hand at last nights gathering was former Green Party presidential candidate and congress woman Cynthia McKinney. Barr’s running mate, antiwar activist 
In recent weeks there’s been a lot of discussion around voting and whether or not its a futile exercise. Much of the apprehension comes from those who see the system as corrupt and the voting process hijack by unthinkable amounts of big corporate money which has made all those who get elected or appointed beholden to them vs the people.
F– Tha System Don’t Vote! F– Tha system don’t partake in a corrupt process! has been a rallying cry in more than a few circles..It’s more than just a 
One year ago September 17th 2011, a group of people gather at 
If we look back at the accomplishments thus far of Occupy Wall Street, there are many. For one, the national conversation that preceded September 17th, 2011 was dominated by a manufactured political fight in Washington to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a credit default. Within the first weeks of OWS, the conversation had been changed to the real issue that is eroding America; economic inequality, a topic that hasn’t been discussed for decades. Within the first few months of OWS, the conversation evolved into an examination of how Wall Street’s money has destroyed our political system and took control of our democracy. The prison industrial complex, lower taxes for the rich, the outsourcing of jobs, Wall Street running rampant, poisonous foods for our children, even some wars and almost everything that disempowers the poor, is a result of money passing from lobbyists and corporations to our politicians. And that is what Occupy Wall Street is fighting against. It is a sad state that the politicians work for the people who pay them, not for the people who elect them. That is not democracy.
So, Jay, here’s the deal. You’re rich and I’m rich. But, today it’s close to impossible to be you or me and get out of Marcy Projects or Hollis, Queens without changing our government to have our politicians work for the people who elect them and not the special interests and corporations that pay them. Because we know that these special interests are nothing special at all. In fact, they spend millions of dollars destroying the fabric of the black community and make billions of dollars in return. For example, the prison lobby paid politicians to create a so-called “War On Drugs” that resulted in a prison economy that disproportionately locks up black and brown people, including many of your friends and mine. They took drug-infected, diseased people, locked them up, educated them in criminal behavior and dumped them back into our community, thus producing a jail culture for our streets. There are more black people under correctional control (prison, jail, parole, probation) today, than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War. This is just one issue that has been bought and sold. If we have to occupy Wall Street or occupy All Streets to change the course of direction of this nation, then we must. We must take our democracy off the market and let the world know that it is no longer for sale! Mic check!