See also V-Nasty on Jail, Being Pregnant At 15, and Why Oakland Is Not Where It's At.
At Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles in Hollywood, V-Nasty pours sugar into her iced tea, forming a small snowdrift in the middle, before adding a couple packets of artificial sweetener. Then, for good measure, she coats her ramekin of grits in sugar as well. This display causes her manager, Stretch, to burst out laughing. "And they wonder why diabetes is so prevalent in the ghetto," he chuckles.
V-Nasty is indeed from the ghetto — the 35th block of East Oakland, to be exact. She still has a house there, although she now also has a place in North Hollywood. Today, the infamous white rapper looks cute and slightly tomboy-ish in ripped skinny jeans, Air Jordans and a scoop-neck white thermal that doesn't conceal her leopard-print bra. One side of her dark hair is shaved, the rest has been straightened. In its natural state it's so nappy, she says, that in jail she mixed jelly with hair gel to tame it.
Stop us if you're unfamiliar with this combustible hip-hop character. She's a member of the White Girl Mob, a crew headed by Kreayshawn, who became a rap household name earlier this year with her blog smash, "Gucci Gucci." V-Nasty quickly gained notoriety herself, and now is known primarily as the white girl who uses the N-word in her rhymes.
A strangely compelling rapper whose stage presence dwarfs that of Kreayshawn, V-Nasty's N-word proclivities have drawn vitriolic responses from all corners. But until now, she's been conspicuously quiet on the subject. In fact, this is the first time she's ever spoken with the press. "I never did an interview before," she says sheepishly. "I was scared. [But] I actually wanna let people know how I feel about things."
In our talk she is self-deprecating and as sweet as her tea — the opposite of the defiant, race-baiting image she's acquired. It's obvious that the negative attention has affected her, but she remains on message concerning her narrative arc: that of a girl who grew up in the 'hood and was handed a ticket out.
As her fame swells, she's facing increasing pressure to tidy up her act. Where she once staunchly defended her word choice — which she says reflects the environment she came up in — she's now switched her stance. One wonders: Is V-Nasty capable of taking the edge off?
Now 21 years old, Vanessa Reece grew up in an Oakland neighborhood known for drugs and a high crime rate. She was a rough-and-tumble kid who dreamed of being the first girl in the NFL. Her best friend is her mother, who was in her midteens when she had her. Her father, meanwhile, is in jail. "I love him, but I ain't gotta do shit for him 'cause he never did shit for me," V-Nasty says.
When she was in sixth grade, V-Nasty and her little brother were at home when the police knocked on the door. She went looking for her parents but couldn't find them — it turns out they'd been arrested without her knowledge. "So I ran in the living room and grabbed my little brother off the couch. [The police were], like, 'Come out with your hands up!' I said, 'It's just me, I'm just a little kid!' "
By the time she was 12, she was cutting class and stealing alcohol from Safeway, and in ninth grade she dropped out of school. At 15, she gave birth to the first of her two children, both of whom are half-black. Since that time she's been in and out of jail. Robberies usually, she says. Once V-Nasty swiped a girl's purse at a Berkeley frat party; another time, she and friends were pushing people into oncoming traffic as a "prank."
She most recently returned from incarceration — six months in Alameda County Santa Rita Jail — in December and remains on probation. She won't discuss the details but contends that she's cleaned up her act. Now, "V-Nasty is a square," she says with a laugh.
Though she recounts her tangles with the law in an almost-humorous manner, at one point a somber mood comes over her. "I wish I didn't have to go through struggles. I could damn near tattoo my whole back with a list of R.I.P.s. That don't feel good. I wish I was from a town where there wasn't a gun in that motherfucker."
In the mid-aughts, V-Nasty met Kreayshawn through a cousin. The two rappers became extremely close, even living together at one point. Upon the sudden and unexpected success of "Gucci Gucci" in May, Kreayshawn became an overnight sensation, bringing V-Nasty and the third White Girl Mob member, Lil' Debbie, along for the ride. The crew have since toured the country, and V-Nasty has had the opportunity to make a mixtape with her favorite rapper, Gucci Mane, which is slated to come out next month.
She's not signed. Her only solo work released so far, a mixtape called Don't Bite Just Taste, which came out in April, is chock-full of taunts at "bitches." The N-word is sprayed throughout, and it's a messy affair — she's not always rapping in time to the music, for one thing. But it's also catchy and evocative; one can't help but appreciate the chorus of "You Already Know Me": "I don't wear heels." (Well, obviously.)
The rest of will benefit when she's removed from the street. Hopefully sooner than later. A GED should have been the condition from her last release. In a less crowded state she'd still be in the slam. This article calls her "clearly not stupid". Rebecca you should rethink your choice of words, particularly "not".
That bitch is a disgrace!!! how dare you think you can use nigga freely?? I come from the deep south.... a place where that word has a powerful meaning, and if you aren't black saying it... coming from a CRACKER...or should I say CRACKA to be more endearing lol....sounds stupid right...you will, not can get hurt. Trust I've seen a CRACKA get all her fronts knocked down her throat ok. And she was supposed to be "down" as you black loving CRACKAS say. There is a generation of whites and blacks that are still living that fought a social war over race,and this word was one of the many terms used to disgrace us. People say "well yall say it, why can't we?" If you haven't experienced racism first hand you'd never be able to relate. Have someone follow you around a store you shopping in, pulled over if you are seen on the "wrong side" of town, ignore you when you sit down at a restaurant, or constantly reminded by media, politics, etc that you are a second class citizen and still are not seen as equals to whites because of your color. The civil rights movement was onIy 60 years ago! I mean damn, CRACKAS even tried to make us believe that Jesus was a blond haired blue eyed white man lol!! Blacks did what we had to do and take power from the word for ourselves because these CRACKAS wasn't about to. So therefore, is it ok for us to say it amongst each other? Not really,it's still a derogatory term but we share a racial comradery,history, and modern reality to the process and struggle of racial persecution. I don't care how many CRACKAS say that aren't racist or prejudiced against minorities, more than half of them are but will never admit it. I guess since the dumb broad dropped out and didn't learn shit, she wouldn't know the history behind the culture. There are some things that are meant to left alone and some things will not change, such as: there will NEVER be a black KKK member, there will always be illegal immigrants, and it will NEVER EVER EVER EVER be ok for some politically,socially, and morally absent goofy ass CRACKA to say NIGGA. Yall CRACKAS mad??? Hahahaha maybe now you'll get it....oh, and I hope Ms. Vanessa, i refuse to refer to this nasty part because there is nothing nasty but her mouth,ignorance, and sloppy ass body... reads this, maybe I was able to educate her dumbass. No matter how many NIGGAS you fuck, have babies by, cool with, mob with, you will NEVER be one of us. So fall back and know your place my CRACKA LOL!!!
Way to fuel the flames of racism, you fucking idiot. You want to talk about how shitty racism is, but every thing you say is unbelievably racist.  You look stupid trying to say people are racist against you then talking about how quickly you'd kill a white bitch. Racism goes both ways, and it's time morons like you learned that. Calm the fuck down and take a good look at yourself before you try talking shit, you contradictory twit.
you sound ignorant as fuck. why are you giving a word that much power? shes doing more for equality than you are because you keep differentiating between races. stop being a dumb nigga and get with the movement
Dear Ignorant Redneck,
No words are off limits to anyone. And it's certainly not your place to tell ANYONE what the hell they can say.
Sincerely, a decedent of a slave.
I'd f_ck the shit outta v nasty and kreayshawn, wonder if they down for a 3 some? Kreayshawn has some nice tittes too, i'd love to suck em clean.
This dumb hooker. Yo ima tell y'all right now, I'm from the south, I chill with a lot of brothers, I could say the N-word all I want, but I don't because it's offensive as shit. Most white people don't say it. The ones that do say it in the privacy of their home or they just r wannabes and make them think they r more black(by the way it don't). This is just her only way of getting her name out And it's worked. Shit just look at this fuckin idiots comments on top of the forum. I mean come on his name is KreyMuse lmao!The whole white girl mafia is a fuckin joke and is just hurting hip hop.
am I the only fuckin person over age 30 who really gets this shit. wtf we all listened to n.w.a, too short ,tupac.its called artistic evolution. accept change its the only thing thats constant!kreayshawn and vnasty r doin it and thanx to the interweb we can all enjoy.btw white girl is a product and im rainbowmobbin.
Ur point is just offensive as V Skanky using the word. I think reading ur post Just made me dumber.
why in the fuck do you continue to write about these tacky broads who are detrimental to hip hop and life in general. no one cares. stop.
I get so fucking tired of white folks defending their right to be racist either in words or deeds! Listen up white people! Not cool to use the word "nigger" or its bastardize version "nigga".
Intelligent white folks know better and would never write an article in defense of a knucklehead like V-Nasty.
Kreayshawn and that "house negro" Stretch are in desparate need of a geography lesson, cause last time I checked Oakland is still part of America and a white person calling a black stranger a "nigger" in Oakland is still an invitation for an ass whoopin just like in any other part of this country.
As far as Fat Joe goes, no doubt the big boy has some black in him as is the case with the majority of Puerto Ricans and Cubans.
he has black in him? dawg we all come from common ancestors, we all got black in us. the fuck are you doing for the african american movement? not shit except complaining on the internet about some white bitch that sees past color.
and in case you didnt read, she has two black kids, that means shes had some black in her too. so ya homie, dont go actin all self righteous cuzz you definitely dont deserve any recognition
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