"Breakfast (Syrup)" is a song by American recording artist

Kreayshawn Natassia Gail Zolot (born September 24, 1989), better known by her stage name Kreayshawn, is an American rapper, singer, and music video director from Oakland, California. In 2011, while serving as a member of a rap group with her friends, she ...

, released May 22, 2012 as the second single from her debut studio album '' Somethin' Bout Kreay'' (2012). The song features guest vocals from southern rapper

2 Chainz Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (or Tity Boi), is an American rapper. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he initially gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip hop duo Playaz Circle, al ...

, with whom Kreayshawn previously collaborated with on his song "Murder" for his '' T.R.U. REALigion'' (2011)

mixtape A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette ...

Music video

Kreayshawn produced and directed the song's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

herself. "My favorite part about the video shoot was the breakfast party in the kitchen," she said. "It was so colorful and just how I envisioned it when I wrote the treatment." Before the video's premier, she described the concept behind the video as, " ..breakfast isthe most important meal of the day, so everybody needs their breakfast. It will be a great music video because I directed it and everything I direct is great." The video premiered on her official

VEVO Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

channel on May 21, 2012, one day before being officially released on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. Rap artist formerly known as Tity Boi,

, makes an appearance the video. The video features Kreayshawn and others pouring

maple syrup Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tree ...

over breakfast food items, such as

pancake A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a Starch, starch-based batter (cooking), batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or fryi ...

s and cereal. In the

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

, Kreayshawn raps, "'I'm hungry/ Hungry for this money/ Call me Kreay Hefner/ Playboy bunny," alluding to

Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...

and his ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

adult magazine Pornographic magazines or erotic magazines, sometimes known as adult, sex or top-shelf magazines, are magazines that contain content of an explicitly sexual nature. Publications of this kind may contain images of attractive naked subjects, as is ...

empire.

Critical reception

Breakfast (Syrup) was generally well received by music critics. Charlie Norwood of

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Buzzworthy called "Breakfast (Syrup)", "..a

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

ed-out

808 808 may refer to: Music * Roland TR-808, a drum machine * ''808'' (film), a documentary about the Roland TR-808 * 808 State, British electronic group * ''808s & Heartbreak'', the fourth studio album by American Hip hop artist Kanye West * ''808'' ...

party jam that's not breaking any ground, but it's catchy." Furthering the review, he said, "Just when Kreay's voice ..is about to give you a stroke, 2 Chainz (who's now legally required to be on every new rap song) shows up in a rain jacket with two gallons of syrup to save the day." Norwood criticized the track, calling attention to the

drug subculture Drug cultures are examples of countercultures that are primarily defined by spiritual, medical, and recreational drug use. They may be focused on a single drug, or endorse polydrug use. They sometimes eagerly or reluctantly initiate newcomers, b ...

allusions. He pointed out that, while the song was destined to be a

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

with

teenagers Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

, parents might miss the drug undertones. He closed the critique by saying, "Enjoy having your 20-year-old college dropout with a

codeine Codeine is an opiate and prodrug of morphine mainly used to treat pain, coughing, and diarrhea. It is also commonly used as a recreational drug. It is found naturally in the sap of the opium poppy, ''Papaver somniferum''. It is typically use ...

dependency and $20,000 in nondeferrable

student loan A student loan is a type of loan designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in the fact that the interest r ...

debt move back home," as a result of listening to the song. ''

Complex Magazine Complex Networks is an American media and entertainment company for youth culture, based in New York City. It was founded as a bi-monthly magazine, ''Complex'', by fashion designer Marc (Ecko) Milecofsky. Complex Networks reports on popular a ...

'' named the song the third worst song of 2012.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

picked ''Breakfast (Syrup)'' as highlight while

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

commented "... on ‘Breakfast (Syrup)’ – featuring 2 Chainz – she stoops to rhyming the word "breakfast" with "breakfast" (but at least the chorus "I got all the syrup/I got all the syrup/Juice, cheese, bread, breakfast!" is a quotable play on food/money). She's said before that passion, not talent, has fuelled this album. And these tunes have passion coming, well, out of their ovaries..." ''Spin'' magazine's Marc Hogan commented on Kreayshawn's follow-up music video to "Breakfast", "Go Hard". He noticed that Kreayshawn ditched her traditional

hip hop style In vertebrate anatomy, hip (or "coxa"Latin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) in medical terminology) refers to either an anatomical region or a joint. The hip region is ...

for the conventional electropop themes heard on the radio, remarking that "Breakfast (Syrup)"'s failure to light up mainstream music charts sparked the

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

-shift.

Release information

References

{{authority control 2012 singles Kreayshawn songs 2 Chainz songs Columbia Records singles Songs written by Jean-Baptiste (songwriter) Songs written by Ryan Buendia Songs written by Jonas Jeberg Songs written by Michael McHenry Songs written by 2 Chainz 2012 songs