Ice T. DMX. Ja Rule. Jay-Z. Usher. Kool G Rap. Irv Gotti. P. Diddy. Shaquille O’Neal. Vin Diesel. Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit). Xzibit. Brandy’s brother Ray J. What do all these Hollywood and Hip-Hop honchos have in common? If you guessed another H-word with two letters, you’re on to something.

In her new book ‘Confessions of a Video Vixen,’ video hottie Karrine “Superhead” Steffans shares her fascinating autobiography. The arc of the story traces her life from her tormented childhood and teenage years in her native St. Thomas and later Miami to a troubled but thrilling adult life in the cockles of Hollywood. Strip joints, abusive relationships, homelessness, drug binges, trysts with famous men, her life story zooms into a raunchy social netherworld occupied, for the most part, by rich and recognizable players. Mentioning familiar names, often those of married men, the exposé has been the buzz of chat rooms since Harper Collins released it last week. And although publicists call the book “part tell-all, part cautionary tale,” ‘Confessions’ entices more than it cautions. Drug overdoses aside, aspiring video hoochies will read it more likely for reference than warning.

Surprise. The story is well-written. It’s trashy, but even in at its crudest, Steffans is able to take the narrative into her head, relying on context and psycho-social back-story explanations to smooth the edges. She writes ‘Confessions’ with a delicate, soft-porn sensibility and unexpected analytical sophistication that balances her tragic storyline of a broken, distressed and manipulable woman. It sweetens her point-of-view even when she’s cold, repellent or irrational; or, even when she’s exposing her sexual conquests with bravura to match all the hype that rap videos promise.

Born to a New York father and Caribbean mother, Steffans remembers an impoverished and transient childhood, shuttling between relatives and different cities. An outsider always looking in, with a degree of envy of the more fortunate lives of people around her, she developed a get-rich-or-die-trying ambition at an early age. Determined to be the center of attention and betrayed by a childhood girlfriend who watched her being raped, she avoided relationships with other women. Raised by an abusive mother who kept a series of sexual liaisons with uncommitted men, she forged her first misguided impressions of love and relationships.

In this confused but observant mind, the story unfolds. And although Steffans steps up her innocence a few times, portraying herself as a serial victim pushed to tough choices in no-way-out situations, it’s clear that she was much more calculating in some of those decisions. The first time she stripped, some fights with her lovers, her decisions to run away, having sex with some people in the book -- pressures she presented as external often seem much more deliberate.

‘Confessions’ has an elevating, if not inspiring, climax. Steffans reaches a corner in her life and turns it, settling for dutiful motherhood to her son Naiim and dinner parties with close friends at home. After a series of devastating events -- like the death of her close friend actor Merlin Santana, best known for his role as Romeo on ‘The Steve Harvey Show, -- and a near-fatal drug overdose at an the upscale Chinese restaurant Mr. Chow, she gains a more realistic sense of the world. She finally begins to deal with some of the haunting childhood issues that fueled her immoderation and self-destructive behavior.

But some details seem omitted. Besides protecting the privacy of a main character in the book by only referring to the rapper as “Papa,” Seffans also selectively brushes over crucial stories in the book, leaving the details to the reader’s imagination. A few of the stories seem uneven and one-sided. Maybe she uses this tactic to protect her friends or even herself. She writes with some doubt in the prologue, “I am nothing without [my son]. One day, he’ll read this, and all I want my son to know is that everything I have done, ultimately, I have done for him.”

Steffans book is noteworthy because it is the first major hip-hop confessional. Never before has Hollywood seen so many young black millionaires and this book offers an interior view of the little-seen, much-gossiped-about world of hip-hop’s nouveau riche. And although there haven’t been any major claims of libel yet, ‘Confessions’ is likely to generate some friction if not fallout in homes and social circles across the country. Judging from its initial popularity, it will encourage more African-American Hollywood insiders to tell all.

About the Author
Tanu Henry is editor of the BV Books Channel.
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