Hip-hop is ten criticized for being oversexualized, with lyrics that are viewed as misogynistic and leading ladies in music videos cast only as objects in a male-gaze fantasy. In the late '90s and early 2000s, hip-hop video models were ten showcased as voiceless partiers, but behind the scenes, hip-hop fans had no clue what happened after the director yelled cut.
Ten years ago Karrine 'Superhead' Steffans wrote her infamous memoir 'Confessions of a Video Vixen' naming names and dishing dirt on all the guys she messed with in the industry. In June 2015, Karrine kicked off her national book tour during the release of her last memoir, Vindicated: Confessions of A Video Vixen 10 Years Later. The release of Vindicated not only commemorates the publishing of her first book 10 years ago, it also places a cap on a life that no longer serves her. “When asked to write this book, there were no guidelines as to what it should be about.
That all changed in 2005 when video vixen Karrine Steffans released her memoir, Confessions a Video Vixen, and opened Pandora's box to the not so glamorous life a hip-hop video girl.
Karrine Steffans was born in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands and moved to Flordia when she was 10-years-old. Steffans would later move to New York City and then settle in Los Angeles in 1999. In her memoir, Confessions a Video Vixen, Steffans talks openly about her childhood being filled with abuse and neglect. At 16, she ran away from home and began working as an exotic dancer.
It was during this time that she met, began dating, and eventually had a son by Kool G Rap. During a radio interview with Wendy Williams in 2005, Steffans openly shares her abusive experience with G Rap. She also admits that it was in this relationship that she learned how to give fellatio.
'My relationship with G is what made me know how to give a fellatio] because he made me do it for sometimes two hours at a time.' She continued, 'If I did something wrong I had to perform until he was happy and that was part the abuse that I went through.'
It was her relationship with G Rap that introduced her to the world hip-hop. In 1999, Steffans made her debut as a video model when she appeared in JAY-Z's 'Hey Papi,' video. She would go on to work with R.Kelly, LL Cool J, and Mystikal. On the surface, Steffans was just another video model starring in hip-hop videos. Fans the genre had no clue that she about to drop a bomb that would change the face hip-hop as we know it.
In her 2005 memoir, Confessions a Video Vixen, Steffans blatantly states the names rappers, singers, and NBA players that she not only slept with but rated in bed. JAY-Z, Dame Dash, DMX, Fred Durst, Usher, Ja Rule, Irv Gotti, and Bobby Brown were just some the artists that were mentioned in her series books. During a time when social media and leaked sex tapes didn't exist on the level it does today, this was the biggest leak that hip-hop had ever seen.
Steffans took her book on the road and began the conversation about the over-sexualization video girls in hip-hop. In her no-holds-barred interviews, she openly admits to sleeping with married men in the entertainment business and spoke about the money and gifts she received from them.
Her books, Confessions a Video Vixen, The Vixen Diaries, and The Vixen Manual: How to Find, Seduce & Keep the Man You Want, all made the New York Times bestsellers' list. In each book, she revealed a new relationship that she had been in with a rapper. Steffans spoke about her relationship with Lil Wayne and outed Method Man as being the guy she referred to as 'Poppa,' in her previous work.
After being heavily scrutinized for publicly discussing her sex life with rappers and other men in the entertainment business, Steffans had slowly moved away from the limelight.
In 2015, Steffans remerged and was interviewed by VLAD TV, during the interview she breaks down how she got her nickname, 'Superhead.' Steffans also questioned why so many people were fended by the men she dated and her openness with her sex life.
'When I'm having sex with a man, he's having sex with me. We're having the same fucking sex, so why am I the dirty person here?' She continued, 'And then I realized something very powerful if I'm seen with my local postman and he's my guy no one's mad at that. If I'm seen with Wayne or someone else, I'm a whore.'
So, what has Karrine Steffans been up to lately?
In 2008, Steffans started her own publishing imprint, Steffans Publishing, she continues to write and has published nine books in total. In 2016, actor Columbus Short released a video entitled '50 Shades,' where he introduced Steffans as his wife.
In a major plot twist, Short later denied being married to Steffans after she outed him on Instagram for being a cheater. The story has gotten even more eyebrow-raising now that Steffans has recently accused Short bigamy.
These days Steffans no longer goes by the name 'Superhead.' She is now teaching people how to write their own memoirs. Using her members only site, The Gorgeous Girl's Guide, she fers services in personal branding, manuscript completion, and decor. If you follow her on social media, you realize early on that her posts are mostly about healthy eating and self-care.
While the start her writing and teaching career may have been unconventional, Steffans continues to successfully blaze her own trail and play by her own rules. Microsoft office for i mac pro.