I often saw this title prominently displayed in book retailers but never cared enough to read, let alone, purchase it. I felt that I had heard enough to draw solid conclusions about its content and assumed it to be totally irrelevant to my life. Recently, my husband learned that Karrine Steffans would be a panelist at a Hip Hop conference that he attends annually. He too had opinions about the book and the author. During a brief conversation about the impending event, I offered my husband the following advice, "you must read her work in order to properly debate such topics as hip hop with her and speak intelligibly about her contributions or condemnations of the culture". As soon as the words came out of mouth I realized that I too had an opinion that was not my own. My sentiments were derived from the rumor mill, blogs, critics, and other independent book reviewers. It made sense for me to read the controversial book to draw my own conclusions and form an opinion...my own opinion.
The most glaring misconception is that the book is just a "tell-all". While the book does reveal intimate encounters with many celebrities and their quirks, it is truly a memoir. The book chronicles her life. The first half is devoted solely to her life as a child; while the latter half traces her young adult life which is littered with wild exploits, drugs, sex and money. More importantly it seems to be a candid declaration of her life at that time. Steffans reveals her insecurities, how she orchestrated many of the trysts, and her willingness to participate in misogyny and prostitution. She owns the life she led. This book is as much an exploitation of Steffans as it is of the famous names listed throughout. Consequently, the book is a good read and definite page turner from beginning to end.
Many readers have rated the book based on the author's life and the moral high ground from which they stand to look down on her. Those who have an objective point of view and and refined business acumen are able to distinguish the woman from her work. Confessions, The Vixen Diaries, The Vixen Manual, a supporting role in the film A Man Apart and countless music video appearances are her work. Her debuted title as an author is the subject of this review; not who she slept with or how she earned the infamous nickname, "Superhead". My assessment is of how she capitalized it all.
Hidden behind the sensual cover photo, vividly described sexual encounters and name dropping is a carefully constructed and well executed business model. Steffans recalls her memoirs with precision; at times quoting her lovers and always defining relationships with dates, timeframes and small details. This book was written as she lied it and culminated exactly when she needed it to work for her. That is what makes the book convey such a genuine quality. That is what makes this book a New York Times Best Seller.
Steffans has coined Confessions a "cautionary tale" for other young women aspiring towards or charting the same perilous path and the book holds true to that. For each glamorous highlight, Steffans notes how hopeless, desperate and/or insecure she was. She explained the hip hop industry from a new perspective. Rather that perspective be from the bedroom or the boardroom its undeniable that this book is refreshingly different from the picture perfect imagery the industry frequently sells. Its clear from the text that Steffans always aspired towards a lifestyle of affluence. This book, the inverse of how hip hop exploited her, has proved to be a stellar segue to all the glam and fortune she desired.
Confessions of a Video Vixen is an easy, honest, frequently sad and sometimes funny book. It is largely underrated and cast aside as a "tell-all". The celebrities, though prominently discussed are not the foremost topics of this book; the author is and the hip hop industry is unmasked. If you dare to understand how and why the author subscribed to what many would call a deplorable lifestyle, do read. If you want to know juicy, sexy secrets about some of hip hop's most notable figures, do read. But most importantly, if you want an account of how a woman pimped a system and scores of the hip hop industry's most notable figures using her own infamy to create wealth, do read this book.Get more detail about Confessions of a Video Vixen.
No comments:
Post a Comment