Reviewed by

Christopher Armstead

Director Timothy Gibson’s documentary ‘Kiss and Tail’, narrated by Wendy Williams, at first purports to be a behind the scenes look into the life of a Video Vixen, and it does start out that way but soon ‘Kiss and Tail’ becomes what it really is and that’s an expose into the life and times of one Karrine Steffans. Superhead as she is better known as in the inner circles of the crowd that she used to run with. Karrine Steffans, the best selling author, isn’t running with that crowd anymore. Now I’m not one for gossip, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an episode of TMZ or watched an E! True Hollywood Story and I certainly haven’t read any of Ms. Steffans three tell all books, nor do I intend to… But ‘Kiss and Tail’ is some mighty salacious stuff on top of being mighty entertaining.

As the film begins we witness an impressive collection of famous people weighing in on the music business and what goes on behind the scenes of the music video. Video directors, producers, the artists and some of the featured video dancers all give us some information on how the girls are chosen, how competitive the field is and what some of these women are willing to do to get backstage at whatever concert some artist is performing at. It’s all very interesting stuff and you will be hard pressed finding anybody who can disseminate information more colorfully than a hip-hop artist. Or Tyson Beckford. Then someone mentions Superhead.

Karrine Steffans was born somewhere in the Virgin Islands in 1978 and while watching this doc, and Ms. Steffans in particular, you will observe that the woman has the unique ability to rationalize just about anything. For instance, her decidedly loose moral code she lived by she rationalizes through her education and upbringing being decidedly British, the logic being that the British are looser and more comfortable with different ways of bodily expression and sexuality. Okay… that must be some other Britain that I’m not aware of because I was always led to believe that the British were notorious for sexual repression and were the picture definition of ‘uptight’, but we’re just going roll with what the woman said.

To condense things, a very young Ms. Steffans would meet the legendary rapper Kool G. Rap, they would have a child, they would go their separate ways, she would sleep around a bit, become a premiere video vixen known to do whatever needed to be done to get the job, fall on hard times, meet a porno dude, make a porno video with porn star Mr. Marcus and then write a book which would spend a considerable amount of time on the New York Times bestseller list.

That’s the abridged version of the story which is laid out in detail in the film which also displays the extreme polarizing nature that Karrine Steffans brings whenever she enters a room. I will say that the story was surprisingly fairly represented because while there were plenty of interviews with individuals who have nothing but complete disdain for this woman, she had plenty of screen time for herself to tell her side of her story which I think gives the viewer plenty of information to weigh in on the story that’s told, which also allows one to make an informed opinion one way or the other.

Just from my watching this movie, what is a clear as day is that Karrine Steffans is very attractive and very articulate. Plain as day. She also appears to be very intelligent and clever. What we can also glean as fact from the conversations in this doc is that the woman is mighty good at oral sex and she’s allowed that skill to carry her mighty far in this life. No one is passing judgment over here but when reporters were calling out to 'Superhead' on whatever red carpet she was on in those stock videos that Gibson inserted in the film, she turned to those people so they could take her picture. She seemed to have no problem with the term.

Then comes the question of the validity of this book she’s written and here is where you have to form some kind of theory based on hearsay. It seems to me that the names and faces in the book are true but the devil is all in the details, and by all reports this is one detail oriented type of book. From where I was sitting there three people in this people who seemed to be telling the undisputed truth in my opinion, Hip Hop artist Ma Barker who is Kool G. Rap’s current wife, porn entrepreneur Suave XXX, and Eddie Winslow himself Darius McCrary. Mr. Marcus came off as completely authentic too but his relationship with the woman wasn’t nearly as personal as these other three. Darius McCrary probably had the best story to tell in the movie while Ma Barker gives you the best inside look into what I believe the kind of person that Ms. Steffans actually is. I mean there are a lot of sour things said by a lot of people about this woman in this movie but Ma Barker was coming from a different place from these other people and she came of as 100% real.

Steffans didn’t do herself many favors in this movie during her interview segments, perhaps sounding a bit delusional when discussing her pivotal role in ‘changing history’ as she discusses those who only talk about changing history and then others, like herself, who actually change it. I don’t know about all that, besides I was waiting for her to explain to us exactly how history has been changed but she kind of let that go as if you’re the idiot if this isn’t clear to you. Then you have a woman who on one hand chastises people on her website for ‘getting into her business’ but one we know who has written a tell-all book brutally detailing her laundry list of sexual affairs.

But like one of the dancers states in this doc, 'I’m not going down anybody on how they get their hustle on'. Plus you have to see it from the point of view that if some of these people had just sidestepped this woman, despite her legendary skills, chances are you weren’t showing up in her book for her to lie about you. And not everybody in the doc is kicking Karrine Steffans as we observe one Modest Jones who sees Steffans as a bit of role model, exploiting those who choose to exploit them. Modest is a trip by the way. She’s probably a more interesting person, all things considered, than Karrine Steffans because she doesn’t strike me as much of a story teller either. If you get the chance you might want to check out some of Ms. Jones You Tube ‘informational’ videos. A stone cold trip that girl. Just like this racy, no holds barred documentary ‘Kiss and Tail’.