Exclusive: Karrine Steffans Clears The Air About Lil Wayne's "Mona Lisa" (2024)

By Diamond Alexis & Mya Abraham

October 9, 2018 / 5:00 PM

Famed lyric-deciphering website Genius dug deep to uncover the mystery behind Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar's "Mona Lisa." Arguably one of the album's top hits, "Mona Lisa" details the story of a deplorable siren tasked to coax men into larcenous ambushes. According to Genius, leading member of Top Dawg Entertainmentgarnered inspiration for his verse from former video vixen and ex-lover to Weezy, Karrine Steffans.

In an old interview with VLAD TV, Steffans divulged about her love affair with the NOLA-native despite being married and throughout other relationships. Steffans did inform her partners beforehand of Weezy's priority lane in her life though, giving them free will to decide whether or not they could tolerate it. She explained that whenever Wayne called, he had his own ringtone where he'd be rapping about her and she'd then jump up and leave. In K-Dot's verse, he realizes his woman is messing around with Wayne after hearing the rapper's 2008 "Lollipop" blaring as her ringtone.

In an exclusive response with BET Digital, the New York Times best-selling author is now shedding more light on that relationship as it relates to Kendrick's brow-raising "Mona Lisa" verse.

• 'Of course, I saw the internet buzzing about 'Mona Lisa,' and about the similarities between my relationship with Wayne,' Steffans said...

  "As it pertains to my first two husbands. So, I listened.First, the storytelling took me back to my son’s father,Kool G Rap, the king of rap novellas. Wayne’s wave comes in slowly, then all at once."

  Steffans praised both Kendrick and Wayne for their unique cadences on the track, specifically Wayne's. "It’s frantic," she said of the track. "I love when he raps like a sociopath. I love when he raps until he can’t breathe. I hold my breath. I ride the wave.And, then, Kendrick. He comes in like he does, all Kendrick and sh*t."

• 'His wave is authoritative, like a rap daddy,' she added

  "Like, 'I said what I said.' All you can do is shut up and listen." This Weezy persona floats her back down memory lane, Steffans explained, when she'd be on-call forTha Carter Vrap icon and have to break the hard truth to her then-partner at the time.

  "But then, he slips into character, and I have to admit, it resembles nights at my house back then — except I’ve never denied my relationship with Wayne." Steffans references the controversial "She Will" ringtone that often was the dealbreaker in past relationships because she already admitted that had anyone asked herto stop seeing him, "the answer will always be no."

  She continued, "The ‘She Will’ ringtone said it all." Steffans ended her response by alluding to a mutual understanding between her and her partners, "and I never had to say anything but, 'Move your car,' and 'Have my bath water ready when I get back.'"

  And in her own twist of the infamousIvan Dragowords so popularly used in the male-dominated hip-hop sphere, she had just five words for any of them who had an issue with it:

  "If he cries, he cries."

• Check out Karrine Steffans and others detailing the life as video vixens in BET Digital's original docu-series below.