Lil Wayne is now the proud owner of a mansion surrounded by a moat.

The rapper dropped $17 million (that’s about R236 million ) on the property that you enter by crossing a pond-come-moat, using steps that rise out of the water.

It’s all very dramatic.

Once you get inside the house, writes Forbes, the “moveable walls make it hard to tell where the outdoors starts and the indoors end”.

The seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom house is 10 472 square feet, with 110 feet of water out front.

The house is actually pretty cool architecturally speaking, although that moat wouldn’t survive the Cape Town water crisis.

Here’s the backyard with a close-up of the floating steps:

And the front entrance with more floating steps:

You’re going to need one hell of a Kreepy Krauly to keep that clear.

Architect Choeff Levy Fischman designed not only this project but also Lil Wayne’s previous Miami home on La Gorce Circle that sold in June of last year for $10 million.

This time around, Lil Wayne has opted for a more remote location – the bridge-accessible Allison Island.

Inside the house is an open-air atrium with two 20-foot “living walls” of vegetation that thrive in the tropical sub-climate of Allison Island. It also provides a way to hang out outside but have some privacy if the paparazzi have rented a boat to circle the island, pretending to be tourists while trying to take pictures.

The dining room above is designed to make you feel as though you’re eating outside.

The bedroom below gives the impression that you’re floating in the sky:

The house also comes with a three-car garage suite, home theater, auxiliary kitchen, commercial-grade elevator, fireplace, cabana pool house with outdoor kitchen and bathroom and a pool.

The outdoor bathroom is a choice.

But hey – when you have multi-millions to spend on property, you can do what you want.

[source:forbes]