XXL.com

Anyone who’s seen the visual to Timbaland’s hypnotic “Say Something,” featuring Drake, has witnessed the beauty of Keyshia Dior. The Jamaica native and Miami representative is tough to miss, owning a unique look balanced by soft, feminine features (lips as delicious as her C cups) and a fierce mohawk, with the sides of her head shaved. The 25-year-old beauty’s fresh aesthetic recently helped land her placement in three major videos in just three months: “Say Something,” Birdman’s Lil-Wayne-and-Drake-assisted “4 My Town (Play Ball)” and Young Money’s “Bedrock.” Becoming her Mr. Flintstone requires similar distinction.

You began video modeling only last fall. Why the late start?

I didn’t wanna do videos at first, ’cause I hate the way video girls were stereotyped. I didn’t want my image messed up, but then I told myself, Who cares what people think.

Your character in the “Say Something” clip is a spoiled brat. Can you relate?

I am spoiled, but I wouldn’t call it being a brat—I’d call it being confident. I don’t sit there, like, Oh, I want this guy to take care of me. I always try to do my best in whatever I do. At the same time, I’m not gonna pick up a guy that can’t do for me.

What type of guys do you like?

I like guys that are flashy, who make sure their clothes are on point. I’m about looking good, so I don’t want a guy next to me that’s not.

If you consider all the guys that you’ve done videos with—Drake, Wayne, Timbaland and Baby—which is the closest to your ideal man?

I don’t think any of them is the total package. Timbaland has a great personality, Birdman’s dress code is off the chain, Wayne has a mean swag, and Drake is real cool. If I could put all of that into one man, that would be my perfect guy. —Bonsu Thompson

The May 2010 issue, featuring Nicki Minaj & Drake, i son stands now!!!

Photography by Amy Postle

Photography by Amy Postle

Photography by Amy Postle
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Hi, it’s Kool A.D., (slave name Victor Vazquez) from the weirdo hipster bullshit rap group Das Racist, back again with yet another blog entry for you to look at instead of doing real work at your job.

We’ve all heard a lot about The M&M and The Vanilla Ice rapper, but what about those unsung heroes that have paved the way for the rich, sprawling tapestry that is contemporary Caucasian hip-hop? Below are five classic moments in White rap history, as documented by YouTube…

MC ROVE:

This is seriously one of the most insane YouTube videos I’ve ever seen. At some sort of White House dinner or event or whatever type of Illuminati gathering they get up to in that nest of evil, this White devil man raps about George W. Bush’s senior advisor, Karl Rove, saying, “That’s right, he can’t be beat/Because he’s so White from his head to his feet,” while Karl Rove tries to dance like a Black person and say his name the way he imagines a Black person would (which apparently is like some sort of bear-gremlin). It’s funny to imagine some White House public relations dude having to track down the one Black guy at the event and have him present on stage so that the whole thing would “look less racist.”

SUPER BROKER SHUFFLE:

I have no idea how or why this video got made but it has some of the ILLEST PUNCH LINES AND METAPHORS I HAVE EVER HEARD.

THE RENEGADE JEW:

In 1994, a Wall Street millionaire dropped three thousand dollars on recording and promoting a rap album under the (AMAZING) rap name “The Renegade Jew.” The song never fails to make me shake my head with my mouth wide open (pause) with lines such as: “My family is paid/But not off the slave trade;” “Just like the Holocaust gets me in the shower,” (???), and this zen koan of a line, “Blacks and Jews have always been hated/If we didn’t exist we would be created.”

WHITE RAPPER SAYS N-WORD AT RAP BATTLE IN SPOKANE, WASHINGTON:

I really like this dude’s ad-libs about how “hip-hop is hard, you need to articulate” and that rappers shouldn’t be “just fuckin’ around, you know, tap, tap shit.” And his ponytail is ON ANOTHER LEVEL. HE IS REALLY OPENING UP MY EARS.

DENNY BLAZIN HAZEN - AVERAGE HOMEBOY:

I actually have no words for this.

Just as I was suggesting that the Game should focus on putting out a song someone might actually like, rather than putting out a song that’s 20 minutes long, and putting out a mixtape that looks like it would be painful to sit through, thus defeating the purpose of putting out a mixtape in the first place, Eminem puts out a song that someone might actually like.

I’d suggest that Eminem read my blog, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that spends a lot of time on the Internets. In fact, I’m not sure what the fuck he does in the lengthy periods in between when he actually releases music. But I notice that unlike every other rapper there ever was, he never seems to be on Twitter, hollering at fat chicks, trying to browbeat random kids into RTing a link to his latest freestyle and what have you. He only joined right when it was time to promote Relapse, and he’s hardly used it very much since. There was an update a couple of weeks ago, when he wanted us to think that Relapse 2 had been canceled (rather than just renamed), and a couple more, to announce the new title, and the name of the new single, which is supposedly set to premiere on Shade 45 tomorrow morning. For all we know, some random kid from Interscope could be posting that shit. The RZA, for example, doesn’t operate his Twitter, the only source of the recent news the he and the GZA are working on Liquid Swords 2, for release this fall. (Aging hater that I am, I’ve still got my fingers crossed.)

Which begs the question: is this all part of Eminem’s plan to make himself scarce, for marketing purposes, or is he just not very tech savvy. He seems too smart (because he’s white, natch) + obsessed with pr0n and various other aspects of pop culture, to the extent that all other pop culture these days doesn’t overlap with pr0n, to not be plugged in, so I’m gonna have to assume this is part of his plan. Rather than beating us about the head and shoulders for months and months with bullshit freestyles and mixtapes, YouTube videos, and whatever else might get posted on the Nah Rights of the world, he’s gonna drop one amazing (at least on a technical level) freestyle, then the single’s gonna drop two days later, then probably a video, and then the album.

The silly marketing campaign that led up to the release of Relapse, and the mild commercial disappointment that ultimately greeted that album may have also played a role in this new tack. Remember that dumbass Relapse website that some chinaman probably got paid a small fortune to make? Remember that video for “3 AM” that premiered on motherfucking Skinemax, which must have caused a number of people to have to check to see if they even got Skinemax? (Nothing against Skinemax, which obviously played an important role in my adolescence. Shout out to Shannon Tweed.) Did that XXL cover where he was dressed up as The Punisher also have to do with Relapse? I may have stepped on some toes the other day when I questioned how Dream and Fabolous cover came to be, so I’m not gonna say whether I thought that Eminem cover was gay. You’ll just have to use your imagination. Nullus.

The thing is, Em may have been cashing in on the goodwill and brand cachet built up during his early oughts heyday. Companies were probably lining up to Black Eyed Peas-style joint marketing ventures with him. That may have even been the main reason Relapse hit the streets when it did - just like how I suspect that the real impetus for Detox finally seeing the light of day, if it does, was the prospect of creating that many more opportunities to promote those ridonkulously overpriced (and hence profitable as shit) Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. But that was back when the last Eminem album, the godawful, Encore, had gone 4x platinum, and the one before that, which was actually worth listening to, sold twice as much. Relapse only went platinum once over, and worse, didn’t include any songs that would fit particularly well in a cell phone commercial. Em might not be able to launch a Relapse-style shill campaign now if he wanted to. It’s B.o.B.’s turn. Roffle.

Not that I’m complaining. Everything I’ve heard about Recovery so far suggests to me that he’s dropped the gimmicky marketing bullshit in favor of focusing on making great music. I’m genuinely psyched.

XXL Freshman alum B.o.B. is set to debut atop The Billboard 200 next week. Industry insiders hitsdailydouble.com projects that the Grand Hustle rapper’s first album, The Adventures of Bobby Ray, will sell between 80,000 and 85,000 units based off the disc’s one-day sales.

B.o.B. currently has the No. 1 single in the country on the Billboard Hot 100 charts with “Nothin’ On You,” his collaboration with Bruno Mars.

XXLMag.com caught up the ATLien during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where he performed alongside Jay-Z, Wale and De La Soul, to find out his reaction to the track’s popularity. At the time “Nothin’ on You” was No. 2 on the charts behind Rihanna’s “Rude Boy,” and Bobby Ray wasn’t exactly confident that he’d be able to overthrow the pop star. When asked if the song would be able to make it to No. 1, he said, “I dunno, because I have been hanging up there for a minute and she’s been hanging up there for a minute. So, it’s kinda like, whatchu gonna do? Fuck it. [It’s a] draw.”

During the interview B.o.B. said he didn’t care if he got the No. 1 spot. “It doesn’t matter at this point,” he explained. “It’s all to-ma-toes, to-mah-toes, No. 1 and No. 2—it’s like, ‘What do you see, the sun or the moon?’ They’re both there. Even though the sun is a little bigger, you see both of them.”

Check XXLMag.com next Wednesday (May 5) to find out B.o.B.’s exact sales figures. —Elan Mancini

Aspiring MCs, now is your chance to get tips from some of hip-hop’s best lyricists. XXLMag.com has four copies of How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC.

Including a foreword from legendary Queens rep Kool G Rap, the book includes advice and guidance from such artists as Big Daddy Kane, Nelly, Mobb Deep, Clipse, A Tribe Called Quest, E-40, Pharaohe Monch and Twista, among others.

The 340-page tome, written by Paul Edwards, includes extensive interviews giving insight into lyrical content, rhyme flow, rhythm and delivery.

The first four readers to hit XXL@harris-pub.com with their full name and address will win a copy of the book. XXLMag.com will contact the winners by email. Good luck.

How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC is in stores now. —XXL Staff