What he does: Actor, former DJ

Where to check for Idris next: Check out his TV series Luther. Look forward to his new movie Prometheus that hits the box office in 2012.

Eye Candy Qualifications: Tall, dark, handsome. And that bloody British accent.

Who: Braylon Edwards

What he does: Wide receiver for New York Jets

Where to check for Braylon next: The football field, of course!

Eye Candy Qualifications: With Braylon’s smooth chocolate skin, handsome face and beautiful body- what more could a woman ask for?

Who: Ryan Gentles

What he does: Actor, Model, Personal Trainer

Where to check for Ryan next: If you’re in need of a professional trainer find him at his website www.ryangentles.com.

Eye Candy Qualifications: His signature locs and body of perfection.

Who: Dez Bryant

What he does: Wide Receiver for the Dallas Cowboys

Where to check for Dez next: Football season

Eye Candy Qualifications: Wide shoulders, the chiseled chest and six-pack.

Who: Keston Karter

What he does: Model

Where to check for Keston next: Is it wishful thinking to hope he’s on a billboard in Times Square as beautiful as he is?

Eye Candy Qualifications: Everything about him is FINE!

Who: Nelly

What he does: Rapper

Where to check for Nelly next: Gawk at Nelly’s abs on his fitness DVD series Celebrity Sweat. He’s also working on a new album to be released this year.

Eye Candy Qualifications: His body is beyond amazing.

Who: Marcus Cooper a.k.a. Pleasure P

What he does: R&B Singer

Where to check for Pleasure P next: In an attempt to regain some buzz, Pleasure P tweeted sexy photos of himself. I see new music in the near future.

Eye Candy Qualifications: His beautiful smile

Who: Omari Hardwick

What he does: Actor

Where to check for Omari next: Alongside Anthony Mackie, Omari plays Frankie Duson in Bolden! to be released later this year.

Eye Candy Qualifications: It has to be the beard and his eyes. What a fine piece of testosterone.

Who: Laz Alonso

What he does: Actor

Where to check for Laz next: Breakout King TV series and his new film Straw Dogs hits theaters in September.

Eye Candy Qualifications: He’s gorgeous in a suit.

Who: Derrick Rose

What he does: Point Guard for the Chicago Bulls

Where to check for Rose next: MVP Rose is resting up before practice begins for the next season.

Eye Candy Qualifications: He’s tatted out and looks a little rough around the edges.

I haven’t checked for Barbie in a minute.

Nicki Minaj’s “it’s Barbie bitch” picked up where Lil’ Kim left off. Nicki’s legion of impressionable young female fans happily oblige to her playful term of endearment, a.k.a. Barbs. Her adolescent fans aren’t the only ones referring to themselves as Barbies.

On Monday the one and only Queen Bee celebrated her 37th birthday and released a promo shoot shot by photographer Michael Antonio. Of course she posed as none other than Black Barbie. In a subtler than usual image, Kim captured Barbie rocking a long blonde wig with Chinese bangs. Her perfect manicured nails were a simple pink and white. And as Photoshopped as her face was, it actually looked more like late ’90’s Kim pre-several trips to the plastic surgeon. It was the blue eyes that caused me to clutch my pearls.

Kim was back to claim her reign, but instead of dropping lyrical ether, she wanted us all to remember she was the first “Black Barbie dressed in Bvlgari.”

Commenters over on a popular entertainment blog were less shocked about her blue eyes; instead they raved about how beautiful she looked. Ironically it took a photo with her rocking a blonde wig and blue eyes for folks to think Kim was beautiful again. A few referenced Toni Morrison’s Bluest Eye and someone got to the bottom of what I really wanted to know:

“I’m so tired of these grown ass women calling themselves Barbies, dolls, etc. #lame.”

And in response:

“I used to say this too, but I’ll take them calling themselves Barbie instead of bad bitches.”

Is hip-hop so homogenous and commercialized that female emcees have to either subscribe to this ridiculous Barbie notion or posture as a hardcore gangster to be mainstream? I need there to be a middle ground.

I get it. Kim rightfully has beef with Nicki for biting her style without giving her due props 1,476 times. Her promo picture was a form of expressing that she was the first to ever do it. I would hope though, at 37, one would have evolved beyond the concept of a plastic doll.

Kim and Nicki’s beauty was actually more aligned with perfection before they attempted to resemble Barb. I wonder where in society we’ve gone wrong where grown Black women are infatuated with looking like something so inauthentic and unattainable. It’s even worse when some women believe blonde hair and blue eyes is the superior standard of beauty. And what is this teaching little Black girls about their beautiful brown bodies, their kinky curls and their brown eyes? Are they not good enough the way they were born?

Sure, it’s just entertainment to some. But at what cost? For the sake of our girls, and because it’s just played out, kind of like the term ‘played out,’ can we let the Black Barbie mimicking die a slow death?

Benè Viera is a New York City based freelance journalist who muses on music, race, feminism, politics, pop-culture and more for various outlets including Clutch, Essence and MadameNoire. Follow her on Twitter @WrittenByBene.

The second oldest sister of the Kardashian clan finally got her fairytale ending when NJ Nets player Kris Humphries proposed to her last month. But snagging the right beau to walk down the aisle with has been a challenge Kim has willingly taken on as a “hopeless romantic.”

Is anyone surprised Kim is actually wife material with such a colorful past? Let’s take a look shall we.

Before Kim was thee Kim Kardashian she was a 19-year-old teenager married to music producer Damon Thomas. After giving the marriage a go for three whole years, the couple divorced. Prior to her friendship with former bff Paris Hilton, little was known of her except that her father was a big shot attorney for OJ Simpson. In 2007 a sex tape- rumored to be intentional- was released with ex-boyfriend Brandy’s little brother Ray J. Kim files a lawsuit against Vivid Entertainment for ownership rights, but later drops the suit opting for a settlement instead. And a star is born.

The premiere of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and her blossoming new romance with New Orleans Saints football player, Reggie Bush, made 2007 a great year for the new star. Off and on and off again the couple dated until early 2010 before calling it quits. For good. Once Bush was out of the picture she dated Gabriel Aubry, Miles Austin and Cristiano Ronaldo in search of love that she eventually found with Humphries.

KK managed to get a man, not just an ordinary man but a wealthy one, to wife her despite her lackluster sex tape all over the worldwide web.

I’m no hater. Just curious as to her method. If she were a Black woman she wouldn’t be afforded the luxury of having what some might call a sketchy past without being ridiculed, let alone be able to find ballers to date or marry. But that’s neither here nor there.

Kim is no doubt a beautiful woman. Her personality is about as boring as a paper clip, but she seems nice nonetheless. But wife material? To a baller?

Men’s egos are a beast. I don’t know one man who would be able to be in a relationship, definitely not marry, a woman who their boys have most likely seen sexing another man on tape. Lots of men hold onto this Virgin Mary perception of their woman because it’s just better for their ego that way. Yet somehow Kim has managed to get a man to look past it all.
Is her beauty so mesmerizing that it trumps her sexual past? Perhaps her heart is so kind one cannot help but to fall in love with her. Or maybe she cooks a mean spaghetti and meatballs.

I’m certain it’s her p*ssy. Chick is riding the D like no other. Kris, 26, has never had an ass like that. Kim, 30, with her experience jumping from baller to baller, has had eons of practice perfecting pro moves. And her head game has to be something serious.

Whatever it is, it’s working for her, majorly. Her subpar performance four years ago in the now infamous sex tape has led to a whopping $65 million for her entire family. She continued to work that cooch like no other until one finally put a ring on it. Critics can argue all day about her lack of talent. But the power of her p*ssy cannot be denied.