This history of XXL Eye Candy, which starts with issue number 4 somewhere around '97-'98 and goes through 2006, gives you an idea of the evolution (or perhaps the devolution) of the urban eye candy genre. As you can see, it started off with celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and Traci Bingham. This was back when BlackMen magazine still featured women like Tyra and Beyonce on the cover of their magazine.

We also see that Melyssa Ford was an Eye Candy as far back as August 2000, which means she's been in the game nearly a decade now. Notice there is a lot of repetition in those early years, because there was a dearth of name brand eye candy models. People like Gloria Velez, Sincerely Ward, and Pasha were all featured twice.

And then between 2004 and 2006, urban modeling hits its stride, with models like Vida, KiToy Johnson, Summer Walker, and Esther Baxter. Too bad that's where it ends. It would be interesting to have seen the years between 2007 and 2009. (Click to enlarge)

Tags: Melyssa Ford, Buffie The Body, Esther Baxter, Summer Walker

This editorial in BlackMen from 2006 typifies the blurring of the line that started to happen between “models” that were known strippers and models who had never been involved with that side of the business. (Esther is not a stripper.) I can’t even think of the white analogue to the model/stripper in the urban market. Who has Maxim of FHM (repeatedly) featured on the cover who was an admitted stripper?

Anyway, I think these type of features were the beginning of the end for the urban market. This and glamorizing girls like Angel Lola Luv who were obviously not the genuine article.

Tags: Esther Baxter, Buffie The Body

One of my favorite Esther sets because of the colors and playful theme. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard much from her these days.

Tags: Esther Baxter

Check out Esther Baxter in the new issue of J’Adore magazine. (Click to enlarge)

Tags: Esther Baxter

J'Adore's Anniversary Issue is about to drop and it features some of the hottest video vixens in the business. Check out a behind-the-scenes video here.

Tags: Bria Myles, Melyssa Ford, Esther Baxter

We're starting to see more top urban models take more conservative pics. Melyssa Ford has also gone in this direction, as swimsuit photos from her have become increasingly rare.

Thanks to Wasabi for these pics.

Tags: Esther Baxter

So BlackMen mag has finally made the sensible and inevitable leap to digital. While it's no SHOW Girlz Exclusive yet, it does provide some extremely high quality images from many of your favorite BlackMen issues, such as this SSX issue of Esther Baxter from a couple years back (pre pregnancy).

The downside is that, unlike SHOW, BlackMen is not giving us raw, unedited outtakes from these shoots. So you don't get to see how these models look pre-Photoshop. The upside is that what they are giving you is top-notch quality images of top eye candy models. BlackMen has always had printing issues, so these direct images show just how good some of the photography, styling, etc. was on these shoots. The fact is, BlackMen is probably ahead of SHOW where it concerns creativity on their shoots (SHOW's shoots are boring and repetitive) and that's really revealed in the images membership buys you. You also get some behind-the-scenes videos, but those are fairly low quality Flash files.

Whether membership is worth it to you depends on how die-hard a fan you are of some of these models (there are Melyssa Ford pics). Let's just say that at $4.95 for a trial membership, I didn't feel cheated. You can check it out here.

Tags: Esther Baxter

This pic speaks for itself. Esther, Bria, Tiara, Nikki B and an unknown during a break at the KING shoot for their July 2006 issue. Doesn't get any better. (Click to enlarge)

Tags: Esther Baxter, Bria Myles, Tiara Harris