Not too many woman can boast a 34-28-45 frame, but and her endless curves love every ounce of the attention it garners. The video vixen/model and sometimes actress has parlayed what is usually considered to be a short-lived career into a viable brand-name. You can find her plastered on the screen-savers of cell phones just as easily as the cover of a magazine. And it doesn’t stop there.

Adopting her entrepreneurial spirit, Ms. Buffie has taken on the new role of author with her new e-book titled Get Your Mind Right: A Step-By-Step Look at the Modeling Career of Buffie the Body.

Recently, HipHopDX sat down with the buxom beauty to dish about her accidental road to stardom, critics of her profession, the real story behind her rumored romance with Gucci Mane, and getting the cold shoulder from fellow model Melyssa Ford.

HIpHopDX: For those who aren’t familiar with your background, how did you get your start as a model/ video vixen?
Buffie: I really wasn’t tryin’ to be a model. That was the crazy thing about all of this. I wasn’t trying to be a model. I was in Baltimore hangin’ out with one of my friends and I met a photographer at the club. I said, “I need some pictures of myself just for my own personal use.” So the photographer and I did a photo shoot the next day. He said he would send me the pics on disk, and when I got back [home] I realized that before he had even mailed them to me, he took them and put them online without my permission—that’s how this whole thing started.

DX: Were you mad at him for posting the pictures without your permission?
B: I was real upset in the beginning. Then when I saw the response the pictures were getting, I was like, maybe I’m not so upset. [Laughs]

DX: So it wasn’t your initial dream to be a model?
B: No, I hadn’t even thought about it. Most of the models in the videos in that day were never my size. You didn’t see girls with my complexion, or my size being on the cover of King or Black Men. Now that I think of it, I was the first girl of my complexion to be on the cover of King. I think I’ve changed the game a lot ‘cause before me, you didn’t see girls like that.

DX: And how are you handling the fame of being known within the Hip Hop industry?
B: I’m just blessed. I’m really, really, really blessed and thankful that it’s been over four years now and I’m still able to make money and be featured on the cover of magazines. The average video girl has six months to a year [of fame] before they’re gone, so it’s a blessing to even still be around going on four years.

DX: Last time you talked to DX [click to read] you were trying to transition into some acting, how’s that been going for you?
B: The only acting I’ve done was an independent film in Chicago back in 2007. That’s the only acting gig I’ve had since the cameo in ATL.

DX: Would you like to do more acting roles? Or is it something you just sporadically do on the side?
B: Really, what happened with the people in Chicago was that they called me for the job. They hit me up on my email and that’s how I ended up in that role. I’m not taking any acting classes or anything. So it’s usually only when people reach out to me…I was actually considered to be in the Biggie movie to play one of the video girls sittin’ by the pool or something, but I was booked and I couldn’t be in New York when they needed me to be.

DX: So basically acting isn’t something you are actively pursuing.
B: Nope. If it happens it happens but I just got so many other things going on. If you ask any model what else they wanna do, they say acting. And there are so many of the model/actresses that you gotta wonder how many of them can actually act? Of course if someone wants me in a film, I’ll do it. But as far as taking all my time and devoting myself to acting classes; I’m not doing that at all.

DX: I know that you are a former exotic dancer, but does it ever concern you that some people think of you solely as a sex object?
B: Um. No. It’s a blessing to be sexy and to have people view me as sexy, so I don’t look at it as a negative thing at all. I think it’s a good thing.

DX: As a woman myself, I agree that anyone that says they don’t want to be considered attractive or sexy is lying; that’s just BS. But at the same time there is a difference between someone who is “sexy” and someone who is a “sex object”. I also write a blog on DX, and I went to the readers and told them whoever provided the best questions for you, I would ask them during the interview…and about a total of 100 people replied from DX and a couple forums the blog was reposted on and 99% of the responses given were either some variation of “what could we possibly ask a ‘video hoe’?” or asking you really derogatory, graphic, sexual questions… That doesn’t bother you?
B: No. I look at myself as a smart female. And I tell other females and models all the time that there’s nothing wrong with being sexy. Threes nothing wrong with guys going crazy over you. There’s nothing wrong with that. God made every individual an individual. So I’ve never seen anything wrong with being sexy or having men wanting you or women wanting to be like you, or be shaped like you. I have no problem with that at all. None whatsoever. But I tell other models all the time: being beautiful and sexy is not gonna take you to the next level. Its not gonna ensure that you have a successful modeling career. At some point you have to start using your brain. ‘cause it don’t take a lot to be beautiful. It doesn’t take a lot to be sexy. I’m just being Buffie. I’m just me. But mentally you have to say, “I got the physical part on lock; now I have to use my brain,” because when you have both you have the total package.

DX: If you’re initially only relying on the physical, do you ever find that when you’re ready to start using your brain people don’t take you seriously?
B: I don’t depend on other people. I depend on me, myself. It doesn’t matter if nobody takes me seriously, because I know I’m serious. The things I’m tryin to do; I’m doing it. So beautiful woman shouldn’t think, “Because I’m beautiful and every man wants to fuck me, I can’t [achieve my goals].” No. That’s because you not applying yourself.

DX: One of the DX reader questions that I did pick is from Mel in Baltimore, Maryland. Mel wants to know: “Have you ever felt uncomfortable at a photo shoot?”
B: No, not really. I’ve only done three music videos, so I can’t really talk a whole lot about videos. I’ve only done three… But in the music videos and the 30 or 40 magazines I’ve done, there’s never been anytime I felt disrespected. When I did the Tony Yayo video or even Juelz Santana, all of them treated me like how I wanted to be treated. There was never no disrespect or “Bitch, I need you to do this!” or any of that, even with me coming from a background of being an exotic dancer—because I know how to handle myself. So this industry has been very very good to me. I wrote an e-book for other models ‘cause I get emails every single day from models asking me questions. And it’s always the same two questions: “How can I get my body like yours?” or “How do I get into the industry and follow in your footsteps?” So I felt like there was a need to write this book and tell people how I did it from beginning up till now. I just put everything that I went through in the past few years into this book. Not one for aspiring models but women in general…I’m doing a lot of stuff with women now because they hit me up about stuff every day. So I’m redoing my site to reach out to my women fans because I’ve been ignoring them. But now I see a lot of women trying to do what I’m doing. So I’ma show them how I did it. I can’t guarantee that they’ll be as successful as me or go through the same things; all I can do is speak on my experience and show them how I did it.

DX: Speaking about women, there’s another reader question in regards to that. Jay in Las Vegas, Nevada wants to know, “Have you ever heard of an African woman named Sara Baartman? And if so, what is your take on the comparison of her life to how so-called video vixens are portrayed?”
B: I’ve heard of the Sara lady, but I don’t remember too much about her. I think she was he lady who was put on display because she had an extremely large buttocks and breasts, right?

DX: Exactly. She was an African woman in the 1800s, exhibited in a cage in a European freak show because of her abnormally large butt, breasts, small waist—she had a very similar build to you actually. She was forced to stand naked while men gawked at her and she was considered “oversexed” and “not normal” so that’s how they justified treating her that way. But even after she died at age 25, her body still wasn’t laid to rest in a respectful manner , instead her body was dissected and preserved in a French museum until I think in 2002 her remains were properly buried. Many consider her to be the “original video vixen” a shapely Black woman who was degraded by being reduced to only her sexuality. she wasn’t a woman, but rather she was just the sum of her body parts : big ass, thick thighs, small waist, big titties…So with you having a similar build to her, and having people draw the comparisons between her exploitation and that of a video vixen or provocative model, what’s your take on that?
B: I’ve never looked at it as a negative thing. That’s what happened in the 1800s; this is 2008 now. I don’t view females in videos as “video hoes” or whatever they call them. But as far as the things I’ve seen in videos; I don’t consider any of that negative.

DX: So for the next generation of Black women coming up, you don’t think it could it could be detrimental to them to see women being objectified?
B: But it’s been like that forever. Men are gonna be men. So a man viewing a woman as a sex object or whatever you wanna call it; I don’t think that’s ever gonna change.

DX: I think one of the things I might need to clarify is the difference between being “sexy” and being a “sex object”. I agree that there is no issue with a woman wanting to be sexy. Everyone wants to be desired. The problem arises when men stop looking at women as thinking, feeling, human beings and just looks at a woman as a walking orifice. As just something to fuck, and that’s it.
B: But that ain’t never gonna change. White men, black men, Chinese, old. I don’t think that’s going to change. It’s been like that ever since men and women existed on earth. No, that’s not ever gonna change.

DX: But just because you think something’s been going on forever doesn’t mean we can’t take steps to change that—
B: Who? Me change that?

DX: No, not you, I mean people in general. I’m not putting the weight of the world on your shoulders [Laughs]
B: [Laughs] Oh, alright.

DX: But just because something’s been going on for awhile doesn’t make it right. Slavery was accepted for years, but that doesn’t make it right.
B: I said it’s been going on forever. I never said if it was right or wrong. I said men are gonna be men. So trying to change the way men think will be hard. I don’t know. I’m not a man. All I can do is try to be Buffie. I never put myself out there as a role model for the next generation. Nobody has every read before in any of my interviews that I consider myself a role model. I got in this industry because it happened to me [by chance]. So I just said let me take my blessings and roll with it. I basically took my looks and parlayed it into a book. I turned it into an exercise tape. I’m working with an attorney in Atlanta to trademark a new bottled-water brand. I I’ve done so many positive things with this—

DX: Oh, of course you have, I’m not doubting that in any way—
B: I’m helping people financially. I have good credit now. I have a financial advisor. I have retirement plans. I’m doing business things now. There’s nothing wrong with being in a music video. But we can’t just stop there.

DX: I completely feel you on that. But even if you aren’t intentionally setting out to be a role model—which I’m sure is the case—at the same time, whether or not you planned to be a role model, you just told me that women look to you for advice—
B: People email me asking for advice. If you don’t ask me, then I don’t tell, so I’m not a role model.

DX: But if women are looking at you in a magazine and saying to themselves, “Wow, look at Buffie. I want to be like her. I’m gonna write her an email to figure out how I can be more like her or look like her or get into the industry” then whether you like it or not, you’re a role model, honey. You just said you wrote an e-book with advice for people who want to be like you!
B: Okay, well then I guess I’m a role model. [Laughs] I still don’t think I am, but if people view me as one then fine. I don’t have a problem with that.

DX: Well, you’ve been in the game for a few years now, what are your thoughts about the newer faces on the scene like Angel Lola Luv?
B: I think she’s a beautiful girl; she came to my birthday party in January in New York. We took pictures and stuff. She’s a very sweet person.

DX: Is there enough room in the industry for you to share the spotlight with the newer girls?
B: Yes. Because I believe on working with others. In the past other models haven’t been willing to work with me. But I feel like there’s more out there for everybody if we work together. I remember this one time Melyssa [Ford] [click to read] didn’t wanna work with me. She didn’t wanna do a photo shoot with me. I’ve never had a problem with any model. Melyssa Ford, Vida Guerra, these are girls that I looked up to when I got in the industry. So to find out that they didn’t wanna work with me was like…wow…

DX: Did you ever find out why Melyssa didn’t want to work with you?
B: No. I never figured it out. Honestly, I still look up to her. I don’t let it get me down. I’m still gonna be Buffie and get to where I wanna get to with or without Melyssa or whoever.

DX: What do you look for in a man?
B: Um…someone who of course has a great personality. Someone with a great sense of humor because I like to laugh, I like to joke. Someone who has their own. It doesn’t have to be somebody “rich.” They don’t need to drive a Lamborghini, but just somebody who’s tryin’ to do something on their own. Someone who gets up and goes to work everyday. That don’t have a bunch of kids. They don’t smoke or drink a lot because I don’t smoke or drink I don’t club-hop unless I’m working.

DX: Do you find all of those qualities in Gucci Mane?
B: Me and Gucci are just cool so….no. [Laughs]. Gucci is a very nice, very sweet person…we’re just not…compatible. He’s a very hard worker though and I love that about him.

DX: Are you seeing anyone right now?
B: Yeah. He’s not in the industry at all; he’s just a regular guy.

DX: Are you in love? Are there wedding bells in the future?
B: [Laughs] Umm…nope! [Laughs]

DX: Was it really that funny?
B: Yep! [Laughs]. Buffie the Body married? Yeah, that is funny. That’s real funny. [Laughs]