We walked past a newsstand just the other day, and were struck by the thought (honest, we were!) that we really do tend to neglect the growing number of urban men's magazines out there. In media speak, of course, "urban" means "black dudes," which means the pages are filled with black women ... but why should we keep them apart from their fairer-skinned (and mostly British) counterparts? As if reading our mind, the cover story on this week's Village Voice (also seen at our newsstand) takes a look at this growing segment of the market and their unique strategy for success—"Fat asses and pretty faces." It turns out that the average guy in the barbershop prefers curves to wafer-thin supermodels, and these mags are eager to provide. We're tying to help too by rounding up some of the more popular urban glossies, which will hopefully increase your awareness and get them to increase their web presence. Of course, there's no such thing as a ... ahem ... black and white preference when it comes to babes and bodies, and we'd actually prefer to see more mixing and matching in Maxim as well as King. After all, even white boys like to shout, right?
· "Black Publishers Make a Play for the Maxim man" (villagevoice.com)
· Thumbnail star: KING's 2006 Web Girl of the Year Khrysti Hill @ KING Magazine (king-mag.com)
· SMOOTH MAGAZINE ONLINE (smoothmag.com)
· Black Men Magazine (blackmenpub.com)
· SSX Magazine (myspace.com)
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Previously: Karrine Steffans is "SuperHead", Hip Hop Honeys, This Week In Porn Stereotypes: "Loca Latina Sluts Vol. 2", Porn of the Moment: "My Baby Got Back! 41", "Why Interracial Porn is Stupid" (And Why We Agree), "Groupie Love", Li'l John Goes Vivid, Hip-Hop and Porn, Fish 'N' Grits, Rap Hunnies, This Week In Lad Mags Archive