Top 25 of the Decade – Coco

Can anyone deny that when you saw Coco for the first time, you’re mouth dropped! It was just a picture of her out with Ice-T, but that’s all you needed. We all were asking “who in the hell is that?!” followed by “got damn you Ice-T… you lucky bastard!” Every outfit she wore made even your mom snap her neck.

When she graced the cover of Smooth with her famous (and constantly duplicated) pose, her star skyrocketed. She was the first woman I can ever remember not being of black or latina decent to be on the cover and Smooth, and at the time had to be my favorite cover shot ever.

She immediately jumped at the chance to give her ever growing fan base as much merchandise as she could through her site cocosworld.com (which is like one of the 5 sites she has), having yearly calendars, DVDs, posters, tee-shirts, membership sites, and anything else she could think of.

She’s been on the cover of Smooth (twice!), SHOW, Blackmen, Lowrider, Lowrider Girls, Hustlenomics, DUB, Dimepiece, American Curves, JM, and 5 Blackmen/SSX Tribute issues (more than anyone else).

She was never afraid to turn down an independent magazine, like many of the other elite models, because she understood the power to pleasing her audience. The more she gave them, the more they gave back.

– Bari the Beautiful