Akira Torii Interview

After the mother-daughter fetish, the best-friend fantasy ranks high on our to do list. So you and Lauren London are best friends, huh?

Yeah.

Is that how you ended up in a bikini in Hawaii with TI?

She invited me on one of her shoots for ATL, which was where I met Tip. Then, one morning I was on my way to work and I got a phone call from him asking me to do his video. I didn't say yes right away 'cause I had to see the treatment to make sure it was appropriate.

Yeah, we heard you gave Chris Robinson problems when it was time to get into the two-piece.

It's so hard being a woman in this industry.

Cue the violin!

You don't want to be portrayed in a certain light. That's why I didn't really want to do videos because you get labeled a "video ho.” I know I'm not like that, but other people don't know me. In the end though, I thought it looked good and it was done in great taste.

Shouldn't you have been mentally prepared for the bikini shot after reading the treatment?

No. Actually they changed the treatment once I got there [laughs].

Welcome to Hollywood.

None of that stuff was in there before.

You had plenty of practice disrobing. Still, you were a bit timid at our shoot.

To tell the truth, everybody already saw [my body] in the video. A lot of times when I'm in a bathing suit I don't feel comfortable, but at the photo shoot I actually felt sexy. I felt good in my skin.

You're single. How about I buy you a Slurpee and we take a walk on the beach? Or is my tax-bracket not up to par?

I'm not into the whole money thing. Don't try to buy me or floss off your stuff because I don't care about that. I could be around somebody who's not so fly but really start to like him if he's charismatic.

Well, Billy D. doesn't have shit on me [laughs]. So were you one of those young girls who looked like a grown woman when you were young?

Yeah, I developed kind of early. In a matter of like three months everything just came. It was kind of strange because old men would approach me—and this was before the R. Kelly thing. They didn't care I was only 14 and they could tell I was a baby.

Truthfully, when we first met you at Lauren London's cover shoot, you had just turned 21, but you did look like you had Recess on boxset. We gotta get y'all together…in an issue.

What about a best friends issue? Me and Lauren need to have a cover together. You would sell millions [laughs].

Best friends in thongs!

You mean sandal thongs? I'm not gonna be wearing no thong. You can exert sex appeal through your face - you don't need to do it through your ass.