Age: 41 | Hometown: Hayward, CA
His promise: “When I say I’m going to take care of a woman, I don’t just mean physically or sexually or romantically. I’m going to take care of her emotionally and spiritually,”
Age: 43 | Hometown: New York City
His legacy: “I’m grateful to have had a successful career and still be working. I’m also looking forward to creating the next chapter of my life. I look at my mom who is 63 and about to start working on her masters.” Malcolm vs. Theo: “I remember sometimes thinking Theo was a little square when we were filming Cosby and wanting him to be cooler. Now I see why they wanted to show that innocence.” When a woman is her sexiest: “I love seeing a woman experience uninhibited joy. In the throes of her passion, she is not worried about what other people think.”
Age: 40 | Hometown: Vienna
Ripped abs and a baldie you want to palm? Check. International cutie who speaks four languages? Check. Dedicated husband and father? Double check. Kodjoe is the -complete package and one of our picks for men to clone. His appeal: “Women love him and it’s like, ‘I completely understand girl; he’s fine!’ ” says Nicole Ari Parker, Kodjoe’s wife of eight years. “I love him and I know him, so what they’re feeling I feel ten thousand times more.”
Age: 40 | Hometown: Silver Spring, MD
Even a swim in his blue eyes couldn’t cool his heated gaze. His gratitude: “I will say one of the things that I genuinely love about Black women is that they genuinely seem to love me. Everywhere I go, the love that I get from Black women is amazing.” His dream: “I’d like to meet the next Lorraine Hansberry and play the next Walter Lee. I’d like to introduce a new character that people will be talking about 50 or 60 years from now.”
Age: 32 | Hometown: Oakland
We’re thankful the boy next door wasn’t as fine as this leading man. We’d all still be living at home. Why this award surprised him: “I used to hate my smile as a kid. I went through this awkward phase when I was trying to figure out my look and did this crooked smile in all my pictures. Now my smile comes in handy and has gotten me out of a few speeding tickets. I try to kill people with kindness.” How he approaches a woman: “I don’t show up with a representative. If people like you, they have to like you for who you are.” Why Black women keep him grinning: “There’s so much to love. Your many shapes, skin tones and hairstyles. It feels like home.”
Age: 40 | Hometown: London
Elba admits he was actually shy and didn’t get much love from the ladies growing up in East London. That’s okay: We’re happily making up for lost time. His confession: “There is something quite -devious about my personality. I’ll do all the right things. I’ll be the upstanding gentleman. But -behind closed doors, I want to let loose. As long as I know my secrets aren’t going to get out.” His appeal: “I challenge any woman to see Idris walk into a room and not get a little flustered,” says Sharon Leal, Elba’s This Christmas costar. “I’ll never forget the first day he walked into the hair and makeup trailer. We were all laughing and talking, then the room goes quiet. When he left, every woman yelped. The surprising thing about Idris is that he delivers more than just a gorgeous exterior. He is fun-loving and gracious.”
Age: 41 | Hometown: Chicago
The rapper–actor–author–activist brings out our ride-or-die side, ready to partner with him to change the world. Embracing his fuzz: “I started to realize that I could rock my beard in a fresh way when I was about 25. Funny enough, that was when I began to go bald, and my beard is the hair the -Creator left me with. My beard is a way to change up my style and express how I’m feeling.” When a woman is her sexiest: “When she is working out or just leaving church.”
Age: 43 | Hometown: Oakland
His confession: “I’d be a liar if I didn’t say I work out and dress to impress to get the attention of the ladies. I also work out to maintain my confidence and keep my Black from cracking.” His guilty pleasures: “I love soul food, peanut M&M’s and coffee to wake my non-morning self up.” What has him excited: “We all dream of sharing our lives with our soul mates. I’m exploring that journey in my upcoming film, The Bounce Back.”
Age: 41 | Hometown: Brooklyn
Our bond with his velvet sound and soaked-in-sensuality lyrics is unbreakable. In anticipation of his fifth album, we’re jamming hard to “Sumthin’ Sumthin’.” On repeat. His favorite song to sing: “I love ‘Amazing Grace.’ It speaks of everything I’ve been blessed with throughout the years.” When you have his full attention: “I find a woman most sexy when she is sleeping.” When he feels his sexiest: “When I’ve just finished creating a song.”
Age: 45 | Hometown: Bay Shore, NY
The ladies will always love cool James, the ultimate sex symbol and family man. His drive: “You don’t retire from being an artist. That’s not realistic. It isn’t like a carpenter, or even an athlete where the physical limitations stop you. I’m just an artist. not pretending to be 19 but I have no reason to not love my art and do my music, but just in a different way.” His appeal: “Todd has a lot of respect for women. People in his family used to say, ‘Todd loves you because you are just as feisty as his grandmother,’ ” shares his wife of 18 years, Simone I. Smith. “We both grew up in the church, so we know you have to put God first.”
Age: 44 | Hometown: Philadelphia
The fresh prince became a box office king right before our eyes, and have kept our attention each step of the way. On what men really want: “Every man wants to marry his homie,” Will once told an ESSENCE editor in a candid interview. “A lot of women will impress them, but it’s the one they can always laugh with and be themselves around that will ultimately impress them most.”
Age: 52 | Hometown: Honolulu
Yes. He’s the President. Commander in Chief. Nobel Peace Prize winner. But all his titles are a memory when Obama glides across the White House lawn like a Temptations singer crossing the floor to ask us to dance. The answer is always yes.
His appeal: “He’s got a little swag,” admits First Lady Michelle Obama to Entertainment Tonight. “He’s a stylish, smart and passionate man. Who wouldn’t fall in love?”
