It would seem that ever since Karrine Steffans’ Confessions Of A Video Vixen hit bookshelves, girls appearing in music videos everywhere had some serious explaining to do. With the perception of most being that listing “video girl” as an occupation was less than honorable, the difficulty in going from music video starlet to legitimate actress or entertainer multiplied exponentially. Enter Dollicia Bryant.

Many know her from her numerous appearances in music videos from a handful of popular artists, most recently being the yet unreleased “Love Lockdown” video from Kanye West. But if Dollicia has her way in the coming years, many will see her as a smart, sexy businesswoman with bona fide talent as an actress. We got a chance to catch up with the budding star to chat about a little bit of everything.

AllHipHop.com Alternatives: For some of our readers who may not be familiar with you, run down the videos you have been in and how you started.

Dollicia Bryant: I started off actually in Portland, OR. Rasheed Wallace and his cousin from Philly had a Hip-Hop show on Sundays. They asked me to be a part of it. So it started with me just interviewing Hip-Hop heads or any big celebrities that came into town. And after a while, people were just telling me that I should stop being behind the mic at the radio station and start doing bigger things. So I actually ventured off to LA and one of the first people that gave me one of the big numbers that I needed to do that was Pharrell.

I actually hooked up with Diane Martel and did one of my first videos. Then I just kind of chilled out for a bit. I ended up getting back involved by doing a favor for a friend. They had a dilemma, because Joe had this video and they needed someone with some acting skills as well as sex appeal and the woman that actually got the job, her hair caught on fire. [laughs] So they were kind of in a dilemma. So they ended up asking me to do the video. And ever since then, I’ve been getting non-stop calls to do videos. That was like a year and a half ago.

AHHA: Is there any particular reason why you opt not to get too revealing in the music videos you have appeared in?

Dollicia: It’s just that I’m trying to cross over into a different field as far as acting. So I don’t want on my resume for anybody to see lots of scandalous pictures of me in thongs. I don’t do anything in thongs. I’m crossing over. There are a lot of things that the urban market might not see that I’m trying to do. And I’m not trying to ruin my opportunities by being completely naked.

AHHA: Now you have done your fair share of music videos. And in a lot of different news bits I’ve seen, you’ve been referred to as a “video girl.” The phrase “video girl” has grown to have such a negative connotation. Do you have an objection to being referred to as that?

Dollicia: Yeah, I’m not happy about it, because I’ve done some movies and commercials. I don’t like the fact that people try pigeon-hole me based on the videos that I’ve done because that’s the only thing they’ve seen. But hey if you remember me from a video, I’m not going to knock it. That name just got bad when it was a time when there were big budgets for videos and music was just making big money and there were girls getting paid $10,000 to be on a video set.

And they were popping bottles and smoking weed and stuff, but that was back in the day. Now, the music industry is not making money. So those videos are not big budget anymore. There are very small budgets and the director has to get in and out. So there’s no more liquor and popping bottles on video sets anymore; it’s just work.

AHHA: Now your name has been mentioned in relation to a lot of different male artists and actors. So what I’m going to do is throw out some names of people you’ve been linked to and give you an opportunity to speak on some rumors. Bow Wow.

Dollicia: That’s not true.

AHHA: Jamie Foxx

Dollicia: That’s not true at all. I’m blessed to have people that will pull me to the side and give me advice on how to further my career and that’s the only thing [Jamie Foxx] has ever done for me. People just see pictures and they are like, “Oh he must be trying to have sex with her.” And it was nothing like that. And the people that work with him, they work with me as well. So they see us at a lot of the same events and people just ran with it.

AHHA: Would you even be open to dating anyone in the industry?

Dollicia: I want to say no. [laughs]

AHHA: That being said what attracts you to a guy?

Dollicia: Just somebody that’s positive, that has a sense of humor, and has a good relationship with their family.

AHHA: From talking to you, you seem to be the opposite of the “video girl” stereotype. It seems like now every girl that’s in a video, people are like oh she must be a ho. Why do you think it has gotten that bad?

Dollicia: Over time girls started wearing less and less clothes. The clothes started looking a lot more stripperish. People started hearing stories about girls getting intoxicated and things happening. And then people hear “video vixen” and then automatically connect it to the book. So it just became such a bad thing.

AHHA: Do you feel like you have ever been disrespected on a video set? Has anyone ever said or done anything to you that you felt was out of line?

Dollicia: No, I haven’t at all. I have never had anyone come at me foul.

AHHA: Where can fans hit you up?

Dollicia: They can write me at http://www.myspace.com/dollicia1

Exclusive photos from Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" video shoot starring Dollicia Bryant: