The very persistent and beautiful Keri Hilson, in collaboration with Complex and So-Me, shares the August/September issue of the magazine with Kid CuDi. She speaks candidly about her less-than-quick rise to success, her songwriting career amongst other things. Might we add she does turn the temperature up a few notches with her photoshoot.

On her first ‘big’ income:
My very first check was for Ruben Studdard’s first album, like $25,000. And my family was like, “What the hell is this? This is what you’ve been doing? Who the hell brings home a check like this?” They’re thinking $2,500 here and there, whatever. It was crazy.

On her songwriting career being a bit more successful than her singing career so far:
No, it’s money in the bank. That’s my means of living. There’s two sides of me, and neither takes preference. One is just a dream that I fought long and hard for. Songwriting was my Plan B. My whole life, I’ve fought to just do this. I didn’t know that I’d be able to take off as far, or as fast, as I did, but I knew I had a talent and that I should pursue it, because there’s money in it. When I wasn’t able to perform, and lost the record deal, I took the path of Plan B, and now I love them equally. I can’t have one without the other. Even at my biggest, I want to be writing for other artists. Even at my peak—the highest I can be as an artist—I always want to be keeping my creative juices flowing, keeping money in the bank, putting my intellectual property out there.

On her reaction to the leaked photos of two female R&B artists:
My first reaction was “Thank God I never did that.” I never let anybody take any naked pictures of me, so there would be none. I was always one of those over-paranoid people, convinced that someday that I would be living the dream, so as early as middle or high school I wouldn’t do certain things, just in case. [READ MORE]

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