diff --git a/requests/compat.py b/requests/compat.py
index 8e4a17e4..af0207de 100644
--- a/requests/compat.py
+++ b/requests/compat.py
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ if is_py2:
     from StringIO import StringIO
     from .packages import chardet
 
+    builtin_str = str
     bytes = str
     str = unicode
     basestring = basestring
@@ -105,6 +106,7 @@ elif is_py3:
     from io import StringIO
     from .packages import chardet2 as chardet
 
+    builtin_str = str
     str = str
     bytes = bytes
     basestring = (str,bytes)
diff --git a/requests/models.py b/requests/models.py
index 970acf8a..0a83a681 100644
--- a/requests/models.py
+++ b/requests/models.py
@@ -32,9 +32,7 @@ from .utils import (
     DEFAULT_CA_BUNDLE_PATH)
 from .compat import (
     cookielib, urlparse, urlunparse, urljoin, urlsplit, urlencode, str, bytes,
-    StringIO, is_py2, chardet, json)
-
-from __builtin__ import str as builtin_str
+    StringIO, is_py2, chardet, json, builtin_str)
 
 REDIRECT_STATI = (codes.moved, codes.found, codes.other, codes.temporary_moved)
 CONTENT_CHUNK_SIZE = 10 * 1024