Phonte (of the highly acclaimed rap duo Little Brother) is no stranger to porn. Like many other red-blooded humans, he joyfully dabbles in the viewing of lewd videos and online clips: there’s no surprise there. But When DX had the honor of meeting fetish porn star Ms. Sinnamon Love at the AVN Awards in Las Vegas, we were pleasantly surprised to hear that she herself was a Hip Hop head. A real Hip Hop head, none of that wack shit. Her list of favorites included The Roots, Talib Kweli, and (you guessed it) Little Brother! Sinn can even be seen jammin' to an LB track on one of her many YouTube video blogs from months ago, so rest assured she’s the real deal, not just all talk.
When DX realized that these two interesting characters shared a mutual admiration and respect for one another we thought, "Why not get the two of them together and see what happens?" After some initial shyness and small talk the two really opened up and got into it. Witness Sinn and 'Tay get more personal than ever, sharing their thoughts on politics, sex, love, Hip Hop, the dark side of the porn industry, and…powdered sugar farts? Catch a rare glimpse into the human lives behind the larger-than-life personas:
Sinnamon Love: If you could live anywhere [besides your current home in North Carolina] where would it be?
Phonte: Um, I don’t know…shit…probably somewhere oversees like Stockholm, Sweden…that place is gorgeous. It’s pretty, it’s real clean…people are real friendly. It’s just really cool. And the black people I’ve talked to over there say it’s aight. [Race] relation-wise, it’s pretty cool…I’ve definitely thought about leaving [North Carolina] though.
SL: Have you? I know [I would leave Los Angeles] just because it’s a little hectic here, but why would you leave [home]. What’s the one thing that would make you just up and leave?
P: I mean, depending on what this next [political] administration does…some of the laws that have been passed in our country have been kind of Draconian I guess. So if it got to the point where my kids were being subjected to something crazy…fuck it, I’m out. I don’t know, we’ll see. Me and my wife have definitely talked about possibly living in another country. And 10 years ago, I never would have imagined [wanting to leave]. But now as I travel I’ve seen how other people live…
SL: Right…well since you brought up politics: do you think that Barack Obama’s policies are enough to [elect him as president] or do you think his [race] will keep him [from being elected]?
P: For me, personally, I’m not really a political dude. I’m not nearly as political as my music may lead some people to believe. I’m not a dude watching CSPAN and CNN, so I’m truthfully not really into politics; I just study people. Feel me? So from what I’ve seen, I just think—well, first of all, the whole election process in itself is really just like… niggas runnin' for senior class president but on a much higher level. It’s all about who got the prettiest posters, who gonna give out the most cupcakes at lunch…the shit is really a popularity contest. It’s American idol for the presidency. Might as well have Simon [Cowell] up there critiquing niggas speeches and shit.
SL: Yea I know. I was on a flight coming back from Puerto Rico and I was watching the Democratic debate. It was a spat between Barack and Hillary the entire time.
P: Yeah, they was going at it…
SL: It was funny to me because John Edwards was totally out of the whole conversation; it was like he wasn’t even there. He had to come back with some snappy little comment about them bickering in order to even get back into the debate because he wasn’t even a consideration at that point. I mean, the ticket he was on that he could win was four years ago. So, what makes him think that he can win now?
P: The dude I was fuckin' with [back then] was that gotdamn Howard Dean!
SL: Oh for sure!
P: Yeah, but when that nigga did the “YAAAAAH!” shit, it was over. [Laughs] That shit was dead after that…but with [Obama], I think it’s gonna come down to his ability to inspire people. Mu’fuckas wanna believe that they can make a difference. People wanna believe in something. This mu’fucka had an old white lady crying and shit…like an old desperate housewife crying like, “Oh my God, he was so [inspirational]” crying over this nigga! They want another Kennedy, know what I'm saying? A white woman in Georgia I think was talking [on the news] and she said, “I was undecided before...but after hearing [Obama] speak my vote is clear. I want a president I can look at on the TV and be proud of.” And that’s really what it comes down to. She said, “The past four years, every time I heard [President Bush] speak I would just turn away because I don’t even wanna look at him. I don’t want to hear what he has to say.”
SL: [Bush] makes a fool of himself…he really makes it sound like he’s a fuckin idiot and you have to question if [the other leaders] look at him like “Are you serious? You’re trying to tell us how to run our shit and you can’t even use proper grammar!” And we got a vice president who runs around shooting people. Who can’t tell the difference between a deer and a human being? [Laughs]
P: [Laughs] Yeah, that’s bad…people just need [a president] they can feel good about, so for Obama, he just needs to figure out how he’s gonna get the Latino vote. I don’t know what the disconnect in his campaign is between him and Latinos…
SL: I think the biggest problem now is the whole Black on Brown issue that we’re having in the country and especially places like L.A where the violence between Black and brown people has escalated to a point where its going to be difficult for him to win [both sides] over. Plus, his healthcare policy is not a universal healthcare policy the way that Kerry and Clinton are pitching. He was the first to admit that his policy does not include illegal immigrants. None of their policies do when it comes to universal healthcare, but the fact that he doesn’t support [universal healthcare] either…he’s gonna have to have a very liberal stance on immigration policy in order to [win the Latino vote]. It’s gonna be hard.
P: I agree…I [also] think this country is much more sexist than it is racist. In my opinion.
SL: For sure. Hilary is not gonna be able to make that move. Do you think she would actually be able to lead?
P: I don’t know. Hilary to me just comes across as a textbook politician. When I see her talk, when I watch her, I don’t hear anything. I don’t get [her platform]. At least with Obama...I know one of the things I admire about him is that he’s like, “I don’t want you to have your faith in the government or the president to save you, I want to empower people to believe they can save themselves.” To me, that’s a much more powerful message.
SL: Right, [not someone who says] “I’m gonna change everything for you,”...
P: Right, not “I’m gonna be the magical nigga that just cures all your problems.” He wants to empower people. That’s one of the biggest problems in the country. People just don’t give a shit. They either don’t give a shit, or shit is just too far gone and they are like “fuck it.” People are so apathetic. If people don’t value their own lives, they aint gonna value no one else’s either.
SL: So do you think ‘the hustle’ has its place in our community? When there are so many people who are disenfranchised and yet they still have to provide for themselves or their families?
P: well I mean, drugs is always gonna sell. Pussy is always gonna sell. That shit ain't never going outta business…but speaking of stripping... [Laughs]
SL: [laughs]
P: So the sex industry...this is what the people really wanna hear, this is what they wanna know [laughs] …I’ve written about porn in my blog before. I’m a porn fan; I’m familiar with your work. I’m a fan. You put it down. [Laughs]
SL: And I’m a fan of Little Brother! [Laughs]
P: Yeah, that’s what’s up! I appreciate that…but yeah…I’ve written about porn, and my theory on it is that a lot of the women who do porn are damaged. Whether it’s mental damage or drug addiction or some type of issue…You don’t see too many well-adjusted porn stars. So I’m saying [we shouldn’t] take advantage of a person who was physically handicapped so [we technically shouldn’t] take advantage of someone with [an emotional handicap]. But I guess my question is, what percentage of women that you know in porn are well-adjusted and not dealing with some type of abuse?
SL: to be perfectly honest with you, it changes. I’ve been in the business for 15 years now. I’ve been through three generations of porn stars. When I first started, there were probably a lot more women who were coming from some sort of a damaged background. But some women back then, like Champagne, and Janet Jacme, they were a different mold of women back then. They were women who really and truly enjoyed sex. A lot of women, especially with women of color, they got into porn because they were strippers and they realized if they got into porn they could make more money on the road [stripping] as a feature performer, as opposed to stripping in a club for $150 a night, so it was a little more strategic. Some use it as an escape: when you have a girl who grew up in a small town in Iowa and her everyone in her family works at Wal-Mart, and there’s no real opportunity for her to do anything with her life and she sees Jenna Jameson or Tera Patrick or someone come to her town and do a feature tour [stripping] and she sees how much money they make; she’s gonna see it as a way out. Particularly with women of color who have kids or no education…doing porn and making $1,000 a day is a lot better than going on welfare.
P: I feel you on that.
SL: For me personally, I got into porn because I was getting divorced, I was 19 and in my second year of school, and I was working at Bloomingdale's and at Fred Siegel at the same time. I had to choose between studying and going to work. I was basically spending two hours a day with my kids. And at that time, I had no problem with porn. I didn’t know anything about it so there was no taboo. And If I were to go on welfare, they pay for school and childcare, but then they’re like “You have to give up your $775 a month rent controlled apartment in the nice little Santa Monica neighborhood so I can give you $480 in welfare every month.” And I’m like, “I’m not moving outta my crib so you can give me a handout and limit the amount of money I can make on my own by reducing your aid to me”…and I'm increasingly finding more women in the industry that came in because of similar situations. My situation was a little different because I did have that education and that background, but I made a financial choice to aid in my ability to do something for my family. And I find a lot of women doing the same. And it’s not just women in the industry. I find a lot of guys who were living in Bed-Stuy or Brooklyn and went from hustling on the corner to banging some of the hottest chicks in the country and being paid to do it! [Laughs] So there’s something to be said about the people like Jenna Jameson who [now] have entities behind them that are worth millions of dollars. But that’s not to say that there aren’t people in the industry who come from damaged backgrounds, but it’s sad that when you see porn stars in [the media] talking about exploitation, they usually only show the ones with the damage and the drug problems and they have regrets. What you don’t see is the [people like] Diana DeVoe, or Lexington Steele who have educations. Diana graduated from the University of Hawaii. Lexington Steele worked on Wall Street. So people don’t understand that there are those of us that are normal. [Laughs]
P: So would you consider yourself to be ‘normal’? Have you dealt with any type of drug addition or anything like that?
SL: I mean, I have a relatively normal day to day. My live is my family, my kids…I just do what I have to do...but I made the decision to never do anything on camera that I wouldn’t or couldn’t do in my personal life. That’s not to say I’ve done everything that you see in my movies in my personal life…Like I’ve done a scene recently where I was [having sex] with one person and then on the sideline there was five other guys I’d go off and give head to in the middle of the scene. I’ve never done that in my personal life…but it was sexy. The way that it was shot , it was something that I could fathom [doing on my own]...But I’m not gonna have 15 guys waiting to fuck me, because to me, that’s not sexy.
P: You know, one thing I did wanna ask you about…I told [DX Moderator] Aliya that I was gonna ask you…cause we gotta know…what exactly was the artistic vision supposed to be behind the powdered sugar on the ass video? Was that supposed to be sexy? [Laughs]
Tune in for part 2 tomorrow to find out the answer to that question and so much more!
Moderated by Aliya Ewing.
When DX realized that these two interesting characters shared a mutual admiration and respect for one another we thought, "Why not get the two of them together and see what happens?" After some initial shyness and small talk the two really opened up and got into it. Witness Sinn and 'Tay get more personal than ever, sharing their thoughts on politics, sex, love, Hip Hop, the dark side of the porn industry, and…powdered sugar farts? Catch a rare glimpse into the human lives behind the larger-than-life personas:
Sinnamon Love: If you could live anywhere [besides your current home in North Carolina] where would it be?
Phonte: Um, I don’t know…shit…probably somewhere oversees like Stockholm, Sweden…that place is gorgeous. It’s pretty, it’s real clean…people are real friendly. It’s just really cool. And the black people I’ve talked to over there say it’s aight. [Race] relation-wise, it’s pretty cool…I’ve definitely thought about leaving [North Carolina] though.
SL: Have you? I know [I would leave Los Angeles] just because it’s a little hectic here, but why would you leave [home]. What’s the one thing that would make you just up and leave?
P: I mean, depending on what this next [political] administration does…some of the laws that have been passed in our country have been kind of Draconian I guess. So if it got to the point where my kids were being subjected to something crazy…fuck it, I’m out. I don’t know, we’ll see. Me and my wife have definitely talked about possibly living in another country. And 10 years ago, I never would have imagined [wanting to leave]. But now as I travel I’ve seen how other people live…
SL: Right…well since you brought up politics: do you think that Barack Obama’s policies are enough to [elect him as president] or do you think his [race] will keep him [from being elected]?
P: For me, personally, I’m not really a political dude. I’m not nearly as political as my music may lead some people to believe. I’m not a dude watching CSPAN and CNN, so I’m truthfully not really into politics; I just study people. Feel me? So from what I’ve seen, I just think—well, first of all, the whole election process in itself is really just like… niggas runnin' for senior class president but on a much higher level. It’s all about who got the prettiest posters, who gonna give out the most cupcakes at lunch…the shit is really a popularity contest. It’s American idol for the presidency. Might as well have Simon [Cowell] up there critiquing niggas speeches and shit.
SL: Yea I know. I was on a flight coming back from Puerto Rico and I was watching the Democratic debate. It was a spat between Barack and Hillary the entire time.
P: Yeah, they was going at it…
SL: It was funny to me because John Edwards was totally out of the whole conversation; it was like he wasn’t even there. He had to come back with some snappy little comment about them bickering in order to even get back into the debate because he wasn’t even a consideration at that point. I mean, the ticket he was on that he could win was four years ago. So, what makes him think that he can win now?
P: The dude I was fuckin' with [back then] was that gotdamn Howard Dean!
SL: Oh for sure!
P: Yeah, but when that nigga did the “YAAAAAH!” shit, it was over. [Laughs] That shit was dead after that…but with [Obama], I think it’s gonna come down to his ability to inspire people. Mu’fuckas wanna believe that they can make a difference. People wanna believe in something. This mu’fucka had an old white lady crying and shit…like an old desperate housewife crying like, “Oh my God, he was so [inspirational]” crying over this nigga! They want another Kennedy, know what I'm saying? A white woman in Georgia I think was talking [on the news] and she said, “I was undecided before...but after hearing [Obama] speak my vote is clear. I want a president I can look at on the TV and be proud of.” And that’s really what it comes down to. She said, “The past four years, every time I heard [President Bush] speak I would just turn away because I don’t even wanna look at him. I don’t want to hear what he has to say.”
SL: [Bush] makes a fool of himself…he really makes it sound like he’s a fuckin idiot and you have to question if [the other leaders] look at him like “Are you serious? You’re trying to tell us how to run our shit and you can’t even use proper grammar!” And we got a vice president who runs around shooting people. Who can’t tell the difference between a deer and a human being? [Laughs]
P: [Laughs] Yeah, that’s bad…people just need [a president] they can feel good about, so for Obama, he just needs to figure out how he’s gonna get the Latino vote. I don’t know what the disconnect in his campaign is between him and Latinos…
SL: I think the biggest problem now is the whole Black on Brown issue that we’re having in the country and especially places like L.A where the violence between Black and brown people has escalated to a point where its going to be difficult for him to win [both sides] over. Plus, his healthcare policy is not a universal healthcare policy the way that Kerry and Clinton are pitching. He was the first to admit that his policy does not include illegal immigrants. None of their policies do when it comes to universal healthcare, but the fact that he doesn’t support [universal healthcare] either…he’s gonna have to have a very liberal stance on immigration policy in order to [win the Latino vote]. It’s gonna be hard.
P: I agree…I [also] think this country is much more sexist than it is racist. In my opinion.
SL: For sure. Hilary is not gonna be able to make that move. Do you think she would actually be able to lead?
P: I don’t know. Hilary to me just comes across as a textbook politician. When I see her talk, when I watch her, I don’t hear anything. I don’t get [her platform]. At least with Obama...I know one of the things I admire about him is that he’s like, “I don’t want you to have your faith in the government or the president to save you, I want to empower people to believe they can save themselves.” To me, that’s a much more powerful message.
SL: Right, [not someone who says] “I’m gonna change everything for you,”...
P: Right, not “I’m gonna be the magical nigga that just cures all your problems.” He wants to empower people. That’s one of the biggest problems in the country. People just don’t give a shit. They either don’t give a shit, or shit is just too far gone and they are like “fuck it.” People are so apathetic. If people don’t value their own lives, they aint gonna value no one else’s either.
SL: So do you think ‘the hustle’ has its place in our community? When there are so many people who are disenfranchised and yet they still have to provide for themselves or their families?
P: well I mean, drugs is always gonna sell. Pussy is always gonna sell. That shit ain't never going outta business…but speaking of stripping... [Laughs]
SL: [laughs]
P: So the sex industry...this is what the people really wanna hear, this is what they wanna know [laughs] …I’ve written about porn in my blog before. I’m a porn fan; I’m familiar with your work. I’m a fan. You put it down. [Laughs]
SL: And I’m a fan of Little Brother! [Laughs]
P: Yeah, that’s what’s up! I appreciate that…but yeah…I’ve written about porn, and my theory on it is that a lot of the women who do porn are damaged. Whether it’s mental damage or drug addiction or some type of issue…You don’t see too many well-adjusted porn stars. So I’m saying [we shouldn’t] take advantage of a person who was physically handicapped so [we technically shouldn’t] take advantage of someone with [an emotional handicap]. But I guess my question is, what percentage of women that you know in porn are well-adjusted and not dealing with some type of abuse?
SL: to be perfectly honest with you, it changes. I’ve been in the business for 15 years now. I’ve been through three generations of porn stars. When I first started, there were probably a lot more women who were coming from some sort of a damaged background. But some women back then, like Champagne, and Janet Jacme, they were a different mold of women back then. They were women who really and truly enjoyed sex. A lot of women, especially with women of color, they got into porn because they were strippers and they realized if they got into porn they could make more money on the road [stripping] as a feature performer, as opposed to stripping in a club for $150 a night, so it was a little more strategic. Some use it as an escape: when you have a girl who grew up in a small town in Iowa and her everyone in her family works at Wal-Mart, and there’s no real opportunity for her to do anything with her life and she sees Jenna Jameson or Tera Patrick or someone come to her town and do a feature tour [stripping] and she sees how much money they make; she’s gonna see it as a way out. Particularly with women of color who have kids or no education…doing porn and making $1,000 a day is a lot better than going on welfare.
P: I feel you on that.
SL: For me personally, I got into porn because I was getting divorced, I was 19 and in my second year of school, and I was working at Bloomingdale's and at Fred Siegel at the same time. I had to choose between studying and going to work. I was basically spending two hours a day with my kids. And at that time, I had no problem with porn. I didn’t know anything about it so there was no taboo. And If I were to go on welfare, they pay for school and childcare, but then they’re like “You have to give up your $775 a month rent controlled apartment in the nice little Santa Monica neighborhood so I can give you $480 in welfare every month.” And I’m like, “I’m not moving outta my crib so you can give me a handout and limit the amount of money I can make on my own by reducing your aid to me”…and I'm increasingly finding more women in the industry that came in because of similar situations. My situation was a little different because I did have that education and that background, but I made a financial choice to aid in my ability to do something for my family. And I find a lot of women doing the same. And it’s not just women in the industry. I find a lot of guys who were living in Bed-Stuy or Brooklyn and went from hustling on the corner to banging some of the hottest chicks in the country and being paid to do it! [Laughs] So there’s something to be said about the people like Jenna Jameson who [now] have entities behind them that are worth millions of dollars. But that’s not to say that there aren’t people in the industry who come from damaged backgrounds, but it’s sad that when you see porn stars in [the media] talking about exploitation, they usually only show the ones with the damage and the drug problems and they have regrets. What you don’t see is the [people like] Diana DeVoe, or Lexington Steele who have educations. Diana graduated from the University of Hawaii. Lexington Steele worked on Wall Street. So people don’t understand that there are those of us that are normal. [Laughs]
P: So would you consider yourself to be ‘normal’? Have you dealt with any type of drug addition or anything like that?
SL: I mean, I have a relatively normal day to day. My live is my family, my kids…I just do what I have to do...but I made the decision to never do anything on camera that I wouldn’t or couldn’t do in my personal life. That’s not to say I’ve done everything that you see in my movies in my personal life…Like I’ve done a scene recently where I was [having sex] with one person and then on the sideline there was five other guys I’d go off and give head to in the middle of the scene. I’ve never done that in my personal life…but it was sexy. The way that it was shot , it was something that I could fathom [doing on my own]...But I’m not gonna have 15 guys waiting to fuck me, because to me, that’s not sexy.
P: You know, one thing I did wanna ask you about…I told [DX Moderator] Aliya that I was gonna ask you…cause we gotta know…what exactly was the artistic vision supposed to be behind the powdered sugar on the ass video? Was that supposed to be sexy? [Laughs]
Tune in for part 2 tomorrow to find out the answer to that question and so much more!
Moderated by Aliya Ewing.
