For Black History Month, HotMovies teamed up with veteran performer Lotus Lain to interview Black performers and adult content producers to highlight their perspectives on the industry and their unique achievements. In the eighth Instagram Live interview, Lotus talked with September Reign about coming from the dancing world to porn, working against the typecasting of Black women in the industry, and September’s lead role in an exciting new feature coming out this year. Check out Lotus and September’s discussion below or watch the video on HotMovies’ YouTube or Instagram!
LL: Hey happy Saturday everybody. I’m your girl Lotus Lain, and we are about to get started with Saturday’s interview of Ms. September Reign. Let’s see if we can add her in here. Thank you, everybody for joining us on this Saturday.
SR: Hi!
And there she is. Look at my girl, with that dramatic side swoop. I love that…
I know, it’s usually curled and pretty but it looks nice. [chuckles]
Yeah, it’s okay. It sounds like you have a day of errands that you’re running right now, right?
Well, I’m coming from Vegas. So I’m driving up to LA, and obviously… I’m stuck in traffic. I don’t know what is going on, but I’m still another hour away. So you guys will keep me company.
I feel what’s going on is it’s a sunny day between Las Vegas and LA, and so everybody is out on the roads right now.
Yeah I know, seriously. I just kind of hit LA and it’s kinda dead-stop traffic. So I’m like, “Oh well, better keep me company.”
Well, I am so happy that you made time in your busy schedule to be able to chat with us. And talk with us during Black History Month, and kind of take us through the history of your journey and where you’re going and all of that wonderful stuff.
Oh man, long long discussion.
We have some people in the audience already saying hello from Turkey…
I know, wow. Hi Turkey!
Yeah, so if you guys have questions for Miss September, go ahead and put them in the Q&A box down there at the bottom. It’ll be easier than me trying to scroll and find them through the chat.
Right right, and I’m driving so it’ll be… [chuckle]
Yeah, so she definitely can’t look through the chat and scroll. So make sure you drop the questions over there. But yeah, you kind of got started on this journey. I feel like we kind of did around the same time, right?
We did. It’s funny because I wasn’t out there like that, so it took a couple of years for people to be like, “Oh, you’re new?” And it was, “No, I’ve been in for three, four years. What are you talking about?” Because I came from behind the scenes a little bit. I started as a dancer. As a dancer, exotic dancer, for a long time on and off. I still dance now, I just feature.
Yeah, I was going to say, don’t you still have the pole skills?
Yeah, so I feature dance now. I’m just not at the club all the time anymore. But I was a house girl. So I think that’s why I enjoy featuring so much because I love to give back to those girls. Like I always end up leaving money off of each set for the next girl, just because I know how it feels to be that girl. You’re not making money, and then this fucking porn star comes in and takes all your money.
Yeah, right swoop everybody up.
No, right and because I’m not that girl I’ll end up staying for an hour or two, and tip girls that [feed cuts out]. Can you hear me? Am I heard?
No, no I can hear you great. So you started off as a dancer, where was this at?
In Sacramento, where I’m from. So, I’m from Sacramento, California.
Oh, okay so up north?
Yeah, and I started dancing…
Shoutout.
Shoutout to North Cali. I was at Gold Club Centerfolds and Deja Vu Sacramento. So shout out to those clubs, I love them. I actually just featured in Sac. Oh my God, I was trashed. I got so drunk before going in because it was like… Because I’m home. And yeah…
Oh, really you felt like home now?
The guy that’s the manager now was my bouncer. So, we go way back.
Oh wow. So he moved up, too.
Yeah, we go way back. So anyway, I started doing that and I was modeling on the side. And I met this company, shoutout to this company, named Tease Um and they… How do I explain them? They sell micro mini bikinis, like very… Like dental floss, really tiny bikinis. And so they would do like a…
Okay, I think I’ve seen you wear some of these cutie bikinis before.
They are really, really tiny. They would do a calendar for their bikinis. So they would pick 12 girls every year to go down to exotic locations all around the world—models—and be one of the girls for the calendar. And so I was dancing, but back then dancing wasn’t… It was before Cardi B put it on the map, so we didn’t really advertise it like that.
Yeah, it wasn’t super fresh and cool.
No, yeah it wasn’t the cool thing to do. So and…
It was just a thing us hoes did.
Yep, and I was just getting money and taking care of my family. Because I take care of my family, and just kind of living that life. And I remember applying to be a model because I was regularly modeling on mainstream. And so the opportunity came up for me to go only because this girl was coming from out of the country, and her passport was flagged, so she could not leave the country.
Oh wow.
And so they were, “Well, we wanna give you this opportunity, but you have to pay for your own flight.” And they were going to Bali and Hawaii and we stayed at a mansion: one of the millionaire investors, catering, all that stuff. But you had to pay for your flight. And me as a dancer at the time, I think I was working day shifts. That’s why I was like, “Oh, my story is so weird.” ‘Cause it was by chance. Because I was working day shifts. So there was no way that I thought back then that I would have made $500 on a Monday day shift. Because they only gave me two days to kind of make that money for my flight; otherwise they were gonna have to give it to the next girl. And I made $497. It was like I just made it.
You just made it.
And I was like, “Alright, so I go and get this flight” and I love… I just took the opportunity as a once-in-a-lifetime thing, as a model. It was risque modeling. Because the bikinis were really tiny, and I had already modeled a nude modeling. So it wasn’t something odd to me. I’d go-go dance and strip, so whatever. But I went out there, just hungry, just very hungry to work. What I didn’t know was that they were partnered with Streamate, which is like a huge cam company. If anybody doesn’t know, it’s one of the originals. And they were partnered with Streamate. Still going strong.
Yeah, and they are still going.
And it’s funny because back then, since we’re talking about Black History Month, I was like one of the only Black girls that that company had even put a chance on. I think there had been maybe two before me. But they were chocolate, like our girl Ana. They were beautiful chocolate girls. The other one that was light-skinned was more mixed, so it wasn’t… Not that I’m saying that they’re not Black, but it just wasn’t a representation of all. A more so African-American woman, more so than mixed woman… that happened to be a lighter skinned. No, not all.
Yeah, it wasn’t varied in its variety. Honestly, it was like you said: it was either super-dark with a voluptuous body or super-mixed with the super long hair.
There was no light-skinned girl with nappy hair. [laughter]
Yeah, there’s no in-between, right? Or brown-skinned girl with a short curly hair. [points to self]
So they gave me this… ‘Cause I went out there and I remember I was doing photoshoots at like 5:00 in the morning. Like I was willing to wake up, do my own makeup, be out at the beach, and do these pictures. And that was something that the other girls weren’t doing. ‘Cause these were like playmates, and house party girls. So these are girls that you see, I’m not gonna say names ’cause some of them I don’t like them [chuckle], but… But there were some big-named girls.
Yeah, at that point, they came with the expectations already, right?
Yeah, they had a glam squad already. They were not waking up ’til like 11 o’clock. I was just so hungry to just do it, that they gave me the opportunity to cam. I didn’t even know how to cam, I was like, “You want me to do what?” [chuckle] I was like, ” Can I move this way? Can the camera still see me?” There was times I had to learn shit: because models on cam tend to stare at themselves. So you’re talking, and it’ll be like I’m driving like now—where I’m like looking at the road. [chuckles]
Yeah, looking in another direction.
And so I had to learn all that shit. And I was still dancing. So I had met a lot of the girls that came before me, like Skin Diamond and Gianna Michaels, and Tara Lynn Foxx, and Joanna Angel. Like I had met all of these women because they would come to the club and feature dance.
Okay, when you were dancing as a dancer there.
After that shoot, I ended up taking them on as a cam girl. But I was still dancing. And so I just got a rapport with those women, picked their ear about the adult industry. And I remember I was gonna go with Tara Lynn Foxx, this was back in 2014.
Yeah, I was gonna say, just with that name right there, that’s like a moment in time. Certain people’s names are just like a moment in time.
Yeah, her and Gianna Michaels, it’s like whoa, and Mary Carey. Yeah, it’s like, “Whoa these are like old-school people.”
Yeah, you just sparked a memory.
So I was supposed to get in. I was supposed to go with her to a Wicked shoot, and I didn’t. And I’m kind of glad… Yeah I’m glad I didn’t. Because I feel like the growth that I have had now, I probably wouldn’t have gotten here. Because I was not in a good mental space at that time. I dealt with a lot of sobriety issues, like some of us do, not all. Let me be clear, not all. I hate that representation of adult stars that we all are on… no. I just personally went through that. And so I told her, “No.” And I said, “I wanna keep camming. Something’s not right. I wanna keep camming.” And so then I moved. I did that for a year. And then in 2015, early 2015, I moved to Orange County and I lived in the cam house. We had a whole cam house.
Okay, yeah. Cam houses were a total thing back in the day. They try and still pop back up here and there…
They don’t hit the same.
But I feel like there’s enough… No, they don’t hit the same. There’s enough knowledge now. Too much knowledge.
I was the only Black girl in my cam house. So I went through a lot of obstacles…
I feel you.
Because I went through a lot of people telling me I wasn’t gonna be anything because I was a Black woman. I remember people telling me I should lower my prices because I was a Black woman, and I never gave in. I never gave in. I didn’t care if I had to be on there every day. I didn’t care if I had to be at the strip club every single day. If I only left with $200, I felt like, “Well, if I do this five days a week, that’s $1000, and that’s a week. And that’s $4000 a month, and I can survive off that.” They would just… I just kept pushing, and I kept going. And I remember my breakthrough I guess, was when 2015 happened, and right across from AVN in Vegas, they had the Adult Webcam Awards, and I was nominated for Ebony of the Year. And I was supposed to be over there, and my Black ass was across the street at AVN…[laughs]
At AVN, yeah, where we all think we should be.
Totally at AVN, trying to mingle and see people. And I remember I met the Infamous Tee Reel… I don’t know. Yeah, I met the Infamous Tee Reel, and he had Ideal Image Models. I had had a meeting with him and Cory, shoutout to them.
Yes, I remember all of them.
Yes, and I didn’t sign with them, but I remember because they wanted to see… This is before my boobies, so this is before I learned my craft. And I was still really vanilla, and there was a lot of… I’m still kind of vanilla.
That’s perfectly fine. There’s different porn stars for different takes that their clients have out there.
I think we all have our own version of nasty.
Exactly, exactly.
And there’s things I’ve done that some people would be like, “Whoa!” So you know…
I could only imagine. [chuckles]
But in terms of what was normal, I wasn’t… like, anal for instance, I wasn’t willing to do that. And so, because of that they wanted to just see how I would take to adult. So they sent me on these go-sees. This had to be August of 2015 because it’s before my birthday. It was right before my birthday. And I remember because they sent me on a go-see to Reality Kings, and the talent director or whatever, was lo and behold Gianna Michaels, who I had known for years from feature dancing.
Oh yeah, I remember that…
Yes, so she knew… I literally walked in and she’s like, “Get the fuck out, get out.” She’s like, “I’ll see you in two weeks. You’ll have your first shoot.” And that’s what happened. Two weeks later, I shot for Reality Kings. I think the week after the go-see, I went to… Where did I go to? Oh, I went to “Vice is Nice” that got thrown by Penthouse.
Oh yes, Tally’s party. Yeah.
Oh yeah, and I remember meeting Sam Phillips. I wore this ridiculous sun hat. This ridiculous sun hat… and that’s what got people’s attention. Because she stopped me on the red carpet like, “I gotta talk to you. What’s going on?” And that was before I ever shot a scene. But again, I was so hungry that I just was like, “Let me talk to whoever. Let me do whatever interview.” I started doing Vivid Radio because I met Sam that way. And then I shot for Reality Kings. And the rest is kind of history. [laughter] It’s like that’s the story.
[laughter] I love it, I love it. I had no idea you went through kind of seeing some people at the strip club. I knew you had danced before, but it’s really interesting to know that you had this little layover moment where you were doing cam a lot, and then you got in the industry.
Yeah, and it made it easy.
Yeah, that’s dope.
It makes easier because it’s always funny when girls go from being a dancer to being a porn star or cam girl because camming is really hard. Because you’re talking to a camera.
Yes.
But it prepares you for the porn, that’s like POV. Because with most POVs, the guy can’t see. So you have to talk as you… you have to have those one-on-one conversations.
You’re like doing all of the act yourself.
Yeah, you are. And so cam prepared you for that because you’re flirting with the camera. You’re not… where like stripping you are talking to a person. So they’re giving you conversation back. And so to go from that to camming where I had to learn how to be sexy and funny and love myself… and it really helped with porn too. I mean I had that little bit of setbacks from cam from the color of my skin. But I think with cam, they kind of come to you. Like the fans come to you. They come to your chat room. So I might have not had made as much money at first, but once it got consistent, then I was doing well. Whereas in porn it brings you back to the beginning where like you’re at the strip club again, and you have to figure out who the fuck likes you, and…
Yeah, you have to figure out your footing, who your fans are.
Yeah, everything, everything. And I just remember at that time because I had did cam for so long, and I had made money on cam, that when I got to adult, and then people would say the same things. Like I should charge less because I’m a brown-skinned woman or… There were times where I couldn’t even… I remember, and I’m not gonna say the name of this company because I love them to death. And it wasn’t that director’s fault so I don’t wanna mess that up, ’cause I really love them, and I appreciate everything that they’ve done for me. But I remember when I first got in, and there was a really big shoot for me, because it was like one of the bigger names in porn. And I remember I could not play a Black woman. So I was one of the… I was the only new girl.
What does that mean?
Meaning I had to play a Hispanic woman, I had to play a Latina.
Oh, how strange.
When I got in I had really curly hair. They used to tell me I used to look like Vanessa Del Rio ’cause I used to rock that Selena curly hair. And so everybody always thought that I was Hispanic and Black, all the time. And my mom speaks fluent Spanish, so I speak a little Spanish. So I was able to play it off a little bit. [chuckle] But I remember they wouldn’t let me play an African-American woman. And it crushed me because…
That’s a shame.
And it is, and it crushed me.
Yeah. I was gonna say, to speak about things now. Coming full circle from that, what are some things that you feel like being in our industry have kind of helped you with in your life? If you’re talking about a lot of people talking down to you, trying to discount you, trying to kinda like not take you seriously. But here you are and your star is still steadily rising. What are you thinking some of the things that the industry actually gave you that helped you become stronger?
I think if you want it, you have to be resilient, period. Because we are not the most favorable industry. So you definitely… Hold on one sec.
It froze a little.
You also learn to love things about yourself based on… You kind of have these fans, as much as they irritate you. [chuckle] And it’s not that they’re irritating. It’s like they focus on one thing and that’s their thing. Like, “Oh my God, your feet,” right? [laughter]
They’re very persistent.
[laughter] And every time they comment, it’s a comment on your feet. So in those moments, it’s like, “Talk about something else besides my toe.” But in retrospect, they are also the ones that let you know things that fans love about you, and so then…Yeah.
That confidence to play up on that. So for me, it was always my fit body size—being a spinner. And then when I got my boobs done, it was being tiny with huge boobs. Like that was just their thing. And so I learned how to take those moments about myself and, not disregard, but kind of not focus on the things that I didn’t like about myself or that were talked about. And when you’re focused on what you do like, then it allows you to take a moment outside of what you don’t like and figure out, “What can I do to make me like this? What can I do to change?”
Oh my god.
Because when you’re so focused on, “I don’t like this, I don’t like this, I don’t like this,” then you get into this depression and that’s where…
Oh my God! You’re right.
…where you start to use drugs or drink or, unfortunately, commit suicide. Because it becomes overwhelming for them. And so I try to figure out, “Okay, I do wanna focus on what I don’t like. Because that’s how you fix yourself. But I don’t wanna be so engulfed in that, that I lose myself in that. So let me focus on something else.”
Exactly.
Acting was something that I always knew how to do. I started to learn how to do my hair. [laughter]
I mean, the porn industry really puts you through it. The things that you thought you were okay with… you get into the public sphere and you’re like, “Oh, I need to actually learn how to do this better.”
In the strip club, you’re under a blacklight. So you can wear that synthetic wig…
Right. [chuckle]
And make that shit last. Nah. When you’re on camera. Not happening. Not happening with the light…
Yeah, with the lights and the HD cameras…
Not happening. Same with your makeup. The same with my body: like learning how to pose for me and my body type. I have hyperpigmentation. So I have a spot on my legs, and that was something that always bothered me. And so learning how to wear stockings, so even though I always look like the booby girl, ’cause like, “She never wears no stripper set.”
Yeah.
But it was more so people didn’t know… I wore these crazy big wigs and all that stuff to cover up my hair growing and having to cut my hair and regrow my hair. And then I wore stockings to cover up myself. I was always wanting to be classy.
But I guess it even inadvertently developed a certain style for you.
[laughter] It made me a fucking [inaudible]. Which is funny ’cause outside of porn, I probably am like a dude. I’ll like sit with my legs open and stuff.[laughter] You’re more casual style. But that’s I think the fun thing about this adult world is you could kinda take a part of your personality and amplify it and super sexualize it. And that’s what it sounds like; it comes out naturally for you.
Yeah, I’m always September. My mom calls me “Sep” for short. It’s like I’m literally… I’m always September…
Aw, how cute.
But I think September on camera is probably just a little bit more sexual. Where I tell dirty jokes all the time and stuff like that naturally. But I take care of my family and stuff, too. And they’re a little bit more reserved…
Yeah.
My family are Jehovah’s Witness.
Yeah.
So I can’t even curse…
Oh.
That’s when I’m a good girl…
That’s when you’re a good girl.
So five minutes of the day. [laughter]
Okay.
Yeah. [laughter]
I love that. Well, since we’re talking during Black History Month, one of the things I wanna ask everybody was: who are some of the Black performers that you looked up to and admired back in the day? Before you were even a performer yourself?
So actually, she’s one of the women that were the first women to actually respond to me… before I ever did porn. And she shaped my life in porn a lot: my look, everything. My body, everything was Heather Hunter. Oh my God, I love her…
Oh my goodness. It doesn’t get any more classic than that.
No it doesn’t, it doesn’t. She was the epitome of everything for me. Like everything. From her look, her being a contracted girl, her being a tinier Black woman amongst thicker Black women. For her to have this classy Barbie vibe as opposed to like a nasty Jada Fire. Everything about her was everything that I wanted to be. And I remember reaching out to a lot of different stars. She’s not the only one. There was a lot of other ones. Nyomi Banxxx was another one. I love her to death. Yeah, I love her to death…
Yeah, she’s a goddess.
Skin Diamond, who I got to meet via dancing, and I loved her energy. I actually knew who she was through modeling, through like ModelMayhem.
Okay.
And she gave me that edgy vibe ’cause I was always into different stuff. And I was like, “Oh, she listens to rock music too? Yeah!” You know?
Yeah, it was really great to see Skin Diamond on the scene, I think for a lot of us. Because it kinda opened the doors to let us know we can be ourselves—actually how we are in the industry…
Yeah, especially when she cut her hair, when she cut her hair and did that short pink—I was like, “Yes!” Because I was always that weird kid, that was into just different… drama club, but soccer, but basketball, but I smoked weed underneath the bleachers. I was all of them combined. So I never really fit in. I never fit in.
Yeah, you did it all.
And so to see her, kind of really gave me inspiration amongst the other women. So those were the women that I kinda really looked up to. But then there also was the Jada Fire from a nasty perspective. And I always was a tiny girl that never got to… I’m never as old as I am. They always think I’m like 21 or something, and I’m 32 so…
Right, it’s like a double-edged sword. We always look young, but then we are always looking young and not being taken seriously. [chuckles]
Yeah, and so from a grown woman—I’ve always respected grown women that look, traditional… like my sisters or my aunties. Like real Black women. And to watch them, especially to watch Jada be so in control sexually was also really sexy to me.
Of course.
And I always appreciated that. And so that kind of shaped me to be all different parts of me. Especially because as Black people as a culture, sometimes we don’t talk about things sexually. Or when we do, it’s so taboo. And so it was important to me to not only just research just porn stars before my time, but also look at different spectrums of it. Because that helped me figure out what I liked and what I didn’t. And also what I would try and what I wouldn’t. And that helped me not to do things prior to when I was ready. Because I feel, unfortunately, a lot of people do stuff before they’re ready. Or they get pressured into doing something. And I never wanted to do that.
Yeah, I’m really proud of you for paving your own way in that respect; in that regard. Because it is hard, you do get hit with a bunch of different people telling you how to control your image or how to advance in your career, and they’re not always right.
No. You know what’s funny? I’m still friends with Joanna Angel to this day. I love her, but I turned her down. [chuckles]
Sometimes you have to do that. That’s the way the business is and only people that are really on a professional level understand that. But one of the things I wanted to say as we’re getting ready to wrap up, I wanna give you a chance to let everyone in the audience know what’s in store for you in the future. I still see you going through your metamorphosis, so you’re not done yet. I see different projects on the horizon. So just let us know what we can think of as the September Reign legacy going forward.
So, part of my legacy, I have a toy deal that’s active right now. And I am the first Black Kiiroo Feel star. So I’m very proud of that. Very, very, very proud of that. The toy has been out since December, so it’s really fairly new. It’s very new.
Oh, it is so new, yeah.
So it is a replica. It actually was voted most realistic of the line. So I’m very happy. I fought for it here.
Okay, sweet. Guys have to check that out. [chuckles]
Yeah. I fought for it here to make sure the color was right. ‘Cause that’s what it was. The color wasn’t right and I was like, “Fuck that.” No, this has to be me, so really if you wanna be with me without being with me [laughs], that is what… There it is.
There it is.
And then I got a couple of box covers that just came out from different movies. But what’s coming up that I’m really, really excited about, which is Adam and Eve gave me my first lead…
Oh yes, you’re featured.
Yeah, my first leading role. Oh my God, we fought for that, too. Just for Black History Month, we fought for it.
That’s exciting.
So, Black History Month, this conversation is so perfect because I play a girl that wants to be a country girl. She wants to be a country singer, and she goes to Nashville and they tell her no, because she’s a Black girl. They tell her that she cannot.
I fucking love this, September. It’s so funny. Because honestly, in the whole world of our industry, only you would want to be a country singer…
I would. I’m country as hell.
And you would take your ass to Nashville and try and do it. [chuckle]
I am country as hell. I say, “y’all.” So they were like, “Oh my God, this is so your part.” I begged them for years to give me a role and they never gave me a role.
I actually cannot wait to see this now ’cause it sounds so cute and it’s your starring feature. So you guys, this is gonna be incredible. I’m so happy for you, girl. I do not wanna take up any more of your day, ’cause I know you gotta get tested, you going on the road. And I’m over here at this photo studio. So we got shit to do. But honestly, I’m just so excited. This was one of my favorite interviews, you’re so fun.
Thank you.
Fucking killing it out there, so just congratulations to you and I’m so happy for you.
Thank you. And before we get off the line, I just wanna say how proud I am of you. I’ve watched your interviews; I’ve seen you direct. I’ve been so proud of that. And that’s always been my dream to watch women in power, but to also see women in color in power. That is so beautiful. And to know that you put on not just for the LGBTQ+ community, but also for performers… You put on for both, and I think that that is amazing. So continue doing that, ’cause you inspire me, too.
Aww, thank you, girl.
I love you.
I love you, have a good rest of your day. Everyone, follow September, follow her journey. And I will see you all later.
See you later. Bye. Happy Saturday!
Thank you, happy Saturday.
Bye.
Bye.
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