This is the cover story of the September issue of AVN magazine. Click here for the digital edition.
LOS ANGELES—When Rae Lil Black makes plans in a new city, they often involve food.
Eating in fact drives a lot of her decisions, including where she stays.
“I love staying at the hotel,” Black confesses. “Like I love hotel buffet in the morning. I cannot miss that. So I always stay at the hotel for the buffet.”
The enigmatic content creator from Osaka, Japan—just this summer alone—woke up in Bucharest, Romania; Belgrade, Serbia; Nice, France; Barcelona, Madrid and Salamanca, Spain; Lisbon, Portugal; Italy, Norway, Croatia and Slovenia.
This month she’s going to Israel.
Call it the Raemageddon Tour. Catch her if you can.
“I’m very spontaneous,” says Black, who lives in the Netherlands. “I’m just gonna go if I have some time.
“Now that it’s kind of open after COVID there is a lot of summer festival right now. A lot of artists are touring and they’re like you know what, it’s been like two, three years ... come here, join our festival, join our gig. So I just go there to meet my friends and see them playing after two years.
“And I’m so happy I can do this.”
Rae credits her devoted fans as the biggest reason she’s able to live life on her terms as a just-turned 26-year-old—she celebrated her birthday on August 17.
Ever since she captured the public’s imagination with her first hardcore video four years ago that went viral on Pornhub in its first week with millions of views, the Rae Lil Army has been intrigued with her next moves.
And Rae keeps them guessing, gliding between occasional professional porn performances, YouTube videos, random TikToks, OnlyFans, Instagram and Twitter posts.
Rae, who says her first name means “beautiful or cold beauty” in Japanese, would be first to admit she doesn’t know where she will turn up next or what she’ll feel like doing tomorrow—and that’s part of her mystique.
“To be honest, this year I am just traveling,” she tells AVN while cooking pasta during a rare evening at home. “I am taking pictures, yes, and I’m doing a lot of YouTube videos. I think that’s it…”
But that’s not even the half of it for Black, who loves heavy metal concerts, doing mukbangs and playing the drums.
She says in 2022 the lines between leisure and “work” are blurred for content creators.
“When we are in this business every day is work,” Rae reasons. “Everywhere you go it’s work because you have to. Especially since I don’t have a manager or management.
“I’ve been doing this alone, so I have to upload everything, reply everything, plan everything, book everything and then—manage social media. It’s very hard, very busy every day.”
But Rae makes it look easy.
“I’m very happy,” she continues. “I’m very thankful to my fans that they make me able to live like this, since I am not really, really into the industry. Like I’m not working a lot. I do work a little bit for productions but it’s like less than 10 a year. Last year I did like three scenes.
“I’m very thankful for my fans who have been supporting me.”
Even though Black still doesn’t consider herself a “big name,” the numbers can’t help but to tell another story—at press time she had 1.1 million followers on her main Instagram at @raelilblack, another 112K on her music account at @rlblack666 and 60.7K on her @raelilfood page.
A giant draw on every platform, Rae has racked up more than 986K on her primary Twitter at @Raelilblack and 116.7K on her “wholesome” backup Twitter at @RaelilblackTV.
“Yeah, I would say sharing my life is now a job,” Rae admits. “I don’t know, social media is a little bit different because all the algorithm is so different than before.
“So if you don’t do collaboration or if you’re not featured on some other platform, like the other page, it’s a little bit hard to gain followers now. So it’s slow. I would say it’s not as fast as before. I think this is what everybody’s struggling.
“But thankfully my Instagram follower is more than one million now. And Twitter is like 950-something, so it’s almost one million and I am more or less satisfied.”
This year Rae placed a focus on her official YouTube channel, where she had amassed 206K-plus subscribers who tune in for light-hearted content such as her recent sausage party.
She hosted one earlier this summer, devouring a full tray of four different kinds of sausages and making silly faces the whole way.
Wearing earbuds and plastic gloves, Black munched on vegan chorizo, beef and pork links and then smashed a super-sized sausage, dipping her meat into two different sauces during the 16-minute spectacle.
The ASMR mukbang—a video featuring someone eating large quantities of food, including the sounds—has generated more than 48,600 views on YouTube and 586,400 views on TikTok, where she has 220K followers.
Before her big sausage show, Rae treated herself to pizza, sushi, donuts and croissants in other ASMR mukbangs. She says her food frenzies are “love or hate” for her fans.
“I like eating and I started the Instagram focused on food,” Rae says. “So I was like, ‘OK, let’s start YouTube so that I can make some money and then I can eat at the same time.’"
Black managed to create one of adult’s most dynamic brands in the past five years just by being herself.
But the global following she built belies her private persona.
“I feel like it’s unreal,” Rae says. “Real person like is me is like a different character. Like in my real life I’m not really showy. I’m not very social. I live alone and sometimes I don’t talk to people for more than a week.
“I don’t drink alcohol much. I don’t smoke, I don’t party. So for me the social media is like a game. Like doing some Animal Crossing or something. You just create your avatar and play online.”
It’s a game that Rae is winning.
“Still I’m just hungry,” she says. “I’m satisfied with what I did but I want more.”
When Black decides to do a studio scene, it has become event porn. She made her first appearance on Vixen in January in a scene titled “24 Hours” with Christian Clay in Corsica, France; and then in May she debuted on Blacked.com in a beach tussle called “Wild Temptation” with Jack Rippher.
She channeled GFE vibes with Clay as they enjoyed each other’s company on a lavish date that featured spectacular views from a helicopter ride over the Mediterranean island.
Clay, the seasoned stud from Naples, Italy, who has more than 1,400 performing credits since 2001, tells AVN, “Rae Lil is a very nice person.
“She is very professional. She is one of the best performer I work with. There are not so many like her—maybe 10 girls in Europe as good as her. The scene was very nice, but I really like her as a person. We spend just a few days together on set but I can see how nice a person she is. I hope I will work again with her.”
He adds, “It was first time we met and the chemistry was very good. She is very passionate and I can feel she love sex—that’s the best for me, make my work easy and enjoying.”
Black demonstrated her range this year, appearing on one of the gnarliest sites on the internet, Hentaied.com, in Part 2 of “The Arcade Machine."
Hentaied creator and director Romero solicited crowdfunding for the scene and the fans responded, blowing past the goal of 25,000 Euros.
In total, the scene raised 28,850 Euros from 283 different contributors who all wanted to see Rae enter another dimension in which she is ravaged by a large tentacled monster and gets pregnant.
In the crowdfunding description, Romero indicates, “We’ve digitally recreated Rae Lil Black’s vagina, so you can witness a creampie as an inside POV! And as an extra, we are adding some cartoon animations to the movie!
“The budget for this scene is ridiculously high (about €77000), so your support will be gladly appreciated and spent exclusively on adding CGI elements to the scene. The minimum budget we’re trying to crowdfund for this scene is €25000. Every additional contribution will be spent on additional CGI.”
The Budapest, Hungary-based Romero tells AVN he met Rae through his friend and fellow performer, Talia Mint.
“Talia sent her a pic of our CGI material and Rae was pretty excited to do something she haven't done before, so we got in contact and started to talk about projects, which started to grow from there to various project we work on together,” Romero says.
The post-production for the elaborate scene surpassed two months, marking the first of several upcoming collaborations between Rae and Hentaied, which received its first-ever nomination for Best Niche Series or Channel for the 2022 AVN Awards.
“There's many reasons why I wanted to work closely with Rae,” Romero continues, noting that he made a six-figure deal with the Japanese sensation. “She is not just an incredible performer, but also probably the nicest actress I've ever worked with. Sharing a set with her is pleasant for everyone on the team.
“When I have to explain something to her, even the most hard feelings, she understand it on the spot. And what I make is not easy to act at all!”
Romero adds, “Considering I represent the Japan-style porn in the West and Rae is one of the best Asian stars of all time, that was a pretty interesting match. In Hentaied she just did a masterpiece on ‘The Arcade Machine.’ Looking at her in my lenses was giving me chills in the same way it affected the viewers, who went crazy for her.
“I pitched her a long time ago that I wanted to make a cinema movie and she was enthusiastic about it. It's gonna be incredibly challenging for both of us, but i'm pretty sure she'd be the right person to live this adventure with.”
Even though Black never planned it this way, she has created a demand for new sex scenes because of the scarcity of her performances—at press time she had done less than 60 professional scenes in the past five years.
She can count the number she's done in 2022 using both her hands.
“But also I didn’t really shoot for my OnlyFans as well,” Rae reveals. “I think I only did like three boy/girl scene or something, so total less than 10 even.
“I am not taking bookings which I don’t want. If I don’t fully agree I am not gonna take it. First I want to know where I’m going, what kind of scene I’m having, who I’m working with. And then the plot. Everything I want to check first and then if I agree I’m gonna work.
"So that’s why I’m not working a lot. I can work a lot but I’m very selective now.”
It’s safe to say Black’s porn portfolio consists of quality, not quantity—a factor that has kept her ranked among the most popular performers in the world for years on Pornhub and more recently, Adult Empire.
Black at press time charted 18th on Pornhub’s Most Popular Pornstars list with more than 436 million video views and 754K-plus subscribers.
“For the person who’s not working a lot, it’s not too bad,” Black says humbly.
“I would never say I’m a porn star. I would never call myself … I can say porn actress, yes, but porn star? I’m not a star, yet.
“If I become famous, sure I’m gonna call myself—yeah, I’m a porn star. But I don’t know for now. For now, I am just another girl who is sharing her life—sometimes nude, sometimes porn.”
Brazzers wouldn’t mind seeing more of Rae. The heavyweight studio shot her in August with Jordi El Niño Polla, which marked her fifth outing for the site.
“Rae Lil Black is a performer constantly in demand,” a Brazzers rep tells AVN. “The response from members on her Brazzers scenes has been overwhelmingly positive and she has been a consummate professional to work with. Having Rae paired with Jordi El Niño Polla has been highly requested on social for some time now, so we are looking forward to showcasing a high-energy performance with two top talent in the game right now.”
The ZZ rep says Black’s fans “will follow her anywhere.
“Rae has the talent and potential to absolutely be a superstar in this industry,” the Brazzers rep adds.
Adult Empire agrees.
The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based online retail heavyweight—a 14-time AVN Award-winner of Best Web Retail Store—tracks the market value of performers at any given time based on metrics such as sales, rentals, clip downloads and searches.
Black at press time came in 22nd on Adult Empire’s list of Popular Performers, alongside talent with hundreds more credits.
Adult Empire marketing rep Madison Greene tells AVN that Black has been on an upward trajectory this summer.
“Adult Empire customers love to discover a new star via a showcase performance in a sleek, high-key movie,” Greene said. “Rae Lil Black began to trend after her cover performance in Ignite Vol. 6 [from Blacked.com] was highlighted on Adult Empire’s homepage in August.
“We saw scores of customers clicking into Rae’s Adult Empire profile shortly after viewing Ignite Vol. 6’s item page. This swell of attention helped her climb the Empire star rankings.”
Greene continues, “Without a doubt, scoring a solo cover like Ignite Vol. 6 is the surest way of climbing the charts, even with a scarcity of other credits. … It’s not an infrequent occurrence, but it does require a star with a certain combination of charm and drive.
“Unique or unusual branding is another aspect that often helps a star break through. Rae’s name sets itself apart from the typical porn star pseudonym.
“Rae’s style as a performer, which Asa Akira once aptly described as ‘passionate,’ ‘perverted’ and ‘the real deal,’ aligns nicely with the uniqueness of her name.”
Black says a lot has changed during her time in adult—in particular, how she approaches her decisions.
“Everything is slower,” Rae says. “Everything is fast but slow in my mind. Because I’m thinking a lot now. Before I was like, well I am a very spontaneous person in general but now I’m like OK … I’m more, like I consider everything more. Like I think about what can happen.
“I take things a little bit more careful than before. And I do now care about my image as a social media personality. I am very careful.”
Rae continues, “Because I am now not happy with being called like a slut or whore. Like it’s very interesting to say because I’m doing porn, but I’m trying to create my image as a little bit more genuine. It’s not only porn but more … it’s hard to describe but I’m very careful what I share. Like I never post something like [explicit] now, because I don’t want to be too sexual.
“I try to keep my image a little bit more clean—more non-porn.”
Black owns a drum kit and when she’s home for an extended period she takes drum lessons. She can play a little bit of “ACDC, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, this level.”
When she considers what she’ll do for the rest of 2022 and beyond, Rae pauses for a beat.
“I’m just gonna be enjoying my life,” she says. “I’m just gonna share my interests and hopefully I can make some music, hopefully soon. And release something, hopefully. Everything is hopefully. There is some friend I want to make a band with and they agreed, I just have to practice, so…”
Rae adds, “I don’t know, maybe become a mom. Because I feel like so many people now have kids, you never know. But I have no boyfriend for more than five years so I cannot really imagine…”
One thing is certain: whatever Rae does, it will be on her terms.
“I’m like a cowboy—I would say cowgirl. I just do whatever I want, just go everywhere else,” she says. “If people call me I will go. Like, ‘Hey, we’re doing a show.’
“OK, I’m gonna come.”
Photography by @rikhuna.ph
