LOS ANGELES — Performer/director Prince Yahshua and his production company Silverback Entertainment have signed an exclusive distribution deal with Black Market.
Yahshua, the reigning Urban X Male Performer of the Year, is the creator of the hard-charging “Black Assassin” series. Now in his seventh year in adult, the Chicago native has established himself as one of the top performer/producers in the industry.
He said the arrangement with Black Market comes at an opportune time and is the result of numerous discussions with owner James Melendy about collaborating during the past few years. Yahshua had been self-distributing his recent DVD releases.
“I have a name, but for somebody like James who’s been around and in the business for so long, his reach is so much longer than mine,” Yahshua said. “So with my name and his reach, it’s like a match made in heaven.”
The distribution agreement starts with “How to Tame Your Dragon,” which was co-directed by longtime Silverback collaborator Ethan Hunt and Sara Jay and ships on Wednesday. That will be followed by “The Best of Black Assassin: Vanilla Edition” that has a ship date of May 25.
Yahshua told XBIZ that his first “Black Assassin” best-of collection came about due to the fans.
“It’s amazing how many times I get online or I see people and everybody always compares which scene was the best scene that I did for my ‘Black Assassin’ series,” said Yahshua, who has produced seven volumes of “Assassin” since 2009. “So on my website we took a poll and out of the 30 scenes that I did that were interracial, we asked the fans to choose the best seven. So this is what the fans wanted. And I’m a firm believer in giving the fans what they want.”
Just ask Melendy.
“His stuff sells well,” Melendy told XBIZ. “I’ve already had a lot of people from England just inquiring about it … He’s got good content and he’s built a strong name for himself.”
Melendy said he planned to release about two Silverback titles per month in the early going. Other titles coming soon from the Yahshua camp include “Housewife Gone Bad,” “The Best of the Black Assassin: Chocolate Edition” and a showcase title called “Undisputed.”
“That will be my new grand supreme movie,” Yahshua told XBIZ, noting signature moves such as the F-150 and The Atom Bomb will be on display. “It will be everything that I’ve been known for, everything that I do that only I can do.”
In addition, Yahshua plans to chronicle the biggest challenge of his porn career in “Undisputed.” He defied the odds last year and worked his way back to doing high-level sex scenes after suffering a freak “broken penis” accident — or torn urethra — on the set on Aug. 23, 2010.
“Everybody really thought I was down and out,” Yahshua said. “This time it wasn’t my millions of fans that helped me, it was all the negative criticism and all the bad-mouthing that I saw when I was well enough to get up and look online and see how people thought that this was going to be the end.
“So whoever said haters were a bad thing, I’m here to announce to you they were the best thing that ever happened to me.”
As Yahshua rehabilitated, gradually returning to a steady workout regimen, he kept thinking about the doubters.
“All the negativity fueled me,” he said. “I will never be 100 percent. There are still a lot of things I can’t physically do that people were used to seeing me do, but I’m about 87 to 90 percent back. And that means I’m still better than most everybody in the industry. I haven’t had any complaints. And I’ve worked for Wicked, Evil Angel, Vivid, Jules Jordan... Elegant Angel… So as long as all the big companies still love me I’m doing something right.”
Yahshua pointed to his Director of Operations/GM Jeff Romano as a key part of the new and improved Silverback team. Romano helped him finalize the Black Market deal.
"We met about a year ago and mapped out a plan," said Romano, whom Yahshua refers to as the "legs" of Silverback Entertainment.
"He's a feisty Italian from the East Coast," Prince said. "He's no-nonsense. Aryana [Starr] brought him to me and I put him on the payroll immediately."
Yahshua also noted that director Vito Van Gogh was instrumental in helping him land at Black Market.
“He came to me and said this would be a perfect fit, 'and I’m definitely willing to do all that I can to make sure that fit is permanent.'”
Visit BlackMarketXXX.com for ordering information.
