It comes as no shock, then, that not a single openly gay hip-hop artist has ever gathered a significant national following. But Caushun, a 23-year old former celebrity hairstylist from Brooklyn, N.Y., hopes to change that. With his humor, charisma and a crucial boost from his industry-insider pals-songwriter-producer Ivan Matias among them-Caushun is gunning to become hip-hop’s first gay mainstream star. He’s just halfway through recording his first album, “Proceed With Caushun,” but his unusual perspective has drawn the attention of several major labels.
While Caushun may be the first openly gay rapper to make a major media splash-he’s already been on MTV and in Vibe magazine-he’s far from the first gay rapper. Gay acts such as Rainbow Flava’ and Morplay have existed on the fringe of hip-hop for years, and rumors frequently circulate in hip-hop circles about the “secret” sexual orientation of some of the industry’s most visible stars. In addition, the lack of gay representation among big name hip-hop performers says nothing about rap fans: In major cities, gay hip-hop clubs thrive, attracting men who describe themselves as “homo thugs.” Such audiences could potentially form a pre-established fan base for Caushun.
NEWSWEEKS’s Jane Spencer sat down with Caushun in Brooklyn to talk about his new album, his ambitions and doing Kimora Lee’s hair.
NEWSWEEK: How did you get started?
Caushun: I’ve been rhyming for years-it started with friends. I didn’t start taking it seriously until I called into a radio station to rhyme [on an open-mic call-in show], and they shunned me away. They heard my voice, and they was like, “Oh, wait a minute, are you sweet?” They was like, “Oh, cupcake” this and “cupcake” that. It wasn’t anything really derogatory, but they still wouldn’t let me rhyme. Had I sounded more thuggish they would’ve let me. After that, I was like, “You know what? You all are gonna hear me. I have a lot to say and you’re gonna hear me.”
I’ve heard you have a lot of industry connections from your work as a hairstylist. Has that helped you?
I was working at The Plaza Hotel salon. I did plenty of celebrity clients from Sarah Michelle Gellar to Leanne Rimes to Jennifer Lopez. Through doing the hair, I linked up with Kimora Lee [Simmons, former model, TV host and wife of rap mogul Russell Simmons], and I became one of her personal hairstylists. During this whole time, I was like, “Honey, I’m rhyming, and this is what’s happening,” and I always got her support. When Russell would come home, she’d be like, “Russell, listen to this honey, this boy can rhyme.” So I told him I had this one record called “Gay Rappers D-Lite.” A lot of people were like, “Oh, that’s going to be controversial.” But Russell was like, “All you gotta do is say this is only entertainment at the front of your album. It’s all about peace, and you should be fine.” After Russell told me that, I was like, “All right, I don’t care what nobody says. The grandfather of hip-hop told me that my s-t is the bomb.”
Do you think homophobia and misogyny are a major part of the hip-hop world-or is it just overpublicized?
There are a lot of artists that you can call “studio thugs.” They’re made up to appear that they’re so against women, so against homosexuals. But it’s pretty much a persona that’s created. You can sit down and have a conversation with that same artist that performed 20 minutes before and realize that they’re not really homophobic at all. But being homophobic sells. Being that masculine “rah, rah” figure-that sells.
On the flip side of that, is presenting yourself as the “The Gay Rapper”-a term you put on your publicity materials-a marketing strategy?
As soon as you hear my voice you’re going to definitively know that I am gay and I’m rapping-so I would’ve been called “the gay rapper” anyway. I feel like a lot of artists lose their credibility when they don’t come out honestly with the way they are. This is the era of realism. Every hip-hop artists is like, “Oh, keep it real, keep it real.” And what I’m doing is true. I’m definitely keeping it real because I’m not straight, so I can’t keep it real by trying to act straight and play straight.
There have been other gay hip-hop performers-they just haven’t gathered a national following. Do you think you’ll be different?
I think that it’s all on timing. Twenty years ago was not the time, 10 years ago was not the time. I think now hip-hoppers are a little bit more open-minded, they’re ready for something new, from the beats to the music to this. And homo thugs support hip-hoppers and buy their albums and help them get their platinum stats, so I feel like there should be a face put to this whole homo thing, instead of us being behind the scenes of hip-hop, doing the hair, the makeup, the styling. Why can’t we be a face in the forefront?
Have the gay people behind the scenes in hip-hop-the publicists and stylists-influenced the industry?
We’re in there, honey. We’re directing the show, the videos, we’re signing the artists to labels, we’re creating the image for the heterosexual rappers-deciding if they look sexy in this and that. Think about it. You have Pras, a hip-hop artist in a flamingo pink two-piece Paul Smith suit with pink Christian Dior glasses. You think that was a heterosexual’s idea? You know what I’m saying? And it actually makes him more appealing. The women are like, “Wow, he got style.” The homosexuals are like, “Honey, who put him up in that! He’s doing his thing!” So its like we influence them, and they influence us. I just feel like there needs to be a face, like my face, put to the front of the whole thing.
Tell me about some of the tracks on your album.
“Ooh, Who Dat Be” is like an anthem, I would say. It’s an introduction. You know that I’m gay by the record. I also have the “Gay Rappers D-Lite.” This is basically talking about rappers in the industry that homo thugs might actually lust for, just from our point of view. A lot of people go, “Oh, that’s so graphic and it’s so this and that.” A lot of people would be scared to comment on it, but it’s not so serious, it’s just entertainment, and I’m just taking it for what it is.
How do you feel about rappers who bash gays in their lyrics?
I don’t take it personal. Almost every artist out there degrades someone to some extent. When they chant “faggot faggot faggot”-it’s like if you have use faggot 17 times on one record. That’s not creative, it’s boring. People are tired of hearing themselves called a bitch or a fag.
What do you think about efforts to place stricter ratings systems on albums with explicit lyrics?
If parents took more control over what their kids listen to, instead of having the artists, the actual rap stars, raise their kids, then there wouldn’t be as much of a problem. I know when I was younger, there were certain things that I couldn’t listen to. You can’t blame the artist for a parent’s jobs. Rap is humor and entertainment-adult humor and entertainment, not children’s humor and entertainment.
Who do you hope your following will be?
I hope and pray that it’s going to be a little bit of everyone. I’m pitching myself to the open-minded heterosexual hip-hop community. I’m still marketing myself to women cause women, they don’t care. They love you if they love you. And then there’s a large gay community. I’m pitching myself to the BETs, the MTVs, which is mainstream pop culture. I want everybody to get a piece of the pie.
What’s the homo thug scene like?
If you’re man and you’re influenced by hip-hop and you’re intimate with another man, you’re a homo thug. Even if you’re into this “realness” with the baggy jeans. Whether the homo thugs want to identify themselves as gay is a different story. A lot have issues-you know, self hatred and all that. Some of these men deal with full-on, 24/7 drag queens, and they do not believe that they are gay. They still consider themselves straight. Every homo thug has your hard side and then you have your softer side, that you might be comfortable with behind closed doors. But in the street, there are homo thugs that you might not even know are gay from looking at them. We are like the millennial drag-homo thug drag is dressing up in the baggy jeans, the gold chains, the platinum ice [jewelry].
Are there overlaps between the experience of being gay and the experience of being black?
There’s definitely a similarity. What I want to do, the way I want to come into this game is to take the word “fag” and empower, the way Lil’ Kim took the word “bitch” and empowered it. It’s like, “Yes, I’m Queen Bitch, honey, and it’s not a big deal.” A lot of people are scared of “fag” or “homo” because they don’t have a face to it, and they don’t see that there are so many homo thugs, so they’re scared of it. Even the N-word-nigger-is so derogatory, but when black people use it amongst themselves, it’s like not a big deal. So I kind of want take the word fag and make it like, “Oh, child, what’s the big deal.”
