Dallas Voice: Caushun Was A Hoax
In 2003, a New York-based rapper began generating serious buzz. Caushun (pronounced Caution) was a stage name taken by Jason Herndon, a gay hairstylist who once appeared on “America’s Next Top Model.” Soon reports surfaced that Russell’s now-estranged wife, Kimora Lee Simmons, was going to sign Caushun to her Baby Phat record label. Then came heaps of press: features in The Advocate, Newsweek, London Observer and The New York Times.
But the debut album, “Shock and Awe” — slated to drop during Pride Month of 2003 — never surfaced. That’s because Caushun was a hoax: a J.T. LeRoy for the hip-hop community.
Last month, Caushun’s “manager,” Ivan Matias, told Allhiphop.com that he wrote and performed all of Caushun’s material. It all began as a joke. Matias, a straight dude, called into a radio station and pretended to be a flamingly gay rhyme-spitter. He cut some demos and then recruited Herndon to play the public figure. Last year, the ruse began to unravel when Herndon began facing charges of identity theft and grand larceny.
But the story doesn’t end there.
Now the blogosphere is replete with unsubstantiated reports that Herndon and Matias are shopping a book titled “The Gay Superhead.” This tell-all apparently chronicles Caushun’s wave of publicity, and promises to expose Kimora Lee’s alleged sexual affair with a woman and Russell’s alleged sexual affair with a male record executive.
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