So you, like five million other wannabees out there, are sitting in the small confines of a sausage infested open mic; tweedling your thumbs waiting for your name to be called on stage. To add to your annoyance, the guy rapping onstage is doing his rendition of the biggest auto tune hit of the week to the same exact beat, only with even worse lyrics. You’re better than this guy and you know it. All you need is a chance to rock, and according to the host you’re next to rock. The song on stage begins to fade, your heart begins to pound, and your hands begin to tighten around that cd you burned with your “lead single” (which your hoping doesn’t skip embarrassingly while you’re onstage). The host takes the microphone and he reads you’re name off the open mic list. “Coming to the stage is: Maddog No Good.” You shoot up like a rocket and grab the mic, spitting one of the best songs ever heard in that open mic spot. The only problem is: no one heard it. Why? Because your name friggin sucks, and as soon as folks found out your name was Maddog No Good they stereotyped you for being, well, no good.
Regardless of what people tell you, it is a natural instinct for us to judge a book by its cover, or more specifically its title. It’s the reason why producers spend months upon months trying to find the perfect name for a given film. Trying to find the title that is short, sweet, to the point, and catchy. The same principle needs to be applied when thinking of a rap name. Iheartdilla had a chance to get first hand accounts from several artist on why they picked their names and why they felt it was important to pick those names.
“Whatever name you choose to use, just make sure its worth remembering,” says New Jersey emcee 8thw1. An artist that has one of the most unique names we’ve come across on the underground scene; a name that went through many changes before finding its place. “My name used to be 8th wonder,” the AOK collective emcee recalls, “[but] when I saw that everyone and their mother was named that I dropped it to 8th won (which later transformed in to 8thw1)”. It was a smart move made by 8thw1 to make the switch. After all, we probably wouldn’t know who he was if we were the “other guy named 8th wonder.” Furthermore, the internet makes it important for one to have a unique name.
In this new day and age most of the underground artist’s careers flourish on the internet. Underground artists make their way into our lives through the information highway via retweets, blog posts, and hip hop forum walls. New fans are constantly googling, youtube searching, and even facebook adding emcees they stumble upon out in the underground. This idea of internet searching, however, would not work if the emcee’s name were a generic one. 8thw1 would be damn near impossible to find on any search engine if his name was 8th wonder. With a name like 8thw1 it’s almost impossible for any one other than himself to pop up on a google search. The same can be said for the hip hop group M.E.D, which stands for Mental Elastic Dynasty. “Look at our name Mental Elastic Dynasty? You're kidding me right? It's possibly the weirdest hip-hop group name...ever.” Still a name isn’t just about being unique. It’s a lot more than that. The name has to represent who you are as an artist.
“If you have a name like, killa your most likely rapping about murder and drugs. Even though, that's not the case in every situation. Long story short, choose a name that reflects your personality and style,” says East New York native Wordspit, an emcee whose name makes us think of someone that is lyrical. Even before we got a chance to peep the boy’s “Coolestbboistance” mixtape we knew we were in store for something with an emphasis on lyrics. Sometimes it takes a while for an artist to find that name that represents them as an idividual. “I was Streetz but then I started getting more lyrical so I changed it,” recalls Wordspit. Once an artist knows their art they can now give it a name. The rap name is a title of the book that is the artist.
“My name for me is important because it's my title,” Idasa Tariq professes, an artist who was lucky enough to have a birth name that unique and dope enough to double as a stage name. “It gives it individuality,” the rapper/producer proclaims, “[be]cause it's my birth-given name. Can't get realer that that.” Indeed the birth name is as real as it gets. It gives the artist a more human appeal, bringing back down to earth with the fans that propped them on to their pedestals. Artists like Torae, and Remy Banks, are able to share a real part of their personal lives right from the get go by using their birth names. One can still remember a time when they first heard about Kanye West, before the diva years, and how when you heard that name you thought of him as a regular cat. Some of us folks that were just average and not Mafioso drug lords could relate to. Still the names Idasa Tariq, Torae, Remy Banks, and yes even Kanye West are dope names. The birth given name can’t be used by everyone. Some of us have to make one up. Just ask Kalil Kash.
“I always liked the name “Khalil” , and I figured it would look better on paper without the "H", “Kalil Kash tells us. Of course, like most people we thought Kalil was his real name, just as many people may have thought Elton John was his real name too. Now you may find it weird for someone to change their name to Elton John, but hey you have to admit it sounds a lot better than Reginald Dwight. Seriously it’s a wonder how Phil Collins made it big with a name like that.
Long story short, as if at this point that’s even possible, pick a cool name. Make sure its unique, represents you, and doesn’t have the word young or lil in it. “If you have a cliche rap name (young whatever, lil whatever) then you can easily be overlooked solely off of that. There's also a lot of MC's out there with crappy rap names that I end up overlooking mostly because of that alone.” Now that there is a direct quote from Kalil Kash, but I kid you not when I say everyone we asked this question to said the exact same thing. Can we get Jay-Z to make a D.O.L.YN (death of lil and young names)?
Below you will find the responses on the meaning behind some of these rappers, producer's and Dj's.:
Idasa Usajah Tariq (rapper/producer): "is my full name. "idasa usajah" means "truth on a straight path" in swahili, and "tariq" means the night visitor/comet in arabic."
Wordspit (rapper): "Went thru many names before I came up with Wordspit. I was Streetz, but then I started getting more lyrical, so I changed it to Word. A little while after that, my brother came to me and said " Your name is Spit, WordSpit." I asked why and he said " It's Word because you spit."
Mental Elastic Dynasty (rap group): "The name was conceptualized by 2 of the members of the group.The root meaning is basically that we are a family or group of artists that are stretching our minds and trying to think outside the box. "
QDiesel (rapper): "Well my name comes for some letters in my real name it started at Que.D but as I progressed as a artist my name made that progression as well Qdiesel explains the impact of my music just like the impact of a Diesel Truck if it hits you in other words aggressive at the same time saying my sound stays in motion moving forward constantly changing lanes meaning new sounds."
The Bronx Über Villain (rapper) "Is the alter ego of west coast born, east coast raised, professional-net worker and entrepreneur, 'I Are Conscious'. The Bronx Über Villain represents a grimey-artful beauty aesthetic, both visually and auditorially. Analog meets digital. The organic fuses with electronic. Cerebral-Emo communication via rhyme, song and prose. Of cosmic origin with earthly roots. Hopping from moment to moment art created in the now, that lingers with wisdom of the past and a progressive outlook of the future..."
Desperado Soul (rapper): "It came from the line I used in a song. "I'm a Desperado.. desperate to get dinero" I feel that line linked to me at a point, And I kept the name desperado, just added a soul in there cuz im a soulful person."
E.Y.E.Q. (rapper): "Was inspired from a piece of paper I peeped in my kitchen. Moms had wrote down the name of some company or w/e and it read out Eye Q(also seen some products with the same spelling) then I put my own lil flip on it. Knowing how much I love deeper meanings to things,I formed an acronym. Even.Your.Eyes.Question. the basic idea from this was.your eyes can be fooled by what you see,so my purpose for emceeing is to help ppl understand that you need to search people/things with more than sight."
E.A.R.T.H. (rap group) "We wanted to have a name that incorporate all people and the significance of how music (hiphop) affect people in their lives. So we came up with the name E.A.R.T.H. (Everything Around Revolves Thru Hiphop) because hip hop is a genre of music that has influence many people around the world."
FinaL OutLaW (rapper): "Growing up as a kid I felt alone. I watched the other kids around me make bad decisions that led to unfortunate futures for them. I saw them participate in everything from drugs to promiscuity, but I knew there was a universe beyond what I could see at the time. This happens to young people often, the feeling of being alone and not belonging, I felt like the last of a dying breed of people who believe in discipline and honor and this is where “FinaL” came from. As I learned about the world and its people I began to quickly realize that indigenous, African or anyone who falls under the “minority” umbrella were treated very differently in America. In this countries history we have been feared, banned, outcast, persecuted, tortured, murdered, raped, and outlawed. I began to realize that the rules, and laws in this country were often conveniently in favor of upper class wealthy Americans. I refuse to live my life in line with rules that were created without my best interest in mind. I refuse to be a part of the work class society and pretend as if I’m happy being a digital error slave. I’ve embraced the fact that non-European people are treated like criminals in this country and not allowed to share the same benefits as upper class wealthy people enjoy like reliable healthcare. Calling myself “OutlaW” is a statement that says I am not bound by this countries terms and condition, I follow no law, and I am non-traditional. "
Esso (rapper): "My name came from the word Solace which is like another word for calm. I'm a real calm person most of the time so I thought that described me and ran with the first 2 letters of it (eS (S) So(o))
Roknowledge (producer): "I got my name very randomly...i was out one night with a couple dudes in my crew and my boy Judgement just called me ROK...out the blue. We all laughed at the time because it was so random, but the name stuck and i kept it. It did develop a little bit further as time progressed into Roknowledge."
Hijynx (rapper): "My name is a play on the word High Jinks which means: high jinks –noun Informal. boisterous celebration or merrymaking; unrestrained fun In that same manner I wanted to apply that atmosphere to my music. I want my music to accompany people when they have fun and celebrate. I switched the spelling for a little flair and the rest was history."
Y.C. The Cynic (rapper): "My name was shortened to YC, by my family from WACO Division at the age of 14. Its actually an acronym (but I'll never say what it stands for, it adds to the mystique). I changed (added to) my name after a talk with Top $ Raz, where he pointed out to me that T.I. (who's basically a superstar) wasn't even the first result in a google search of his name. Meaning, I had no chance of being found on the internet! So, I just looked for words that looked good on paper, when I found "Cynic". And it fit perfectly.
PreZZure (rapper): "Comes from me having to go through a lot and most of my best achievements in life have involved me being under pressure. So I choose that name to set an example that I go through life just like any other human being with trials and tribulations but at the end of the day I overcome and you can too. The reason behind the to capital Z's is one represents my past of being lazy and the other is a symbol for those who are sleeping on my music.
My Brother's Keeper (rap group): "Our name came in the 12th hour so to speak. we had already chosen the lineup out of tracks made by all 3 members and recorded most of them for our album "Welcome 2 da Basement." We previously brain stormed on name ideas and came up with a blank each time. One day i got a call from Tzo and all he said was My Brother's Keeper... I replied, huh? and he repeated...I said yes that's it.
Top $ Raz (rapper): "Well my name is Rasheem so Raz is basically short for Rasheem but people kept saying that it sounded too much like NaS. So, I added TOP $ (used the symbol because it looked better on paper) to it because it had a nice little ring to it and it also reminded me of the three worded old school names such as Big Daddy Kane and Kool G. Rap."
Jermaine Frederick (rapper): "Chose to not perform under an alias because I don't want the burden of having to uphold an alter ego caused by a name. We've all seen aliases paint artists into a corner where they feel they have to uphold their namesake/reputation...and it marches too far into the negative most times."
Lloyal (rapper): "Actually got the name Lloyal by accident. While I was still moniker-less and I was writing rhymes, I had said the word "loyal" in a rhyme but by accident wrote it down "Lloyal". Since my real name is "Lloyd" I guess I added another L naturally."
AtLas (rapper): "The name AtLas' is a double entendre. My namesake is the greek titan "Atlas", who was cursed to hold the weight of the world on his shoulders for eternity as punishment for his transgressions. This is my way of accepting artistic responsibility for those who I represent through my music. The second meaning, "At Last" is my declaration of my coming of age. So in the spelling of AtLas', the apostrophe takes the place of the "t", and it's pronounced At Lass.
RewMec (rapper): "Initially, It came from me playing a Street Fighter video game where on of the characters names is was R. Mika. I felt like it was a dope name but it was too feminine for a guy, so I flipped it to R:MeccA. I kept it for a minute because it looked good on paper but I after while I felt like it didn't have any meaning. I then decided to take the R and turn it into half of my first name and drop the C and A from Mecca (Leaving RewMec). Over time the name started to fit in line with the life experiences I was having and the messages I was making in my music. So after all the soul searching and fine tuning, the Rew (Rue) stand for the all the regrets I've had (or will have) before I finally get to my peace of mind that everyone search so hard for (Mec/ Mecca). Ad in retrospect the name rolls of the tongue better. And no I'm not Muslim at all!
Hipnotic (rapper): "My name is an extension of my teenage nickname,"Hippie." I was a woodstock fan as a kid and wore ripped jeans and friendship bracelets.bleached peace signs into clothes.I had alotta fights in the bronx over that.Then as the rapping became more serious,a woman told me my flow was entrancing"hipnotic," if u will.and the legend began..."
NSR (rapper): "Used to go by "Optics" in high school/college, back when I rhymed every word with every word and made no sense. As I matured as an artist and a person I wanted a name that represented me and not some absract concept. I wanted to "keep it real" if you will. After college I began to step my professional email game up, and I would sign all my emails, NSR. Eventually it stuck. Most ppl who know me personally call me Noah or Brody, and those who know me or have heard of me through my music either call me some variation of "NSR" ie "RSN" "SRN" etc. or "neser." Or they just yell "Adrien Brody" at me. Time for a name change?"
Khid2che (rapper): "Well its kinda complicated but basically khid comes from well my first name (khidhar). The 2che (touché) comes from when I was younger I was very sarcastic (still a little) and everytime a person would say something witty or sarcastic I would say something twice as sarcastic and when I did people would say "ahh touché". So it just basically stuck with me. Its like a play off my first name and like a sarcastic comeback."
Scanz (rapper): "The name Scanz came to me when I was about 12 writing graffiti in my notebook. I was going through letters that I liked the shapes and curves of, that felt smooth to write, and that looked balanced together. It was as simple as that...and it stuck with me."
Jesse Abraham (rapper): "My name is relatively unique as a combination, but rather recognizable as well. Biblically, Jesse and Abraham were both fervent, significant characters; Jesse was the father of King David, and Abraham was the father of Israel and the Jewish religion. Additionally, Abraham Lincoln obviously comes to mind as well, bringing with him the notion of honesty, racial harmony, and respect. My music is a reflection of my truest self, and my name is a fair depiction of that. And it makes my mom happy."
Coole High (rapper): "I went away to college at Tuskegee University. I used to wear black frames and Kangols, or driving caps, back then. Well, people there knew the classic 70's film Cooley High and started calling me Preacher the Poet, who is a character from the film. Being that I did write a lot of poetry and songs it kinda fit, but anyways, they cut it to Cooley High for short. When I came back to NY some of my people here just started calling me that out of the blue! I was like, none of these people know each other from north to south and they're calling me the same thing, what better way to get your name, huh?"
J. Monopoly (rapper): "I came up with my name in the 11th grade at 16, in like Feb. '05. I remember Jay-Z was on the radio like "They call me young yacht, young Mediterranean, young so and so", just going off. So that kinda inspired me, so I was like "Yea they call me Young Monopoly", like it just popped up. Monopoly means to control or to have control over something. The word was perfect for what I was trying to do with music, hip hop especially. So I dropped the young and added a J, and the rest is history."
Torae (rapper): "My stage name is Torae. My birth name is also Torae. When I started doing music I had all kinds of aliases but when it all boils down I don't need another persona for my music. I speak from the heart and my music is 100% me, therefore there wasn't any need to use anything else. Torae is a very unique name to begin with so I figured I wouldn't have to worry about sharing it. With that said shouts to Toure, Tarrey Torae, DJ Toure & and anyone else who shares my namesake..... - Tor
Da Blenda (dj): "Catchin' wreck since 1993(golden era baby),in searching for a name, I wanted to choose something that encapsulated an element of the dj craft without sounding corny ,refrain from the use of my govt name/initials or cliches i.e. "_ -Rock or _-Styles" etc. Blends are an essential component of djing, in addition, a "blender's" primary purpose is to mix as is a dj's ...hence Da Blenda came to fruition. One as artists must distinguish ourselves from our name to our mixing/scratching styles..."
DJ Shameless (dj): "The name Shameless more so as a personality trait...I can careless what others think I like shame in that respect its pretty basic."
Brokn.Englsh (rap group): "Symbolizes the phonetic sound of the words "broken" and "english". We wanted our name to be distinctive. What's more distinctive than the words that define the language of our culture?"
Soul Khan (rapper): "I used to be "Soul Khansenses," a misspelling of "Sole Consensus," meaning "lone opinion." It was pretentious and stupid, so I shortened it."
And there you have it folks!
2 comments:
Dope. I really enjoyed this piece.
Was wondering where a lot of artists on this scene got their names from.
Twitter.com/JynxUrself
Loved this piece. The title and the connection to Slim's Shady's "Hi. My mame is..." is pretty dope.
Post a Comment