Stage Names: What's in a Name?

I’m sure that at some point you’ve had that ‘aha!’ moment when you learn the reason or story behind the stage name of some of your favorite artists. Sometimes the reason a name is adopted is sort of deep, and other times it’s pretty random. I’ve compiled the following list of today’s bigger hip-hop artists and how they arrived at their monikers. If you don’t see an artist that’s pretty popular on the following list, chances are their stage name was just some form of their actual name (including ones like Wale and Kid Cudi). They just sound different due to their ethnic background.

Eminem

Born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, Eminem started rapping at the age of 14 under the pseudonym M&M - a reference both to his initials and candy. This evolved into Eminem.

Ne-Yo

‘Ne-Yo’ was coined by a producer Ne-Yo once worked with, Big D Evans. Evans claimed that Ne-Yo sees music as Neo sees the Matrix. As a joke, Evans started calling him Ne-Yo until everybody was accustomed to it.

Jay-Z

Jay-Z grew up in the Marcy housing project in Brooklyn, and his home was located at the intersection of the J/Z subway lines. Influenced by east coast MC mentor Jaz-O and being given the childhood nickname of 'Jazzy', Jay-Z came to be.

T.I.

His original stage name, ‘T.I.P.’, stems from his childhood nickname ‘Tip’, which was given to him by his grandfather. Due to his southern drawl, fans mistook his name for ‘Chip’, so he began spelling it out ‘T.I.P’. He shortened his name to T.I. out of respect for label mate Q-Tip.

50 cent

The story behind this nickname is a mix of rumors and the reason 50 Cent himself provides. Apparently the name belonged to an actual street hustler notorious for his urge to steal everything as well as being trigger happy. A legend claims he actually held somebody up for fifty cents. 50 Cent says his nickname came from wanting to honor this hustler and as well as wanting to change after his time in prison.

Lil’ Wayne

In his interview with Katie Couric, Lil’ Wayne explained his stage name's relation to his actual name, Dwayne Carter Jr. "I dropped the D because I'm a junior and my father is living and he's not in my life and he's never been in my life. So I don't want to be Dwayne, I'd rather be Wayne."

Wiz Khalifa

“When I first started rapping my Uncle's name was 'Knowledge' and we were all in a group. I wanted to make a name that was sort of like his, so I chose Wisdom. My Uncle was Muslim so he gave me the ‘Khalifa’ which means ‘SUCCESSOR’. I was Wisdom Khalifa for a while when I was younger and then I turned about 15 and I dropped the ‘dom’ from Wisdom.”

Lupe Fiasco

“I got the name Lupe Fiasco in high school. I had a friend named Lupe. My name is Wasalu, so I was always rapping under Lu, cause when you shorten it, it would be Lu. People would call me Lu. So Lupe wasn't that much of a stretch. I just took his name cause we were kind of like good friends. Fiasco came from the Firm album. They had the song, "Firm Fiasco." I just liked the way it looked on paper. And so it's like, Lupe...Fiasco.”

Ludacris

"The nickname is something I made up," said Ludacris, aka Chris Bridges about his name. "I have kind of a spirit personality - part of me is calm cool and collected, while the other side is just beyond crazy. My lyrics are ludicrous, my live shows are ludicrous - ludicrous like off the chain crazy."

Dr. Dre

Dr. Dre started out as a club DJ, initially under the name ‘Dr. J’, based on the nickname of Julius Erving, his favorite basketball player. Soon afterwards he adopted the moniker Dr. Dre (given to him during his time with World Class Wreckin’ Cru), a mix of previous alias Dr. J and his first name, referring to himself as the "Master of Mixology". 

Trey Songz

When he was first recording his album, the producers labeled his demos and tapes ‘Trey's Songs.’ The name stuck ever since.

Busta Rhymes

His first name as a rapper was Chill-o-ski, but he thought it was a corny name, and Chuck D from Public Enemy gave him a new name, Busta Rhymes. He got the name from a football player from the eighties, George “Buster” Rhymes, and people always asked him to “Bust-a-rhyme,” so the choice was easy.

P. Diddy

He was apparently called ‘Puff’ to reflect his ‘huff and puff’ mood when he got upset. In 2001, after a weapons and bribery charge, he changed his name from ‘Puff Daddy’ to ‘P.Diddy’. In 2005, he changed it again from ‘P.Diddy’ to just ‘Diddy’. He also recently asked his fans to refer to him as Swag, but I think this was just a temporary thing (I hope).