The practice of performing under a pseudonym (or, nom de mic, in French) is all but taken for granted in hip-hop. Sure, there's plenty of rappers who go the "real name no gimmicks" route (the most famous example is Kanye West.) But for the most part, no one expects the average rapper to go by their government name. This is especially lucky for Maybach Music Group, because Rick Ross' real name is William Roberts and Meek Mill's real name is Robert Williams. Instead, rap names are similar to gang names and graffiti tags and website commenter handles: pretty much everybody taking part goes by an alias.
Which, when you think about it, is pretty uncommon in any other field except for wrestling. Sure, lots of actors have stage names, but at least they're meant to sound like a name your mother would give you, like Nicolas Cage. But it's not like you'd name your kid Gunplay (unless, of course, you were Nicolas Cage). And most doctors, lawyers, plumbers and electricians hang a shingle with their real name on it.
Nicknames come about in all sorts of ways: Some are earned, some are given, and some are picked out of Wu-Tang Name Generators (like Childish Gambino's was). There's more rappers than there are rap names: There's a thousand Lil's, Young's, Big's. In fact, The Notorious B.I.G. was originally supposed to go as Biggie Smalls until it turned out someone else already had that name (an occurrence so common even Common Sense had to change his name). With all that in mind, we looked into The Stories Behind 15 Rappers' Rap Names. Like Marlo Stanfield first said, and like Pusha T has taken as a title for his next album (or, kind of like that at least), "My name is my name."
Written by Nathan Susman (@brownnoiseblog)
RELATED: 20 Rappers Who Aren't From Where You Think They're From
RELATED: 40 Photos of Rappers as Kids
RELATED: Pigeons & Planes - Words That Rappers Never Use
The practice of performing under a pseudonym (or, nom de mic, in French) is all but taken for granted in hip-hop. Sure, there's plenty of rappers who go the "real name no gimmicks" route (the most famous example is Kanye West.) But for the most part, no one expects the average rapper to go by their government name. This is especially lucky for Maybach Music Group, because Rick Ross' real name is William Roberts and Meek Mill's real name is Robert Williams. Instead, rap names are similar to gang names and graffiti tags and website commenter handles: pretty much everybody taking part goes by an alias.
Which, when you think about it, is pretty uncommon in any other field except for wrestling. Sure, lots of actors have stage names, but at least they're meant to sound like a name your mother would give you, like Nicolas Cage. But it's not like you'd name your kid Gunplay (unless, of course, you were Nicolas Cage). And most doctors, lawyers, plumbers and electricians hang a shingle with their real name on it.
Nicknames come about in all sorts of ways: Some are earned, some are given, and some are picked out of Wu-Tang Name Generators (like Childish Gambino's was). There's more rappers than there are rap names: There's a thousand Lil's, Young's, Big's. In fact, The Notorious B.I.G. was originally supposed to go as Biggie Smalls until it turned out someone else already had that name (an occurrence so common even Common Sense had to change his name). With all that in mind, we looked into The Stories Behind 15 Rappers' Rap Names. Like Marlo Stanfield first said, and like Pusha T has taken as a title for his next album (or, kind of like that at least), "My name is my name."
Written by Nathan Susman (@brownnoiseblog)
RELATED: 20 Rappers Who Aren't From Where You Think They're From
RELATED: 40 Photos of Rappers as Kids
RELATED: Pigeons & Planes - Words That Rappers Never Use
Joey Bada$$
Government name: Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott
Growing up in Brooklyn, Joey Bada$$ used to go by "JayOvee." He decided to change his moniker because, as he once told Complex, he was looking for "a name that would draw more attention [from] the listener as far as social media." No B.S.: that's badass business strategy.
Fabolous
Government Name: John David Jackson
Fab once told the story behind his name on his site. Before Fabolous started rapping, the Brooklyn-based emcee was known as "Sport" to his friends. When he started rapping, though, he wanted to spotlight a different talent of his: wordplay. He hadn't settled on a new name yet, though, when he met DJ Clue at Hot 97 and asked if he could rap for him.
Clue agreed to listen, and in his freestyle, Fab referred to himself as a "fabulous vocabulist." Clue noted the line, and thought it was an official name (like "The Fabulous Vocabulist.") Excited about the new talent he'd discovered, he began telling people of the rapper named "Fabulous," or "Fabulous Sport." As his reputation grew, Fabo had no choice but to adopt the mistake. (He changed the spelling, presumably, for style.) "Today, I look at the irony of taking a mistake and making it look correct," He says. "The moral of the story is: Every mistake, something can be taken from it, learned from it or made from it. My mistake made me Fabolous."
Ab-Soul
Government name: Herbert Anthony Stevens IV
"It's like a real long, drawn-out story to it, but it really kind of just comes from 'Absolute'," Ab-Soul said, in an interview with CLCTVE. "My little sister was putting on a little stage play production of Dreamgirls. I don't know if you saw the movie, but this was before I seen the movie. It's a part where Jimmy Early's performing and he does the 'Jimmy got soul! Jimmy got soul! Jimmy got, Jimmy got, Jimmy got sooooooul!' and the crowd goes wild. So I had 'Absolute'..." He decided to change it to Ab-Soul because Absolute was too simple, and there was already a group called Absoul, sans the dash.
2 Chainz
Government name: Tauheed Epps
"In my 8th grade yearbook picture I had on two chains," said the author of a song called "No Lie," in an interview with VIBE. "I had always been into like jewelry so 2 Chainz just stuck." In the same interview, he also explained his former name Tity Boi and why it's not meant to be derogatory towards women: "The name Tity Boi actually came from my big mama, from me being spoiled and an only child—breastfed. My mama called me Tity Boi, my dad called me Tity Man, my hood called me Tit so when we was trying to rap I had been going by Tit my whole life."
French Montana
Government name: Karim Kharbouch
In an interview with AllHipHop, French explained that he chose the first part of his name because the country where he was born, Morocco, is heavily influenced by the French. He added "Montana" after the protagonist of Brian DePalma's Scarface, "Tony Montana." Because people have told him he has a resemblance to Al Pacino, who played Montana.
Action Bronson
Government name: Arian Asllani
On The Combat Jack Show, Action explained the origin of his name. When Bronson was growing up in Queens, he used to tag buildings as "Action." When it came time to rap, however, he decided he needed a little more. A big fan of '80s action movie's, he decided to honor the star of the classic Deathwish series. "Charles Bronson is my grandfather's favorite actor," he said. And that the name Action Bronson "rolled off the tongue."
ScHoolboy Q
Government name: Quincy Matthew Hanley
According to Q, he excelled as a student through the 12th grade, maintaining a 3.3 GPA in a magnet program, and playing three sports. Around his South Central Los Angeles neighborhood, though, he'd joined the Hoover Crips and started selling drugs. So "Schoolboy" was a nod to multitasking. By the time he started rolling with Top Dawg Entertainment, he didn't have a real rap name, he just went by Q, for Quincy. It was TDE president Punch who thought to add the "Schoolboy." It was a good idea. "ScHoolboy Q" is an excellent rap name.
Cyhi Da Prynce
Government name: Cydel Young
Cyhi Da Prynce chose his name because he shares a birthday, November 14, with Prince Charles of Wales. "My real name is Cydel," said Cyhi, in an interview with Complex. "So I took the 'del' off my name and added the 'hi' from '[your] highness.'"
Meek Mill
Government name: Robert Williams
In an interview on San Francisco radio station Wild 94.9, Meek explained that a childhood friend of his used to call him "Meek Millions." So he just cut the last syllable off.
Yelawolf
Government name: Michael Wayne Atha
In an interview with Spinner, Yelawolf explained that his father is Cherokee Indian, and that his stage name is a combination of the Cherokee word "Yela," meaning "sun," and the English word "wolf." This represents the duality between his intellectual "light" side, he said, and his aggressive, survivalist "dark" side.
Gucci Mane
Government name: Radric Davis
As he tells it, Gucci comes from a long line of Manes. "My pop's name was Gucci Mane," he said in an interview with HHDX. "This was a family name and its always been in my family. I just took the name and made it my rap name, after my daddy." Apparently, the name was given by his grandmother, who had no knowledge of the luxury clothing brand.
Macklemore
Government name: Ben Haggerty
In an interview with Dirty Laces, Macklemore explained he got his rap name from an assignment in a high school graphic design class. He and a group of other students were supposed to create a fictional superhero. He decided to call it Professor Macklemore. In his free time, he would often go to thrift shops and buy plaid golf pants and fur coats, and when he would wear these outfits, he would make his friends call him "Professor Macklemore," which they later shorted to "Macklemore" because, he said, nobody wants to be forced to call their friend "Professor." (I dunno. Public Enemy and X-Clan didn't seem to mind.)
Lupe Fiasco
Government name: Wasalu Muhammad Jaco
According to Lupe, he took the second part of his name from The Firm's 1997 song "Firm Fiasco." The Chicago rapper used to rhyme under his birth name, Wasalu, which people would often shorten "Lu." Since "Lu Fiasco" sounds more like a minor league baseball coach than a rapper, he borrowed the first part from a friend named Lupe.
Iggy Azalea
Government name: Amethyst Amelia Kelly
Lots of women rappers have called themselves "bad bitches." But only Iggy Azalea actually named herself after her dog. "He used to go around and get in fights with all the other dogs," she explained in an interview with L.A. Record. "I used to try to rap with my real name [Amethyst], but it just doesn't rhyme; it has too many letters."
Wiz Khalifa
Government name: Cameron Jibril Thomaz
In an interview with Hot 97's Funkmaster Flex, Wiz explained that his rap name was his grandfather's idea. A Muslim, granddad decided to call him "Khalifa" because that was an Arabic word meaning "a successor, leader, or shining light." The "Wiz" part comes from being wise beyond his years.