The Best Real Artist Names and The Stories Behind Their Stage Names
There’s something about finding out an artist’s real name is completely different from their stage name. Like you’re trying to tell me Chief Keef’s mom really just named him Keith Farrelle? That might be a bad example, but either way, these artists have some pretty epic birthnames and some interesting (or nonexistent) stories behind their more recognizable aliases. As a little quiz, I'll give you a couple real names and you see if you can guess the artist name:
Tauheed Epps, Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, Dijon McFarlane, Thebe Neruda Kgositsile, Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn, and Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr.
Good luck.
Epps adopted the title, “Tity Boi” when he formed a rap duo with high school friend, Earl Conyers (Dolla Boy). As he grew more and more popular, partially due to his relationship with Ludacris, his moniker was accused of being offensively directed towards women and he decided to change his name to “2 Chainz,” in an effort to be more family friendly. He has also said the name signifies his second chance in music after signing to Def Jam.
No, Logic has not been knighted by the Queen. The prefix was actually given by his mother when he was born. Hall began his rap career under the name, “Psychological,” which reflected his desire to make music that challenged the mind. Over time the mouth full “Psychological” was shortened to “Logic,” the name he chose to keep. Logic also uses the names “Young Sinatra” and “Bobby Tarantino,” inspired by Frank Sinatra and Quentin Tarantino, respectively.
This one’s pretty straight-forward.
When he was in 8th grade, Kgositsile began a rap group called The Backpackerz under the name, “Sly Tendencies.” With him being a fan of artist James Pants, Earl Sweatshirt is just another combination of first name + article of clothing. Back in 2015, Kgositsile tweeted that he was going to change his name, but 3 years down the road and we haven’t seen a dramatic change, besides the rapper going by “randomblackdude” when working as a producer.
Wilburn was given the name, "Future," by fellow Dungeon Family member, G-Rock, because of the potential he saw in the young rapper. He was viewed as the future of the rap group and ultimately the industry. He has now adopted the name, "Future Hendrix," obviously drawing from the legendary guitarist, who Future strives to embody through an 'eclectic spirit.'
Broadus was dubbed “Snoopy” at a young age by his parents due to his appearance (*checks google images*). He added “Doggy Dogg” to his stage name when he became performing for Death Row Records. In 2012, Dogg became Lion after being rechristened by a Rastafarian priest on a trip to Jamaica. He later dropped the Reggae-based album Reincarnated, which did little more than reminding everybody for the millionth time that he loves weed.
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