The Top 5 Worst Name Changes In Rap

Editor’s note: The views expressed inside this editorial aren’t necessarily the views of AllHipHop.com or its employees.The name change. It is the ultimate form of reinvention. Artists have long held variety of monikers to seemingly symbolize changes in persona or accentuate progress. Prince even took it a step farther and made his name an unpronounceable […]

Editor’s note: The

views expressed inside this editorial aren’t necessarily the views of

AllHipHop.com or its employees.The name change. It is the ultimate form of reinvention. Artists have long held variety of monikers to seemingly symbolize changes in

persona or accentuate progress. Prince even took it a step farther and made his

name an unpronounceable symbol, deemed “The Artist.” Hip-Hop heads,

by and large, have dramatically change their government names into these

otherworldly personalities to begin with. But, taking things further, artists

change their entertainment names to change their entertainment personas. And

some change for no apparent reason. Oh yes…it is deep.

Some of these changes are preferred and others…not so

good. Here are the good name changes and the bad moniker changes are coming up tomorrow.

1) The Game to Game

The Game has been around for quite some time and he’s firmly

entrenched in the game. Even his logo is appeasing to the eye at this point.

So, point was he trying to make when he changed his name and dropped

“The” from Game? The Game never gave a reason for dropping

“the” from his name and the Compton native has opted to leave us

hanging. We need a reason and we need it bad.2) Lil Bow Wow to Bow Wow

Why? That’s what I said when Lil Bow Wow dropped the

“lil.” Think about it. Lil Bow Wow was started as a tiny tot on the

Arsenio Hall show and since then, he’s grown a lot. No doubt. But, somewhere

along the line, he physically actually stopped growing in height. He really

did! He’s not getting any taller. In an era, where “lil” is so

popular, why would one of the founders of the popularity just drop it? He’s

still little and, as far as I am concerned, he’s always be LIL Bow Wow!

3) Puffy Daddy to P. Diddy

We really like Puffy, didn’t we? We felt like we knew Puff.

He was the dude that we grew up with and saw build an empire from nothing. This

P. Diddy dude was somebody that seemed a bit confused. He didn’t have The

Notorious B.I.G., Craig Mack and some of the more powerful stars of Bad Boy’s

early era. Simply put, Puffy Daddy > P. Diddy.

4) MC Hammer to Hammer

Hammer was the precursor to all this mess. Don’t get it

messed up, Hammer is beloved around these parts, but he must be called out on

this one! I took it personal when he dropped the “MC” from his name,

especially after selling zillions of records! As a die-hard Hip-Hop head, I felt

he was disassociating himself from Hip-Hop in search of greener pastures in

Hollywood. Fortunately. Hammer didn’t hurt us too much and he re-assumed the

“MC.” Ever since then, I’ve been one happy camper.5) Biggie Smalls to The Notorious B.I.G.

I’m still looking for the j####### that owned the rights to

the name Biggie Smalls. That is the reason why Christopher Wallace was forced

to adopt the name The Notorious B.I.G. Clearly, that bum was unable to stop us

from saying “Biggie Smalls is the illest,” but still… At the end of

the day, there is only one Biggie Smalls and I’ve gotten used to The Notorious,

but I wouldn’t mind giving that other dude a knuckle sandwich.