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Last year we brought you 23 Perplexing Band Names Explained and 18 More Perplexing Band Names Explained, investigating the origins of various head-scratching band and musician names. We included a few rapper names, like 50 Cent, Wu-Tang Clan and Waka Flocka Flame. But so many MCs sport ridiculous monikers consisting of puns, slang and made-up words that we thought it was high time we dedicated a name-origin list specifically to the rappers out there with perplexing names.
Before we jump into it, here are some common things we noticed while researching:
-If you didn't have a childhood nickname, your chances of becoming a rapper are greatly reduced.
-There's a premium on acronyms.
-Despite their generally bizarre names, uncovering rapper name meanings was a much easier endeavor than doing the same for bands.
So without further ado, here are 19 hip-hop names explained.
2 Chainz
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Before we even get into the origins of Tauheed Epps' current stage name, we have to talk about his former name, which is so great and somehow has an origin story that's even greater. He was once known as Tity Boi. Why? He explained to Vibe that it was because he was an only child and thus reaped full breastfeeding benefits. So his entire family and his entire hood referred to him as Tity Boi or some variation. Unfortunately, he wanted a name that was more media-friendly (prudent business decision). He landed on 2 Chainz since he likes jewelry and was wearing two chains in his eighth-grade yearbook photo. But he'll always be Tity Boi in our hearts.
A$AP Rocky
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Head rapper in the A$AP Mob told Thisis50 that A$AP stands for "As Soon As Possible" "Always Strive And Prosper." Each member of the crew has A$AP in front of his name. As for "Rocky", that comes from his first name, Rakim.
Childish Gambino
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Donald Glover came up with his MC name using the Wu-Tang Clan name generator. That is both extremely lazy and extremely inspired.
DMX
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DMX = Dark Man X, a fittingly sinister moniker for a dude whose incredibly gritty (and barky) debut album is called It's Dark And Hell Is Hot.
Drake
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The brooding Canadian brawler's full name is Aubrey Drake Graham, and come on, it's not like he could've gone with Aubrey.
El-P
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According to the New York Times, Jaime Meline's first nickname was Lyrical Punisher, which he sometimes shortened to LP, which then morphed into El Producto, which then morphed into El-P. Symmetry!
Game
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His grandmother gave him the nickname The Game, allegedly because he was game for anything. He adopted the virtually un-Google-able stage name and later took Justin Timberlake's advice from The Social Network and dropped the "The." It's cleaner.
Gucci Mane
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This one has an origin story, but it does nothing to explain the name. Radric Davis lifted the nickname Gucci Mane from his dad. Davis said his grandmother used to call his dad Gucci Mane--and growing up in the south back then, Granny Gucci didn't even know Gucci was an actual thing. It just happened to translate perfectly to hip-hop's current obsession with the designer.
Ice-T
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He adopted this name as a tribute to one of his major influences: author and former pimp Iceberg Slim.
Jay-Z
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Back when he was just a freestyler on the streets, Sean Carter was nicknamed Jazzy. We're not sure why--maybe he's a huge DJ Jazzy Jeff fan? Eventually, he later decided on Jay-Z. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a reference to New York's J/Z subway line.
Kitty Pryde
Kreayshawn
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The LOX
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Not the salmon you put on bagels. First they were called The Warlocks, then shortened it to The LOX, which also serves as an acronym for Living Off Experience. It's too bad, because they probably could've used the publicity boost as people Googled "warlocks" during Charlie Sheen's meltdown.
Puff Daddy/P.Diddy/Diddy
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As a kid, Sean Combs used to huff and puff and get mad, so friends started calling him Puffy. Are you as shocked as we are that it wasn't some lame ode to smoking marijuana? Then Combs wanted to rebrand himself so he changed it to the shortened/slangified version, P. Diddy. But chanting fans were apparently confused on whether to call him "P. Diddy" or just "Diddy", so he made the decision for them and dropped the P.
Snoop Dogg(y Dogg)
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His mom nicknamed him Snoop when he was a kid "because of his appearance," which we're assuming means "because he looks like the cartoon dog Snoopy." Unless she thought he looked like the ultimate snoop Sherlock Holmes?
Tinie Tempah
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In 2001 at age 12, Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (have fun with that one, McKee) saw a video by So Solid Crew and was inspired to come up with a cool name for himself and his pals. He took to the thesaurus (quite a driven pre-teen) and got to "angry" and saw "temper" listed. Thinking that would be too blunt, he added "tiny" to soften the blow. He said, "By playtime, I was Tinie Tempah." Because, ya know, British people talk funny.
Vanilla Ice
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Mr. Ice told the Washington Post that as a child break-dancer, he was the only white kid in his crew. His friends teased him, calling him "Vanilla," which he hated. But as so many stupid nicknames do, it stuck and he added "Ice" to give it a positive spin, as in "cold as ice."
Wiz Khalifa
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Wiz Khalifa has dual inspiration for his name. He told MTV that he always hung around with older guys and was good at everything, so they'd say he's a young wiz. As for Khalifa, his Muslim grandfather gave him that nickname, which means "successor" or "leader" in Arabic.
Yelawolf
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He told RapFix it comes from his dad's Cherokee roots: "yela" representing life, light, fire and power, while "wolf" represents surviving and being a pack leader. Um, that's pretty cool, you guys.
