On changing your artist name

[super_sen]

I have thought some time about changing my artist name for various reasons (besides getting old ;-) but never really fully approached it and I wanted to get your experience and thoughts on it.
Also I'd like to collect some inspiration here about artists that changed their artist names or personas and whether that changed their life or career in any way.

A first few well-known ones that come to my mind:
Eminem - previously active as M&M - we all know that turned out well
Mos Def - moving to Yasiin Bey for mainly religious reasons as far as I know
Kanye West turning to Ye - besides going crazy...
Snoop Dogg briefling turning into Snoop Lion and back to Dogg lol

Some musicians use various alter egos like e.g. Madlib who also produce music under different personas (Quasimoto, Yesterday's New Quintett,...)
One of my favorite producers flako now releases more rnb-esque music as Dirg Gerner, so even going from beatmaking to singing and shifting genres.
Others shape their style by moving out of a group and transforming also their style of music like e.g. Lauryn Hill.

Beyond HipHop there are be more examples, but I'd say lets at least stick to music:
Cat Stevens > Yusuf Islam
Prince turning into a symbol
Sinead O'Connor > Shuhada Davitt
...

I find it interesting to observe how it sometimes affects the music, style and everything around it when people go thorugh such a change or act as a new persona.


Have you ever thought of changing? Do you have interesting examples in mind or an opinion about it?

 

[JoaGymshoe]

..

Blue Jay was the name i used to go by as a rapper.. coz of liking the bird and my first name initial

when i started producing tracks i started to put on SC about 13 years ago, i thought up this alter ego to refer to, the producer called: JoaGymshoe

coz it was close to my real name and in a pun like manner referred to my occupation working with shoes and orthotics

it became my artist name altogether and i definitely identify with it a lot..

i'll likely never change it .. there's enough ways to break it down for creative use.. like, J, Joa, Gymshoe, Joa G ..

different approaches to highlight different parts of my character.. serious , spiritual, expressing annoyances haha, holding mirrors to people..

mostly having fun .. ( acting awkward )

of course wordplay, puns, rhyme schemes, diff voices and characters come into play.. but that's just inherently me ..


how did Super Sen come about ?

 

[waxramble]

A recent one I can think of was Comethazine becoming Frank Kole lol





@super_sen - do you think changing your name would also make you think about changing any of your particular style or work process (or type of music you'd want to do all together?)

 

[super_sen]

@waxramble wow this is a crazy one I didn’t know about if I‘d change I don’t know yet, whether that would really affect the music or style but it’s interesting to think about it.

At the end it comes down to being yourself I guess and not trying to make something that really isn’t what you are.

@JoaGymshoe thank you for elaborating on this.
My name initially was spelled a bit differently and doesn’t have any deeper meaning, it was a nickname that came up through talking trash with friends watching late night tv ads like 25y ago I also used it as an MC name in some variations over the years and as I got into mainly making beats, it turned into what it is til today.

I have ideas for names closer to my real name but I don’t know whether that change is really worth it and how to approach it. Not that I have a serious legacy but it is music and memories from 10+ years which makes it feel like quite a big step, even though it probably isn’t. I might be overthinking this, that’s also why I thought posting about it might be a good idea.

 

[JoaGymshoe]

@JoaGymshoe thank you for elaborating on this.
My name initially was spelled a bit differently and doesn’t have any deeper meaning, it was a nickname that came up through talking trash with friends watching late night tv ads like 25y ago I also used it as an MC name in some variations over the years and as I got into mainly making beats, it turned into what it is til today.

would be fun to know the previous spellings ..how it evolved..

and you MC'd too ! .. in what language ?