LL Cool J or James Todd Smith? Names to make it as a rap artist
One of the most creative areas of naming today is in rap music where the star’s name has to be as inventive as the lyrics…Would Cordazer Calvin Broadus have made it big if he hadn’t changed his name to Snoop Dogg? Would Eminem have been just as famous as Marshall Bruce Mathers? Check out what were the names given to them by their parents before they changed them:
The original names of rap artists
Rap name
|
Real name |
2Pac | Lesane Parish Crooks / Tupac Amaru Shakur |
50 Cent | Curtis James “Boo Boo” Jackson III |
Phife Dawg (A Tribe Called Quest) | Malik Taylor |
Q-Tip (A Tribe Called Quest) | Jonathan Davis |
Aaliyah | Aaliyah Dana Haughton |
Akon | Aliaune Thiam |
Alicia Keys | Alicia Augello Cook |
Ashanti | Ashanti Shaquoya Douglas |
Beyonce | Beyonce Giselle Knowles |
Big Daddy Kane | Antonio Hardy |
Big L | Lamont Coleman |
Big Pun | Christopher Lee Rios |
Biz Markie | Marcel Hall |
Will.I.Am (Black Eyed Peas) | William Adams |
Bizzy Bone | Bryon McCane |
Busta Rhymes | Trevor Tahiem Smith |
Cassie | Cassandra Ventura |
Cee Lo Green | Thomas Callaway |
Chamillionaire | Hakeem Seriki |
Chingy | Howard Bailey Jr. |
CL Smooth | Corey Penn |
Common | Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. |
Coolio | Artis Leon Ivey Jr. |
B-Real (Cypress Hill) | Louis Freeze |
Daz Dillinger | Delmar Arnaud |
Dave (De la Soul) | David Jude Jolicoeur |
Maseo (De la Soul) | Vincent Mason |
Posdnuos (De la Soul) | Kelvin Mercer |
DJ Premier | Curtis Martin |
DJ Quik | David Martin Blake |
DMX | Earl Simmons |
Dr. Dre | Andre Romel Young |
Eazy E | Eric Wright |
Eminem | Marshall Bruce Mathers |
Fabolous | John Jackson |
Fat Joe | Jose Antonio Cartagena |
Fatman Scoop | Isaac Freeman III |
Foxy Brown | Inga Marchand |
Wyclef Jean (Fugees) | Nelust Wyclef Jean |
The Game | Jayceon Taylor |
Genius/GZA | Gary Grice |
Ghostface Killah | Dennis Coles |
Grandmaster Flash | Joseph Saddler |
Ice Cube | Oshea Jackson |
Ice T | Tracy Marrow |
Ja Rule | Jeffrey Atkins |
Jay-Z | Shaun Corey Carter |
Jeru the Damaja | Kendrick Jeru Davis |
Jim Jones | Joseph Jimmy Guillermo Jones II |
Juelz Santana | LaRon James |
Just Blaze | Justin Smith |
Juvenile | Terius Gray |
Kanye West | Kanye West |
Kid Capri | David Anthony Love |
Kid Frost | Arturo Molina Jr. |
Kool Keith | Keith Matthew Thornton |
Kool Moe Dee | Mohandas Dewese |
KRS One | Lawrence Krisna Parker |
Kurtis Blow | Curtis Walker |
Large Professor | William Paul Mitchell |
Lauryn Hill | Lauryn Noel Hill |
Lil Jon | Jonathan Smith |
Lil Kim | Kimberly Denise Jones |
Lil Wayne | Dwayne Michael Carter |
LL Cool J | James Todd Smith |
Lloyd Banks | Christopher Lloyd |
Ludacris | Christopher Brian Bridges |
Lupe Fiasco | Wasalu Muhammad Jaco |
Master P | Percy Miller |
MC Hammer | Stanley Kirk Burrell |
MC Lyte | Lana Moorer |
Missy Elliot | Melissa Elliott |
Havoc (Mobb Deep) | Kejuan Muchita |
Prodigy (Mobb Deep) | Albert Johnson |
Mos Def | Dante Terrell “Beze” Smith |
Nas | Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones |
Nate Dogg | Nathaniel Dwayne Hale |
Ne-Yo | Shaffer Chimere Smith |
Nelly | Cornell Haynes Jr. |
N.O.R.E. | Victor Santiago Jr. |
Notorious B.I.G. | Christopher Wallace |
Andre 3000 (Outkast) | Andre Lauren Benjamin |
Big Boi (Outkast) | Antwan Andre Patton |
Pete Rock | Peter Phillips |
Pitbull | Armando Christian Perez |
Chuck D (Public Enemy) | Carlton Ridenhour |
Flavor Flav (Public Enemy) | William Jonathan Drayton, Jr |
Puff Daddy aka Diddy | Sean John Combs |
Queen Latifah | Dana Owens |
R Kelly | Robert Sylvester Kelly |
Rah Digga | Rashia Fisher |
Rakim | William Griffin |
Redman | Reggie Noble |
Roxanne Shante | Lolita Shante Gooden |
DMC (Run DMC) | Darryl McDaniels |
Jam Master Jay (Run DMC) | Jason William Mizell |
Run (Run DMC) | Joseph Simmons |
Scarface | Bradley Terrance Jordan |
Sean Paul | Sean Paul Henriques |
Sir Mix-a-lot | Anthony Ray |
Slick Rick | Ricky Walters |
Snoop Dogg | Cordazer Calvin Broadus |
T.I. | Clifford Harris Jr. |
Talib Kweli | Talib Kweli Greene |
Black Thought (The Roots) | Tariq Luqmaan Trotter |
Timbaland | Tim Mosley |
Tone Loc | Anthony Terrell Smith |
Trick Daddy | Maurice Young |
Trina | Katrina Laverne Taylor |
Twista | Carl Mitchell |
Warren G | Warren Griffin |
Will Smith | Willard Christopher Smith Jr. |
Inspectah Deck (Wu tang clan) | Jason Hunter |
Masta Killa (Wu tang clan) | Jamal Turner |
Method Man (Wu tang clan) | Clifford Smith |
ODB (Wu tang clan) | Russel Tyrone Jones |
Raekwon the chef (Wu tang clan) | Corey Woods |
RZA | Robert Fitzgerald Diggs |
U God (Wu tang clan) | Lamont Harris |
Xzibit | Alvin Joyner |
Young Jeezy | Jay Jenkins |