Credit: Mikamote

Rappers and changing their names. Those two things have been synonymous over the years as artists grow and change their preferences, but some are more particular than others. Snoop Dogg has covered all grounds, going from Snoop Doggy Dogg to Snoop Lion to Snoop Zilla, with Diddy also flipping between Puff Diddy and P. Diddy.

Kanye West is one of the more recent big names to go through the change, opting to be called “Ye” instead. “[I am] the being formally [sic] known as Kanye West. I am Ye,” he tweeted in 2018, before legally changing his name in 2021.

West filed a petition in August that year citing “personal reasons” for the adjustment, with a Los Angeles judge making it official in October. From that moment on, he was officially Ye, rather than Kanye Omari West. The decision for the change? Religious reasons.

“I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible it means you. So I’m you, I’m us, it’s us,” he said. “[My name] went from Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye – just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused, everything.”

Others have been less dramatic, with Young Jeezy dropping the “young” from his name as he got older, while others have been forced to make the change. The Notorious B.I.G. was forced to change from Biggie Smalls — named after the character from 1975’s Let’s Do It Again movie — after actor Calvin Lockhart filed a lawsuit against the rapper.

Jay-Z’s decision to change his name is arguably one of the most pedantic of them all, with the rapper deciding to simply get rid of the hyphen. Former Billboard editor tweeted in 2013, “Breaking: Jay Z has dropped the hyphen from his name, according to his label. I am not kidding. (Wish I was.) He dropped it a while ago [but] … no one seems to have noticed. Seems change was made on [Watch the Throne]. Didn’t take, though. The hyphen is strong.”

As it turned out, Jay-Z had quietly been using the Jay Z pseudonym for a while, having used the name in materials for The Blueprint 3 in 2009 and liner notes for Watch the Throne, his 2011 album with Kanye West.

During a conversation with Big Boy, Hov put the change down to hyphens no longer being relevant, whilst also referencing the umlaut he often used over the “y” in his name.

“The hyphen was really big back in the day. It’s not useful anymore,” he said. “I had umlauts over one of the letters; I removed that too.” But the story doesn’t end there. In 2017, the hyphen finally returned but with a twist: the name would now be typed in all-caps. The change came just in time for the release of Hov’s 13th studio album, 4:44, signalling a new era for the Roc Nation mogul.

If a tiny name change is what it takes for Jay-Z to release a new album for the first time in seven years, then so be it.