What name should Snoop adopt next? Snoopadelic, Deputy
Dogg,Snoop Catt, Top Dogg, Snoop the Snip,Snooparama???
He arrived on the world stage 20 years ago in a blaze of
expletives and canine-inspired hip hop slapstick (trailing cloud of marijuana
smoke), asking What's My Motherf**ing Name?
And it seems Calvin Cordozar Broadus jnr – aka Snoop Doggy
Dogg, aka Snoop Dogg, aka Snoop Lion, and now "Snoopzilla" – is still
searching for the answer to his own question.
In fairness Snoop has apparently only changed his name for
one upcoming album, a collaborative project called 7 Days of Funk with
groovester Dam Funk. He was apparently
inspired by funk's bass wizard, Bootsy
Collins, who sometimes calls himself "Bootzilla".
Only last year he changed his name to Snoop Lion after
converting to rastafarianism. The resulting album, Reincarnated, was released
to mixed reviews.
Alter egos are common in hip hop: the late Wu Tang Clang
founder Ol Dirty Bastard (Russell Tyrone Jones) was also known as O.D.B., Ason
Unique, Osirus, The Specialist, Dirt McGirt, Big Baby Jesus and most bizarrely
Ol' Dirty Chinese Restaurant.
Bands change names at the start of their careers more than
they change guitars: the Beach Boys were once the Pendletones; the Beatles were
the Quarrymen; U2 started out as the Hype; and Coldplay began as Pectoralz.
But changing one's recording name mid-career is rare and
usually risky. Terence Trent D'Arby was a budding superstar in the late 1980s.
He changed his name to Sananda Maitreya in 1995 after a series of dreams – and
hasn't had an album or single in the charts since.
Yet Snoop has chopped and changed his brand and managed to
thrive. Arguably it's worked because he's changed so many times it's become a
running joke and is now almost expected. A bit like Puff Daddy, who became
Puffy, then P.Diddy and then Diddy.
Which goes to show – unless you're Snoop Dogg and your
public is expecting it, a name change is usually an attempt to remain hidden.
Or a fast track to obscurity. Just ask Sananda Maitreya.
No comments:
Post a Comment