Like a proud dad at graduation, it's hard to believe our boy Young Jeezy is all grown up. Who are we kidding, he's been a grown ass man since he first stepped into the game. But with the release of the lead single from Thug Motivation 103, "Lose My Mind," he's officially dropped the "Young" and will henceforth be known simply as Jeezy.
While Jeezy's change isn't much to process, many before him have made similar moves in an attempt to distance themselves from their youth. Artists from 60's soul legends The Rascals to Kidz Bop legend Bow Wow have all dropped a prefix in the name of growing up. And while Hov may be "Forever Young," and Lil Wayne will always be Baby's baby, here's a list of some more artists who changed their names as they matured...
Lil Romeo/Romeo
Name Change: 2007
• The pride of Master P's pee-pee dropped the "lil" as soon as he turned 18 in 2007. In the time since he's dropped two albums, acted in 5 movies and hi-jacked one basketball scholarship to USC.
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The Young Rascals/The Rascals
Name Change: 1968
• The "People Got To Be Free" singers opted to change their name to The Young Rascals from just The Rascals when the harmonica wielding Borrah Minnevitch and Johnny Puleo of the Harmonica Rascals got wind of them. They'd ditch the "Young" a few short years later when they also decided to stop performing in the above pictured "Little Lord Fauntleroy" outfits. Good calls all around.
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Baby Cham/Cham
Name Change: 2005
• An established Jamaican dancehall deejay well before his "Ghetto Story" hit here in the states, Cham clarified that dropping the "Baby" was split of his musical personas, a baby-less Cham insinuating a more serious artist and that ladies could still call him Baby Cham if they wanted.
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Lil Zane/Zane
Name Change: 2003
• Zane, who like the majority of this list continued to be little in stature as he attempted to distance himself from his name signifier, has gone by just his first name since his sophomore album in '03. He would, however, go on to release a third album in 2008 in which the album's cover reclaimed his lil-ness.
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Immature/IMx
Name Change: 1999
• As Immature, the group found national fame as a hip hop successor to other kiddie outfits like Another Bad Creation. Though Immature's first album included a song called "Mom's Illin," in '99 they'd claim that "Immature" no longer described them as people or musicians, changing their name to IMx in what would later be revealed as a clever ploy to get people to ignore them all together.
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Lil Vicious/Don Vicious
Name Change: 2000s
• As a Brooklyn deejay, likkle Vicious was light years ahead of his time with "Freaks," featuring Doug E. Fresh (throw it on in party today and see what happens). He didn't release anything after his debut album in 1994 and though he'll pop up sporadically for "old school" showcases, it takes far more than a name change to be a real don. Just ask Ninjaman.
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Lil Fizz/Fizz
Name Change: 2010
• As one fourth of B2K, Lil Fizz was known primarily as the one with the "good hair." As one half of Fizz & Boog, who are themselves one half of B2K, Fizz is pretty much just not known.
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Lil Malik/Mr. Malik/Emperor Malik, etc.
Name Change: 1996
• Lil Malik was one half of Atlanta kiddie rap group and Dallas Austin brainchild, Illegal. He had a bit of a solo hit with "Malik Goes On" after the group disbanded and as Snoop Dogg's cousin, ended up working on Doggystyle and Warren G's Regulate...G Funk Era. Some years later he started calling himself Hershey Heffner.
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Lil Bow Wow/Bow Wow
Name Change: 2002
• The recent Cash Money Records signeee dropped the "Lil" from his name way back in 02 at the tender age of 15. "I changed my name because I'm getting older now and it's too many Lil's," he'd say. We would've been cool if he kept the name and just stopped rapping.
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