Let's not even indulge Laroo's silly midlife-crisis rebrand as Hitta Slim. Instead, let's celebrate that he's found NorCal's two biggest blap-tremendo productions of 2019 thus far and consequently dropped his two best singles since 20 Bricks and Dip Wit' U. Laroo himself remains as serviceable as ever, but these tracks got the proverbial heavy tails like killer whales.
(From YouTube; 2019)
Laroo THH - Dog Lane
(From YouTube; 2019)
3 rules Rappers gotta follow if they expect anyone to take their rebrand seriously: they must flip their whole personality (Zev Luv X to MF DOOM), their O.G moniker must be commercially-doomed when attempting to launch a solo career (Tity Boi to 2 Chainz), or they must change their name early within the first 6 months of their career (WNC Carlos to 70th Street Carlos.)
A comprehensive guide for any rapper thinking about changing their name. Anomaly is Gunplays name change to Don Logan, which didn't work out for all parties even though it's not the most commercially friendly name. Then again, neither is his music, so I don't think anybody in his camp should've had any asperation for rap superstardom.
ReplyDeleteI think one notable exception might be the dropping of a part of the name, for instance Young or Lil'. These words often add little to a moniker and as such, nobody bats an eye when Jeezy dropped the Young, or Lil' Boosie became Boosie Badazz.
That said, I refuse to call Uncle Murda, Young Jeezy or Lil' Boosie Uncle M, Jeezy or Boosie Badazz.
Remember when Killer Mike tried to change his name to Mike Bigga? Total fail 😄
ReplyDelete^ No, but I remember when he befriended El-P and I stopped caring about the guy.
ReplyDeleteRule number four when attempting a rebrand: your new name must not be worse than your O.G name.
ReplyDeleteYay: 2Pac, Big Pun, Bumpy Knuckles,
Nay: Mike Bigga, Snoop Lion, G-Herbo.
Cold 187um - Big hutch was grand. Remember Camp Lo became The Lo?
ReplyDeleteI think the goat misstep might be Young Dro to 2xKrazy lol
Cocoa Bruvas wasnt terrible imo.
Fuck, I completely missed the Young Dro attempt.
ReplyDeleteDo we count The Girl Young Mess Mess as some kind of extra failure considering the new moniker got trashed so quickly and easily?
ReplyDeleteBiggies one was one of the worst as well but he only acknowledged it under protest rly
ReplyDeleteI like Notorious B.I.G. It's grander than Biggie Smalls innit.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Mess' was a failure, but somewhat amusing.
Didn't Killer Mike try to change his name to Maserati Mike at one point too?
ReplyDeleteI don't remember that. Maserati Mike doesn't sound like the sort of rapper who'd work with El-P 😄
ReplyDeleteNotorious B.I.G. sounds like he'd be down w Massive Genius from the sopeanos, sticky fingaz would play him.
ReplyDeletePpl take for granted how good a name Biggie Smalls is. He didn't even get first (or second) dibs on it like.
Ghostface dropping the killah in an attempt at commercial viability (he got a single w Missy) was p hilarious
ReplyDeleteGhostface wasn't so bad because we all just called him that anyway.
ReplyDeleteHow mad must Mess be @ this lad n his success https://youtu.be/G-l5Hn5hUuI
ReplyDelete😄
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