Since Hip Hop’s genesis, rappers have typically gone under pseudonyms. Sorry to burst your bubble—Kurupt’s real name isn’t Kurupt; it’s Ricardo Brown. Pen names differentiate an artist’s personal life from their professional one, allowing them to retain a semblance of their actual identity. Like Clark Kent did for Superman, pseudonyms give artists an alter ego.
We’ve seen some iconic ones that outfit their host adequately, like Biggie for Christopher Wallace, and we’ve seen plenty of head scratches, like Skinhead Rob for Robert Aston. (It’s okay—you shouldn’t know who the latter is.) Some are more creative than others, some are downright stupid, but most originate from something personal to the musician. That is unless you’re Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino, of course.
The multi-talented Glover is one of entertainment’s most creative minds, responsible for a music career as illustrious his film one—his hit series Atlanta got renewed for a second season; he will be the next Spiderman; he’s going to play Lando Calrissian in the Han Solo movie; and he’ll be Simba in the upcoming The Lion King remake. Yes, the future is bright for Glover. Which still begs the question, how did he come up with Childish Gambino?
Given his impressive creativity, his selection was more basic than a 17-year-old white girl hopping out of daddy’s Range Rover to grab a frappachino. Simply, he went to a Wu-Tang name generator, typed in Donal Glover, and voila! Childish Gambino was born.
This got me thinking. As previously established, most rappers go under pen names. Still, there are a slew of famous artists who use their government names. I think it’s time that we finally give them the pen names that they deserve. Time to head on over to the Wu-Tang name generator, and see what we come up with.
