Branding Yourself As A Rapper
Picking a Rap Name and Sticking To It
What up, Smart Rapper! I’m here to talk to you today about rap names and how important branding is to your success. Picking a rap name is super important – for a number of reasons! Your rap name is going to be how people see you and your image, so you want to choose wisely.
We’ve been running some contests recently and we have been getting tons of submissions from some really talented rappers – but the funniest thing keeps happening.
A lot of rappers are operating under multiple names. I mean having your YouTube as one artist name, then your Instagram as another. You gotta pick one!
You’re never gonna gain fans if people don’t even know what your name is. Also, if they are trying to find you as an unknown or new artist, if they can’t find your social media under the right name, they are probably going to give up.
By confusing the audience, you’re losing new fans.
The same advice goes for changing your rap name. If you change it every other day, nobody is going to be able to keep up.
You can maybe change it once or twice, but you risk losing people the more you change it.
People like confidence, and when you can’t pick a name, it doesn’t say you’re confident in your choices.
In general, rap names are important and hard to pick. If you’re not going with your given name, you want to make sure that your rap name isn’t offensive (where it will be censored and stop you from getting published) or confusing to read or understand.
If it is, you’ll end up explaining your name all the time, which will get tiring. You want people to get it easily.
You also want to pick something that has a vibe that matches yours. If you’re a streamlined artist, maybe don’t choose something overly complicated. You need to make sure people will think of you when they think of the name so they remember it.
Definitely take your time when it comes to choosing your name and make sure you love it before you put it out there publicly.
As we said before, changing your name multiple times and telling people about it will make them take you less seriously. As an up and coming artist, you don’t want that!
Struggling to find or pick a rap name for yourself? Make a list of nicknames people call you, places you lived, brands or products you like, even names you like, and work on combinations from there.
After all, Travis Scott’s name isn’t even Travis. It’s Jacques. Jacques Webster.
Let that sink in. He just picked a more normal name. You can do that too.
It does deserve a lot of thought, but don’t beat yourself up if it’s taking time. You want to be happy with it!
So to sum up, choose a good rap name, don’t change it a lot, and take the whole process seriously! Building a brand and career around a music artists takes years and tons of money over time. Pick something that’s worthy of that kind of attention.
Keep hustling Smart Rappers! See you in the Community!