Los Angeles - Jay Z has dropped the hyphen from his name.
The 99 Problems rapper's label, Roc Nation, has send a missive to various publications warning them the rapper is removing the hyphen between the Jay and the Z of his stage name, in keeping with the artwork on his new album Magna Carta ... Holy Grail.
Joe Levy, editor of Billboard magazine, tweeted: "Breaking: Jay Z has dropped the hyphen from his name, according to his label. I am not kidding. (Wish I was.) Copy editors: take note."
Snoop Lion
Levy's followers pointed out the Picasso Baby hitmaker - real name Shawn Carter - tried to alter his moniker a few years ago, although his Blueprint 3 album in 2009 still carried the name Jay-Z.
Jay - goes by the nicknames Jigga, Jay-Hova, or simply Hova - is not the only rapper to change his name recently. Snoop Dogg reinvented himself as a reggae star last year and adopted the name Snoop Lion, for his Reincarnated album.
Speaking about his name change, he said: "To me, the Lion is the growth of Snoop Dogg - me growing into the next phase of my musical career, the next phase of my life."
The 99 Problems rapper's label, Roc Nation, has send a missive to various publications warning them the rapper is removing the hyphen between the Jay and the Z of his stage name, in keeping with the artwork on his new album Magna Carta ... Holy Grail.
Joe Levy, editor of Billboard magazine, tweeted: "Breaking: Jay Z has dropped the hyphen from his name, according to his label. I am not kidding. (Wish I was.) Copy editors: take note."
Snoop Lion
Levy's followers pointed out the Picasso Baby hitmaker - real name Shawn Carter - tried to alter his moniker a few years ago, although his Blueprint 3 album in 2009 still carried the name Jay-Z.
Jay - goes by the nicknames Jigga, Jay-Hova, or simply Hova - is not the only rapper to change his name recently. Snoop Dogg reinvented himself as a reggae star last year and adopted the name Snoop Lion, for his Reincarnated album.
Speaking about his name change, he said: "To me, the Lion is the growth of Snoop Dogg - me growing into the next phase of my musical career, the next phase of my life."