When The Notorious B.I.G. started calling himself Frank White, it was his way of crowning himself the best rapper of New York. Frank White was the fictional crime boss in the movie King Of New York, and unsurprisingly, Biggie quickly became the King of Hip-Hop in his own right.
Nicknames and aliases play a big part in entertainment – from sports, to music, the movies and more – people call themselves something and then something else and then something else again, until they make it stick. Not all names are great, but some of them are so indicative of that person’s aura that we begin to call our favorites solely by their nicknames.
Check out our list of the very best nicknames of all time…
Jay Z
Jay Z, also known as the God Emcee, J Hova, or Hova for short. It’s a play on Jehovah and one of the reasons why people think he’s in the Illuminati.
The Notorious B.I.G.
We also know him as Big Poppa, Frank White, or his original name Biggie Smalls, which is from the 1975 movie Let’s Do It Again starring Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby. The movie featured a character by the name of Biggie Smalls, played by Calvin Lockhart. The Original Biggie Smalls.
Method Man
When Meth started calling himself Johnny Blaze, it was so hot that it became a reference for being hot. Remember the mad rapper? Fat Joe even used Method Man’s alias for a collab song that featured the rapper. While the name fits, it all comes from the Wu Tang member’s love for the comic book Ghost Rider.
Nas
Nas is also known as God Son, but he is famous for going from Nasty Nas to Esco to Escobar and then Nastradamus. Nas had many nicknames, but it’s his mafioso style and Nas Escobar that takes the cake for us.
Shawn Michaels
The Heartbreak Kid rose to fame in the WWE; he’s one of the few wrestlers to have the same name for as long as he did. But at the height of his success, he stopped being Shawn Michaels, stopped being the Heartbreak Kid and simply was known as HBK. Guess it’s safe to say that his Sweet Chin Music paid off.
Michael Jackson
MJ was called a lot of things – but nothing stood out more than The King Of Pop.
Kanye to the… Even though we call him Yeezus now, our favorite might be the Louis Vuitton Don. ‘Ye been fresh and he was so fresh, that his nickname let you know about it.
Lil Wayne
Aka Lil Weezy aka Weezy F Baby. Also known as Birdman Jr. Wayne went by a lot of monikers, but it wasn’t until he shared his childhood name with the world that we really got to know the emcee from Nawlins: Lil Tunechi. According to legend, it was the name his family called him as a kid and once he started to share it, his rhymes sounded a little cooler.
Beyonce
Bey’s the only female we recognize on this list because she is Queen B. Her royal reign at the top is so serious that her stans started calling her King Bey. If that wasn’t enough, fans started following Beyonce’s every move to an obsessive point, even referring to her as Beysus.
Eminem
He came into the game as Em and introduced us to Slim Shady, but somehow ended up back as the name on his birth certificate: Marshall Mathers. We love Em and if this “Rap God” wants to be called Marshall or Slim, we’ll call him what he wants.
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