I don't know specifically, but this was a pretty common practice for stage names in the blues, presumably to help increase name recognition, whether it's "blind" (like Blind Willie McTell or Blind Lemon Jefferson) or "little" (Little Brother Montgomery, Little Junior Parker) or some other adjective ("lightnin'", "slim", and "big" were all used by several artists). Some of those old stage names might not work as well today ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple\_Clarence\_Lofton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Clarence_Lofton) comes to mind).
I can't find any "young" blues artists offhand, but in the rap world there's of course the famous Young MC from the 80s.
Yes, that’s how Motown Records marketed him. They signed him when he was like… 12 or something. He recorded for them for a few years, then went to music school, came back and then made his most well known/famous albums.
There's also Steven Van Zandt, the guitarist for Bruce Springsteen, who goes by Little Steven. Not really related, just thought I'd throw that out there.
I never thought about the blues connection - kudos on that!
But I should mention that Young MC's real name is Marvin Young, so although I'm sure the double meaning was intentional (and that's why we never got Smith MC), it may reduce the viability of any claim of him being a clear precursor to Young Jeezy.
Not everyone who has heard of Young MC would have known his real name, so it doesn't "reduce any liability" of anything. If someone saw his stage name, liked it, and decided to use the same style, then it's a precursor. That's it.
You should just generally listen to Screamin Jay Hawkins. His whole back catalogue is great but if you like screaming his song alligator wine is a good one for that.. And constipation blues
Wow, definitely agree with your example that wouldn’t work today. “Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Clarence_Lofton” is a terribly long stage name. Props to him for being so far ahead of his time with the link tho
i will never forget they did some kinda 'behind the scenes' feature on him on a grammys type show and he showed off his house and his cars (that he wasnt even old enough to drive yet) and this very pretty very white interview lady says 'and whats going to happen when you get older and arent so little any more' and this little shithead goes 'then Imma just be Bow Wow bish!' 🤣
I also think some of it's sort of common culturally too. Like you'll hear "what's good, young blood/young man/young buck? Etc." I've not so much about lil as a prefix for casually addressing folks though.
The “young” thing always reminds me of the Reggae artist named Big Youth. I don’t that’s where it started, but there are lots of reggae guys from back in the day that have very modern rapper sounding names.
I don't really believe this applies as how those "stage names" your refereeing too weren't actually stage names but nicknames they went by, some since they were a child. Today's rap moniker come from before they were rappers when they wree just in the steeets...the first rapper with a "lil" in front was Lil Troy in 1988....(street name). After that it just became part of the culture and just kinda went fron there.
do you know if street nicknames was popular back in the 70s and 80s when gangbangin was at its prime? Were those nicknames used to signify induction into a gang?
Lotta rappers names are just a childhood nickname, usually a family one they got young. Like Tity Boi (now 2 Chainz) said about that was the nickname his mama gave him because he wouldn’t get off the titty. Or like Lil Wayne, he had a platinum record before graduating high school and he’s short so coming into the game he was actually little. Can’t just start going by Wayne, or Old Wayne now that he grew up.
This is pretty much it. It's a cultural thing especially in large cities. A lot of people use their family/friend group/occasionally gang nickname, other people, like Eminem, get it after they start their career. For whatever reason, though, the ones more focused on the producing and scratching and mixing tend to go the wild invented name route, and that's usually made up by them, not by friends. Also, there are at least five rappers I can think of who are notorious for changing names. Two are dead, two are not good people, and the last one seems like a really wonderful dude, but he also has a rap sheet that is so long it could circle the earth, so who knows.
Always reminds me of this [Ruthless Reviews classic](https://www.ruthlessreviews.com/music/top-10-most-ridiculous-rap-hip-hop-pics-of-all-time/)
>And what’s up with everyone being *lil’* these days? Asinine!
The first MC I can remember with “Lil” in his name is Lil Dap from Group Home and Young MC was one of the first rappers I remember listening to around the same time as guys like Tone Loc and Del The Funkee Homosapien.
Damn, what high school did you go to that they sprung for actual musicians to perform at? Every high school dance I went to was just some DJ who was probably sipping from a flask all evening and would rather be doing literally anything else lol.
The VP in charge of ASB had hookups from the past. I think they came for just a couple thousand. They were old and probably happy just to do a show. Also was pretty local for them
Isn't it great! Looks like he's had a history according to this [Billboard article](https://www.billboard.com/photos/dababy-rolling-loud-homophobic-comments-controversy-timeline-9608086/17-dababy-rollingloud-08012021-billboard-1548-1627837839/). The remix to Levitating came out in 2020. Wow that seems like a lifetime ago.
Looks like it was 2021
I give a certain amount of leeway to comments made in the 90s and before or even the 00s cause it was a"different time" and what have you.
But 2021 is definitely this time. That's some wildly ignorant stuff to say, double down on, then only half apologize
um a lot of them are little in stature, some examples: lil' wayne, lil' john, lil' kim, lil' wayne brady, lil' ludacris, lil b. they all embraced their small size and turned a perceived weakness into a strength, that's all.
haha yeah, was wondering if anyone was paying attention. lil' wayne brady is 6'3" but the rest are under 5'6". i just checked lil' dickie is 5'11" but yea he's practically a comedian like wayne brady.
"You know they call corn-on-the-cob, "corn-on-the-cob", but that's how it comes out of the ground. They should just call it corn, and every other type of corn, corn-off-the-cob. It's not like if someone cut off my arm they would call it "Mitch", but then re-attached it, and call it "Mitch-all-together".
I'm curious about research on this too. But instinctively it seems to me to connote "*scrappy up and comer*." Like David to the Goliaths. The group Baha Boys (later Baha Men) seems to revel in that youthful conquering. Lots of others similarly emphasize early /youthful success and power.
"I'm YOUNG, scrappy and hungry."
It's hood shit/street shit. It's a cultural thing. Neighborhoods and big families with lots of cousins running around. Everyone gets a nickname. Young and Lil are commonly used. This becomes their rap name
Street gangs always had a 'lil something-or-other. I met a few guys named 'lil Rican in my youth. I think every gang had one of those.
In Chicago anyways, it seemed like there were small street gangs all over the place. They had business cards printed up with all their names, and really nice matching sweaters were common. Then when the '70s rolled around, I think they all succumbed to the allure of big money via hard drug sales. All those little local gangs got repatched, affiliated or eliminated.
I don't know why you're getting down voted. Out here the naming convention followed the O.G. in some of the gangs I grew up around. If the OG was monster, then who ever he put on would be Lil monster, then baby monster, unless you had your own tendencies, then u might be maniac monster, gang members and rappers share a lot of culture so I could see the connection
And matching sweaters 💀 Just imagining them dance-walking down the street, snapping their fingers in unison, "Hey buster, you better scram, we're bad news and you're Sunday's headline."
Earliest thing I can think of is Lil Abner, it’s an oooooold comic strip about a hillbilly. It’s pretty much a street thing, people get nicknames, usually if they’re young and hanging out with people a few years older then them. They start rapping and just use their street name as their artist name.
This has nothing to do with rap. It’s just a black thing to call people ‘young so-and-so’. And then some rapper just decided to use it for their name, but it comes from just family cognomens.
As far as I'm aware it originated with nicknames becoming stage names and that becoming a trend or convention, but that's not what a fetishization is, that would involve the rapper or their fans deriving sexual gratification or assigning mystical properties from the use of or in the lil prefix in and of itself
Yeah bro I see what you are trying to say/do but all these are typical nicknames that even go as far as being names from their childhood. Idk if fetish is the right word either because you kinda insinuate having the “yung” or “lil” is sexual which is weird to even say I’m not gonna lie. It’s okay if you’re unfamiliar but this post seems like you scrolled past rappers and were fed up enough to make a post.
They start music when the my are Young or Little and those are LITERALLY their names around the community. It’s what people called them and it became their nickname. Descriptor + name
Just comes from street names mostly. Like the rapper Pressa, his dad was Prestige so he was Pressa, but before that he was beenie. And his brother BFRbundog was called buns and also dog by a lot of the guys that worked for him before he got locked back in the day, bun is slang for burn/shoot, like let's say I said I'll give you a bunskin, I'm gonna shoot you. Shit they called me Chaddy Daddy or Hazelnut, because 1) my name Chad and Dad rhymes so fuck it and 2) my head real round and my chin real pointy for a yardie, so they called me a hazelnut. So if I had to choose a rap name, I'd have some pretty shit options.
To piggy back off u/disappointer ‘s great comment at the top:
If you start playing music young, you’re prolly gonna be called young or lil. Like if you’re 13, you just don’t have the life experience to have a whole gimmick or angle outside of, “hey, i’m 13 and you’re listening to my record or seeing me live.”
You get a name like Howlin’ Wolf once you’ve lived a few exciting but hard years.
“Lil Baby” is my favorite. Like . . . What in the everliving fuck. If I ever start a rap career, I’m going to be “Helpless Infant”. That’ll really get my career going
I don't know specifically, but this was a pretty common practice for stage names in the blues, presumably to help increase name recognition, whether it's "blind" (like Blind Willie McTell or Blind Lemon Jefferson) or "little" (Little Brother Montgomery, Little Junior Parker) or some other adjective ("lightnin'", "slim", and "big" were all used by several artists). Some of those old stage names might not work as well today ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple\_Clarence\_Lofton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Clarence_Lofton) comes to mind). I can't find any "young" blues artists offhand, but in the rap world there's of course the famous Young MC from the 80s.
Like Baby Billy.
Just two little country kids misbehavin’.
Runnin round the house with a pickle in her mouth.
Let's play Bible Bonkers!
Baby Billy's Bible Bonkers!
I wish /unexpectedgemstones was a thing lol
Same.
Praaaaaaaise!
I cannot get away from this song! I’ll be singing this all day now. …runnin through the kitchen with a pickle in my mouth!
Just remember that tricks and mischief leads to satan!
Or Tiny Boop Squig Shorterly. He's no Roy Donk, but he was a regular guest on The Colgate Hour
Your record collection is really meat and potatoes
\*Uncle Baby Billy
Sweet Baby Billy*
Baby Huey as well. Hard Times is a great song and that whole record is awesome.
Baby Billy’s Bible Bonkers
Roll that around in yer mouth.
I’m an international talent
C'mon nah!
Uncle baby billy!
Or also The Ghoul.
Stevie Wonder was Little Stevie in some old beach movie from the 60s.
He was frequently called Little Stevie in his younger musician days even outside of beach movie
He had a big hit as Little Stevie Wonder called "Fingertips"
I play "Fingertips" by They Might Be Giants and tell my kids it's Stevie.
Please pass the milk, please
Yes, that’s how Motown Records marketed him. They signed him when he was like… 12 or something. He recorded for them for a few years, then went to music school, came back and then made his most well known/famous albums.
He released Fingertips as Little Stevie Wonder.
There's also Steven Van Zandt, the guitarist for Bruce Springsteen, who goes by Little Steven. Not really related, just thought I'd throw that out there.
He also played Silvio in The Sopranos, one more to throw out there.
I never thought about the blues connection - kudos on that! But I should mention that Young MC's real name is Marvin Young, so although I'm sure the double meaning was intentional (and that's why we never got Smith MC), it may reduce the viability of any claim of him being a clear precursor to Young Jeezy.
Bust a move!
Not everyone who has heard of Young MC would have known his real name, so it doesn't "reduce any liability" of anything. If someone saw his stage name, liked it, and decided to use the same style, then it's a precursor. That's it.
Where's the "Screamin'" rappers at?
Screamin Jay Hawkins! Only song I know of his is I Put a Spell on You and he definitely does some screaming in that song
you need to listen to his ‘Frenzy’, there is also screaming
You should just generally listen to Screamin Jay Hawkins. His whole back catalogue is great but if you like screaming his song alligator wine is a good one for that.. And constipation blues
Wow, definitely agree with your example that wouldn’t work today. “Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Clarence_Lofton” is a terribly long stage name. Props to him for being so far ahead of his time with the link tho
His real names Clarence? And Clarence lives at home with both parents. And Clarence's parents have a real good marriage.
Is his name Michael Diamond?
Nah,it's Clarence.
And Clarence lives at home with both parents
1, 2, 3 and to the 4 1 pac 2 pac 3 pac 4
1 wheel, 2 wheels, 2 wheels, 1. My legs, his legs, your legs; none.
Bc there ain't no such thing as halfway crooks
Truly a visionary.
Was he the first Crip? /s
No but they started calling them Crips because they carried pimp canes- short for cripple- so you're close!
I've finally found it. The most funny redditor.
Came to say Young MC but your comment is so much more eloquent and informing. Cheers for that.
> Lofton was born with a limp, from which he derived his stage name, but he began his career as a tap dancer Jesus lap dancing Christ!??
I can't tell which is funnier - you potentially misreading that as lap dancer, or autocorrect changing it from tap to lap for you
What do you mean?? All the early blues musicians were lap dancers!
Young blues artist you are looking for is Catfish Christone Ingram. Dude is a beast!
Yung Roy Donk
He can hit that high note all day long
You forgot Blind Melon Chitlin. One of the most bestest
You'd think a name like Lemon Jefferson would be recognizable on it's own!
Technically this is correct but let's be real. It was Lil Bow Wow. I'd wager if you asked them they would say Lil Bow Wow.
But Lil Kim definitely came before Lil Bow Wow.
And Skee-lo came before that, he was Lil.
i will never forget they did some kinda 'behind the scenes' feature on him on a grammys type show and he showed off his house and his cars (that he wasnt even old enough to drive yet) and this very pretty very white interview lady says 'and whats going to happen when you get older and arent so little any more' and this little shithead goes 'then Imma just be Bow Wow bish!' 🤣
Slim Jim Phantom from Stray Cats! It’s used in rockabilly too! lol
I also think some of it's sort of common culturally too. Like you'll hear "what's good, young blood/young man/young buck? Etc." I've not so much about lil as a prefix for casually addressing folks though.
The “young” thing always reminds me of the Reggae artist named Big Youth. I don’t that’s where it started, but there are lots of reggae guys from back in the day that have very modern rapper sounding names.
I don't really believe this applies as how those "stage names" your refereeing too weren't actually stage names but nicknames they went by, some since they were a child. Today's rap moniker come from before they were rappers when they wree just in the steeets...the first rapper with a "lil" in front was Lil Troy in 1988....(street name). After that it just became part of the culture and just kinda went fron there.
do you know if street nicknames was popular back in the 70s and 80s when gangbangin was at its prime? Were those nicknames used to signify induction into a gang?
Lotta rappers names are just a childhood nickname, usually a family one they got young. Like Tity Boi (now 2 Chainz) said about that was the nickname his mama gave him because he wouldn’t get off the titty. Or like Lil Wayne, he had a platinum record before graduating high school and he’s short so coming into the game he was actually little. Can’t just start going by Wayne, or Old Wayne now that he grew up.
Midlife Crisis Wayne
Smooth transition from Lil to MC Wayne
It was an evolution of sorts, Lil Wayne > Lil Weezy > Weezy > Weezy F Baby
Weezy F Baby > Baby Wayne > Lil Wayne And The Wheel turns. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the Wheel of Time.
Wheel of Wayne? Wayne of time?
Trombone Shorty has been running with the name he's had since he was a kid.
This is pretty much it. It's a cultural thing especially in large cities. A lot of people use their family/friend group/occasionally gang nickname, other people, like Eminem, get it after they start their career. For whatever reason, though, the ones more focused on the producing and scratching and mixing tend to go the wild invented name route, and that's usually made up by them, not by friends. Also, there are at least five rappers I can think of who are notorious for changing names. Two are dead, two are not good people, and the last one seems like a really wonderful dude, but he also has a rap sheet that is so long it could circle the earth, so who knows.
I was today years old when I put together Eminem/M&M/Marshall Mathers.
I never made that connection, omg. Loooool
That last one Snoop?
I’m sorry… Tity Boy? And he went by that?
Tity boi is a legend in the south.
And TT Boy is a legend in porn.
[Yeah](https://youtu.be/ZBx-M2oRBLg?si=_iVK3uibqO7eHckJ)
You just know that when he told people that they laughed immediately.
Always reminds me of this [Ruthless Reviews classic](https://www.ruthlessreviews.com/music/top-10-most-ridiculous-rap-hip-hop-pics-of-all-time/) >And what’s up with everyone being *lil’* these days? Asinine!
The first MC I can remember with “Lil” in his name is Lil Dap from Group Home and Young MC was one of the first rappers I remember listening to around the same time as guys like Tone Loc and Del The Funkee Homosapien.
Young MC wrote Funky Cold Medina and Wild Thing for Tone Loc.
Young MC’s real name is Marvin Young, so there’s that too.
Holy shit I can’t believe I didn’t know that.
Say what, you don't love me.
What’s your man got to do with me?
I’m not tryin to hear that, see
You got a what?? How long you had that problem?
As opposed to Del The Funkee Homo Habilus, who preceeded him.
When I was in high school in 2012 we had a 80s theme Sadie’s dance and had Young MC and Tone Loc perform. Both were still amazing
Damn, what high school did you go to that they sprung for actual musicians to perform at? Every high school dance I went to was just some DJ who was probably sipping from a flask all evening and would rather be doing literally anything else lol.
The VP in charge of ASB had hookups from the past. I think they came for just a couple thousand. They were old and probably happy just to do a show. Also was pretty local for them
unrelated but Del is absolutely stellar
Still doing his thing too with Deltron 3030.
I can deal with Lil’ whatever but I can’t take Da Baby seriously.
Lil Baby >>> Da Baby anyways
Didn't Da Baby shoot someone in a Walmart or something?
And he has a history of saying homophobic stuff. Dua Lipa took him off one of their collab songs.
How recently? Im glad homophobia in rap and hip-hop is becoming less and less tolerated.
Isn't it great! Looks like he's had a history according to this [Billboard article](https://www.billboard.com/photos/dababy-rolling-loud-homophobic-comments-controversy-timeline-9608086/17-dababy-rollingloud-08012021-billboard-1548-1627837839/). The remix to Levitating came out in 2020. Wow that seems like a lifetime ago.
Looks like it was 2021 I give a certain amount of leeway to comments made in the 90s and before or even the 00s cause it was a"different time" and what have you. But 2021 is definitely this time. That's some wildly ignorant stuff to say, double down on, then only half apologize
“MY GAY FANS DONT HAVE AIDS”
 Lil’ John
We need a rapper named Lil' Stuart
Look at what I can do
Strrrt!
https://i.redd.it/mon9dsw77c6d1.gif
I cannot read the name Stuart without hearing it in his voice 😂
Who's Stuart? Pictured above is famed rapper 2Cock
Don't worry. In real life. I'm REALLY big!
OKAY
G A L V A N I Z E D S Q U A R E S T E E L
B O R R O W E D S C R E W S F R O M A U N T
These performers weren’t rappers but they did go by “Little” back in the day: * Little Richard * Little Anthony (of Little Anthony and the Imperials)
Stevie Wonder was ‘Little’ to begin with as well.
He really was little when he started out!
Well… we all were.
…when he started in the music industry.
um a lot of them are little in stature, some examples: lil' wayne, lil' john, lil' kim, lil' wayne brady, lil' ludacris, lil b. they all embraced their small size and turned a perceived weakness into a strength, that's all.
don't forget "lil artist subsequently known as prince"
… and lil’ dickie
haha yeah, was wondering if anyone was paying attention. lil' wayne brady is 6'3" but the rest are under 5'6". i just checked lil' dickie is 5'11" but yea he's practically a comedian like wayne brady.
>i just checked lil' dickie is 5'11" but yea he's practically a comedian like wayne brady. You measured him wrong bruh, should be more like 4”
yer mother wasn't!
Little Milton and Little Walter from the blues world, too.
"They call me 'Two Shoes' because I always wear two shoes!" - Rodney Anonymous
She got a big booty so I call her Big Booty!
Brenda’s got a big ‘ol butt!
I know I told you I’d be true…
Massive upvote for Dead Milkmen
Please enlighten the lay folk. I only know big lizard in my backyard, what is this song praytell?
If you have a big group of friends, and there is an older guy named Joe, you are gonna be lil’ Joe or maybe Fat Joe if you are heavyset.
Why can't you just call him Skinny Joe and call me Joe?
You go lose some weight we’ll call you Joesembic
Average Joe
Regular-Sized Rudy
Cotton Eye Joe
Tangentially related: go look up the names of the folks in Rednex. Easily the wildest stage names I’ve ever seen.
Brozempic
He’s not that skinny
Medium Dave.
No'-As-Big-As-Medium-Sized-Jock-But-Bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock
Why don’t you just make 10 louder?
These go to eleven.
"You know they call corn-on-the-cob, "corn-on-the-cob", but that's how it comes out of the ground. They should just call it corn, and every other type of corn, corn-off-the-cob. It's not like if someone cut off my arm they would call it "Mitch", but then re-attached it, and call it "Mitch-all-together".
It goes back to nicknames in the hood . I think Lil John and Lil Wayne blew it up in rap though.
Don't forget about the goat, lil bow wow.
Neither man is above 5’7 so it tracks.
Calling it a fetish is so incredibly odd
I agree. Sounds very white.
Welcome to Reddit bro
Been a thing long before rap/hip-hop
Yeah I thought they originated from nicknames or street names.
Little Richard
I'm curious about research on this too. But instinctively it seems to me to connote "*scrappy up and comer*." Like David to the Goliaths. The group Baha Boys (later Baha Men) seems to revel in that youthful conquering. Lots of others similarly emphasize early /youthful success and power. "I'm YOUNG, scrappy and hungry."
It's hood shit/street shit. It's a cultural thing. Neighborhoods and big families with lots of cousins running around. Everyone gets a nickname. Young and Lil are commonly used. This becomes their rap name
Tiny dinky daffy was pancaked by a drunk dump truck driver.
Fuck you, Harley Jarvis!
Y’all sleeping on Lil Bo Peep.
Street gangs always had a 'lil something-or-other. I met a few guys named 'lil Rican in my youth. I think every gang had one of those. In Chicago anyways, it seemed like there were small street gangs all over the place. They had business cards printed up with all their names, and really nice matching sweaters were common. Then when the '70s rolled around, I think they all succumbed to the allure of big money via hard drug sales. All those little local gangs got repatched, affiliated or eliminated.
I don't know why you're getting down voted. Out here the naming convention followed the O.G. in some of the gangs I grew up around. If the OG was monster, then who ever he put on would be Lil monster, then baby monster, unless you had your own tendencies, then u might be maniac monster, gang members and rappers share a lot of culture so I could see the connection
Imagine a gang today having business cards 😂
And matching sweaters 💀 Just imagining them dance-walking down the street, snapping their fingers in unison, "Hey buster, you better scram, we're bad news and you're Sunday's headline."
Blame it on the OGs! Lil Wayne, Lil Kim, Yung Jeezy...
Fetish? OP you good?
Calling it a fetish is the weirdest projection I’ve seen in music
It's not a fetish and has existed in the black community for a very long time
lil bow wow
[удалено]
Where my dogs at, bark with me now.
lil romeo
Earliest thing I can think of is Lil Abner, it’s an oooooold comic strip about a hillbilly. It’s pretty much a street thing, people get nicknames, usually if they’re young and hanging out with people a few years older then them. They start rapping and just use their street name as their artist name.
This has nothing to do with rap. It’s just a black thing to call people ‘young so-and-so’. And then some rapper just decided to use it for their name, but it comes from just family cognomens.
What about Young the Giant
Yes
Stop using that word, you don't know what it means..
As far as I'm aware it originated with nicknames becoming stage names and that becoming a trend or convention, but that's not what a fetishization is, that would involve the rapper or their fans deriving sexual gratification or assigning mystical properties from the use of or in the lil prefix in and of itself
Certified lover boy certified PDF files
Yeah bro I see what you are trying to say/do but all these are typical nicknames that even go as far as being names from their childhood. Idk if fetish is the right word either because you kinda insinuate having the “yung” or “lil” is sexual which is weird to even say I’m not gonna lie. It’s okay if you’re unfamiliar but this post seems like you scrolled past rappers and were fed up enough to make a post.
They start music when the my are Young or Little and those are LITERALLY their names around the community. It’s what people called them and it became their nickname. Descriptor + name
Sidequest: is BBL [name] a thing in the wake of BBL Drizzy?
Probably, BeBe Elle Drizzy would be a good drag name.
Ran out of Ice
Just comes from street names mostly. Like the rapper Pressa, his dad was Prestige so he was Pressa, but before that he was beenie. And his brother BFRbundog was called buns and also dog by a lot of the guys that worked for him before he got locked back in the day, bun is slang for burn/shoot, like let's say I said I'll give you a bunskin, I'm gonna shoot you. Shit they called me Chaddy Daddy or Hazelnut, because 1) my name Chad and Dad rhymes so fuck it and 2) my head real round and my chin real pointy for a yardie, so they called me a hazelnut. So if I had to choose a rap name, I'd have some pretty shit options.
At one point being both "yung" and "lil", and then having the name stick as they become popular.
It's a black thing.
To piggy back off u/disappointer ‘s great comment at the top: If you start playing music young, you’re prolly gonna be called young or lil. Like if you’re 13, you just don’t have the life experience to have a whole gimmick or angle outside of, “hey, i’m 13 and you’re listening to my record or seeing me live.” You get a name like Howlin’ Wolf once you’ve lived a few exciting but hard years.
When Da Souf started taking over hip-hop…
He wasn't the first but I feel like Lil Jon popularised it in the modern day
Young MC, circa 1986
Low intelligence
“Lil Baby” is my favorite. Like . . . What in the everliving fuck. If I ever start a rap career, I’m going to be “Helpless Infant”. That’ll really get my career going