American rapper and businessman Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Corey Carter, has made some changes to his name.
The rapper subtly underwent a name change in preparation for his upcoming reunion with The Roots.
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He added an umlaut to his moniker to read JAŸ-Z on the billing for the annual Roots Picnic in Philadelphia concert on May 30.
Not only that, Jay, whose real name is Shawn Carter, also tweaked his stage name on major music streaming platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal to include the diacritical mark.
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It appears that the name change is the 56-year-old’s way of staying in touch with his, well, roots. The cover art from his earliest records—including his 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt and its breakout singles “Ain’t No N—a,” “Can’t Knock the Hustle” and “Feelin’ It”—featured an umlaut.
This isn’t first time the Beyoncé’s husband has toyed with the punctuation in his name. In 2013, he famously dropped the hyphen from his name.
“The hyphen was really big back in the day. It’s not useful anymore,” he explained in a Big Boy’s Neighborhood interview. “You change with the times.”
“I had umlauts over one of the letters,” the Grammy winner continued. “I removed the umlaut, too.”
However, the hyphen was reintroduced in time for his 2017 album 4:44.
“‘Jay Z’ is now a relic of the past, consigned to the dustbin of history,” a statement issued by his team to Entertainment Weekly read at the time.
“In its place stands JAY-Z, now with the hyphen back in its place and the whole name in all-caps.”
