LEFT, Delly Ranx, formerly known as Delly Ranks. CENTRE,Deejay Lexxus who has added Mr. Lex and the Prince to his stage name. RIGHT, RDX, formerly known as Xsytement.
Teino Evans, Staff Reporter
IT IS easy to pinpoint a number of local artistes who have at some point gone through a transition.
Whether it is a name change, a new look or different outlook on life, many artistes have gone through the evolutionary process.
Conversion to Rastafarianism is commonplace and evident in the influx of Rastafarian artistes on the dancehall/reggae scene and even the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) popular song competition.
TOTAL NAME CHANGE
Over the last five years, however, many dancehall artistes have done either a total name change or added to or subtracted something from their current stage name.
It may be a case where artistes find themselves losing the attention of their fans and therefore have to do something drastic, signifying a new purpose, or it may be a case that the artistes have evolved to a state where they feel that their name has to be modified to reflect the change.
Some of the persons who have gone through name changes are Lexxus, who added Mr. Lex and now The Prince; Delly Ranks, who now spells his name Delly Ranx and Goofy, who is now Mr. G.
Xsytement is now RBX; Frisco Kid is Ancient Monarchy; Macka Diamond was formerly Lady Mackerel and, more recently, Elephant Man has been advertised as the E Man.
OUTGREW NAME
Dancehall group Xsytement has changed not only in numbers, but also name. The group, which started out with nine members was called 'Xsytement gang', but then went down to three members and dropped the 'gang'.
Now, they are down to only two members and have become RDX, which means 'Renegade Delomar X'.
"Well, wi guh pon a tour recently an did a lot of shows in the New York area and met up with some media personalities and people in the music business. Dem seh dem did like wi song dem an ting, but di name neva mesh wid the songs. Also wi outgrow the name, because when people hear Xsytement people a guh expect fi hear a group, cause wi started out wid nine members, then it cut down to three. But now there are only two of us, suh wi work wid di name RDX," Delomar explained.
RBX believes that name changes can actually work in the artiste's favour and despite some initial setbacks point to positive feedback.
"It help market wi, cause the name kinda fit the songs weh wi a do now, like wi song weh name Friday. Right now, wi jus a guh keep it dah way yah, wid jus me an Renegade. Wi a fren, not jus' business partners, an it a work right yah now, suh wi jus a work wid how it is. Mi nuh think it really have a negative impact pon di fans when wi change wi name an wi a guh tek time work it in, like inna some a wi songs wi call up wi name inna di intro. When yuh start out as a young artiste, yuh haffi jus push yuh name to them till it stick," Delomar said.
For Renegade, the setback was already there for Xsytement, because they were below the public radar for a while.
"We were taking time from the public to reconstruct ourselves as artistes. We went through a lot of changes; is not just the name change, but even our whole take on the music business. Name change is not something that everybody will like. It's just a thing that people have to soak in to and get use to, but normally it works for artistes. Suh like Macka Diamond who changed her name from Lady Mackerel to Macka. It worked for her because she came back more sassy and with a different flavour and it worked," Renegade said.
JUST AN ADDITION
Mr. Lex or Lexxus has further modified his name, adding on 'The Prince'.
Persons may not be quite sure as to what is his correct title, but the deejay still answers to all.
Lexxus, however, says that people got it twisted and thought that he had completely changed his name from Lexxus to Mr. Lex, then to The Prince. Not so he says, it was just an addition.
"Everybody get it twisted, I never changed my name. It's just a sub-title, just like how you have Beenie the Doctor, Bounty the Warlord. I'm Lexxus, The Prince. This business is always evolving. This minute I'm Lexxus the jigger man and then The Prince," he said.
According to Lexxus, the addition did not come about because of something spectacular, but because his colleagues started to refer to him as The Prince.
Now he plans to remake his entire image around the name as even his sophomore album (Kingston's Finest), set to be released soon, will portray a different artsite.
"The whole aspect of this album will be different. We took on the whole image of 'The Prince', the photos are different and my lyrics are more mature," Lexxus said.
OUTWARD APPEARANCE
As time goes by, artistes have to change with the times, changing not only their name but also their image. That may have been the motive behind artistes like Delly Ranks and Frisco Kid who underwent some name modifications and both artistes now appear to be following strict Rastafarian beliefs, reflected in their conscious lyrics and outward appearance.
Whatever the reason, name changing appears to be a strategic move that works for most artistes. But just as in any situation, there are always those for whom a change of name or image will not help a dying career.
