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Machine Gun Kelly, whose real name is Colson Baker, has seemed to have changed his stage name to an abbreviation: mgk, NME reported.
The rapper recently changed the names he used on his profiles for both streaming services Spotify and YouTube and social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Those services and that platform now bear the name mgk, the initials to Machine Gun Kelly.
According to First Avenue, Machine Gun Kelly — or just mgk now — got the name “because of my rapid-fire delivery when I was 15 and started doing shows.”
Machine Gun Kelly: By any other name?
He already used mgk as his new artist name when he released his recent single Don't Let Me Go, which dropped on Feb. 21.
In 2023, there had been speculations that he changed his name when a few of Baker's comments as well as online activity made it seem that he had started using the moniker “machine.”
The change came after he was asked by comedic duo Chad and JT during one of his shows to change his name. The comedians held up a sign that said, “Change your name!”
During the show, Baker responded, “I have no idea what that sign means.”
The duo explained in a shout, “We want you to change your name. We want you to take out the ‘Machine Gun' so we don't glorify machine guns. Just take out the ‘Machine Gun.'”
MGK asked the audience for their opinion and they replied with loud cheers.
What's in a name?
Baker would not be the first musical artist to change his name in the middle of his career.
Arguably the most famous name change was Prince's. He change his stage name from Prince to an unpronounceable symbol almost 31 years ago. Since no one could say the symbol, most everyone referred to the artist as TAFKAP — The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.
The most recent name change is that of Kanye West who now goes by the diminutive Ye.
The Dixie Chicks also changed their name to a shorter version to just The Chicks. According to The Atlantic, the word ‘dixie' was made popular “by a blackface minstrel troupe in the 1850 song Dixie's Land,” and the song became the Confederacy's unofficial theme. Methinks this was a much-needed change.
Reasons for change?
Another change made for similar reasons was the band Lady A. They were known as Lady Antebellum when they started out and changed their name for two reasons: another artist was already using it before the band got the name, and the word antebellum is most commonly associated with the slave-owning era South.
Sean Combs has also gone by different names in his career. He used to be called Puffy — as in it was in the middle of his first and last names in quotes. Then he became Puff Daddy. Afterwards, he started using P. Diddy, a nickname his friend the late Biggie Smalls — also a name changer since he was also known as The Notorious B.I.G. — had given him. He again shortened it to Diddy. The most recent change was ‘Love,' but that didn't take.
Cat Steven changed his name to Yusuf Islam when he converted to the religion in the '70s.
You might know him as Snoop Dogg, but he started his career with one more word to his name: Snoop Doggy Dogg. He changed his name when he parted ways with Death Row Records in 1998. He is sometimes also known as Snoop Lion, after he converted to Rastafarianism.
Maybe she took inspiration from Prince but FKA twigs really was known as just twigs early in her career. However, the threat of a lawsuit from the musicians The Twigs put a stop to that so she's been called FKA twigs since 2013.
Machine Gun Kelly's change to mgk doesn't seem like such a big deal now, does it?
