Nigerian artistes who changed their stage names and why

Nigerian singer Daniel Benson, widely known as Buju announced a change of name yesterday. According to the 23-year-old, he had to adopt his new name BNXN due to copyright issues that may stem from Jamaican music legend, Mark Anthony Myrie professionally known as Buju Banton.

BNXN

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Perhaps, BNXN realized the change will be safer at this standpoint in his career.

‘Buju Banton is trademarked, to avoid lawsuits and all, the change was needed.’ A source told Within Nigeria.

Well, Buju won’t be the first music star to change his name. We have had top acts like Wizkid, Tuface, Kizz Daniel, and more change their names due to contracts or copyrights issues as it were.

Below are stars who changed their names and the reason why the change had to be done

Tuface Idibia

Popular Nigerian songer, Innocent Idibia adopted his stage name, 2face (Tuface in 1996). He explained that the thought behind the adoption is to seperate is personal life from his business.

In 2016,  2face Idibia who is now known as 2 Baba explains why he is changed his name.

Popular Nigerian musician 2face Idibia, 46, now goes by the name 2baba. The iconic singer announced the change of his name this January.

He broke the news on his Twitter account;

In a radio interview at Wazobia FM 2baba reveals why he decided to change his moniker.

Asked about his recent official name change, he pointed out that he is still the same person; Innocent Idibia.

He said that the change of name would probably not come as a surprise because a lot of people have been calling him ‘2Baba’ for a long time now. He further said that it was only right to officially adopt the name 2Baba as he is now more mature, a “Baba” (father) and also chief (Tafidan Kudandan in Kaduna).

Wizkid

Nigerian singer, Wizkid has been using Starboy as his moniker since he left Banky’s EME. The singer was on a collision course with US-based Canadian singer, Weeknd after the singer publicly used the name is his 2016 album, Starboy.

Since signing his mega-deal with Sony, Wizkid has been cautious with the songs released under the “Wizkid” moniker as a lot of his releases have been geared towards cracking the American market. The difference between Wizkid and Starboy is that each persona caters to two entirely different audiences, as evident in his SoundMan project and newer release, Smile.

In conclusion, Wizkid and Starboy are both the same and, at the same time, entirely different — it’s the same man releasing the music but with different markets and end-results in mind.

When next you hear a Wizkid or Starboy release, you should know the reason behind the release and the audience they cater to.

Kizz Daniel

Nigerian artist born Daniel Anidugbe has been forced to change his name from ‘Kiss Daniel’ to ‘Kizz Daniel,’ following a pending court case. … It is alleged that his former record label, G-Worldwide, owns the stage name ‘Kiss Daniel’ and due to rights, the artist cannot perform under the name.

Marketing experts will say rebranding is as costly as brand activation. These stars had little or no repercussions to them changing their brand name but it is less cheaper to have a brand one can retain for long while hoping not to get into problems that will warrant a change