Why Blak Ryno Shouldn’t Change His Name

Dubbed himself the dancehall stinger, Blak Ryno departure from Portmore Empire was one of the biggest surprises in Dancehall this year. Since the deejay abruptly left the Empire, Jamaicans home and abroad are ask the question why. But the one thing that Ryno did that many believe was not the wisest was to change his name to Ryno Di Stinger.

In March of this year (2010) the former Gaza member released a statement addressing his name change. See an excerpt of the statement:

Romain Odden Anderson also known as Blak Ryno would like to inform the public that he will be moving on with his music career under the name “Ryno di Stinger”. He would also like to establish that his departure from the Portmore Empire was an act of his maturity and professionalism … He is stronger than ever as he has held himself to high musical standards which have and will continue to yield great results … This Syndicate brags the name “Garrison” as they are talented artist from prominent non-residential areas in Jamaica. They are musically competent and thus they strive to be successful.

Urban Islandz and most of Ryno fans believes this is poor judgment on his part, for a number of reasons. Six months since the name change, Ryno is still being called Blak Ryno or just Ryno for short, in the dancehall community. This is the first clear indication that a name change would not be the best idea for an already well known artist. History clearly shows that it can be a lengthy and annoying process to get a seasoned artist new identity out to fans.

Several big known artists change their name for various reasons, some well known ones include Yogi to Courtney John, Assassin to Agent Sasco and even more well known stars like Beyonce who attempted to change her name to Sasha Fierce. You can take notes from all these stars that it is a tedious and expensive process to get fans use to an artist new identity. Some artists spend millions to market their new name and still sometimes it doesn’t stick.

On the other hand, some artists had no choice but to change their name for a number of reasons. Some of them names were just not suitable to begin with; some change it to reflect their alter ego like Assassin did, while some change their names because of trademark reasons. We suspect Blak Ryno, as well as, other Portmore Empire artists maybe embroiled in some trademark issues why all of them that left the label modify their musical identity.

Additionally, we think Ryno Di Stinger is too long and is somewhat not catchy like Blak Ryno. From a marketing standpoint maybe he should have just called himself “Ryno” like most dancehall fans do, or “Di Stinger” to make it shorter and catchier.

Now we don’t know the real reason why Ryno change his name to “Ryno Di Stinger” but as per request from our readers, we decided to post our two cent on the issue. We feel that it is not the best choice.

We want to hear your thoughts below.

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