It’s All in the Name: The Importance of Artist Identity

…There’s a barrier between the public image and the personal life, no matter how thin it is. We must remember: Artists are still human.

A$AP. Three 6 Mafia. Raider Klan. Wu-Tang. OFWGKTA. Some of these groups are defunct now, but the mark they left and influence they had is timeless and unforgettable. These groups have a specific identity, and when most fans know exactly who each member is, what they stand for and what their image is. Outside of the groups, each artist still has their own separate identities. For some artists — Frank Ocean, for example — the identity of the group and the artist rarely merge. For others, one may be completely centered around the other, or not related at all. How would Destiny’s Child have looked centered around Kelly Rowland? Would their legacy be the same with or without the change to 3 members with Michelle Williams?

An artist’s identity is built around the persona they have created for themselves as an artist. For some people, this identity is actually the total opposite of how they are in reality and this can be good or bad. This is often framed as an artist just being fake or telling lies they aren’t living. Really, it can be viewed as the person becoming the character that their artist persona is — almost like a form of acting. When Tyler, the Creator was handed a 5-year ban from the United Kingdom in 2015 allegedly due to lyrics from his 2009 mixtape Bastard, he…