Jay-Z officially drops the hyphen from his name, becoming “Jay Z”

By K.B. Tindal
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

Simply a grammatical preference, Jay-Z always used a hyphen in his name, even when fans would be lazy enough not to use it. As recent as The Blueprint 2, Jay-Z referenced the hyphen in his name. While Jay-Z often references it, it did not stop other people from neglecting it.

Jay-Z has outlived all projections, even his own. Initially, Jay-Z only planned to stick around to do Reasonable Doubt and then jump into business mode. Instead, Jay-Z did seven more albums before killing himself off in the “99 Problems” video marking the death of Jay-Z and the rebirth of Shawn Carter before returning unscathed in 2006.

However, Jay-Z did not survive 2013 and it turns out he didn’t survive 2010 to the present either. On both Watch the Throne and Magna Carta Holy Grail, Jay-Z was credited as Jay Z and not Jay-Z. Billboard editor, Joe Levy, addressed this on Twitter, confirming that Jay-Z is now Jay Z.

Follow K.B. Tindal on Twitter @KBTindal.