Rapper drops the hyphen from his name, is mocked in the blogosphere

Jul 19, 2013 10:02 GMT  ·  By

Rapper Jay-Z has a new album out now and, according to Spin magazine, he’s celebrating the release with a brand new name. Well, sort of: he’s dropping the hyphen, says the publication.

Moreover, he’s putting pressure on media outlets to adopt the change as well, even though he’s yet to announce it officially.

“The rapper formerly known as Jay-Z has been known to stylize his name as Jay Z for some time. Now word has trickled down through the powers-that-be that Jay Z is what we're all supposed to be calling him for the foreseeable future,” Spin writes.

“Billboard editor Joe Levy reported the name change last night on Twitter, citing label sources. And Billboard has now adopted that punctuation (or lack thereof) in its articles,” adds the same magazine.

In other words, from today on, we will pronounce Jay Z’s name pretty much the same as before, but will pay closer attention because the hyphen is silent.