Talk:Yasiin Bey

Real Name Change

In an interview with Peter Rosenberg, Mos Def himself stated that at the end of 2011, he is officially changing his name to Yasiin. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.179.49.66 (talk) 00:28, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Without even getting into how the article might be changed to reflect the future name change, it's premature to do so now because it hasn't happened yet. I therefore reverted the changes to the article.--Bbb23 (talk) 00:37, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

I just watched his appearance today on Colbert Report. He announced the change and performed under the new name on the show. That, and his brief explanation of the change on air, makes it official in my book. So I changed many appearances to "Smith". If you know his work better than me, feel free to revert the instances where "Mos Def" works better in context. I agree with Bbb23 that the "how" is difficult. But I think using his birth name by default makes it more encyclopedic and hopefully easier to read for the layperson. His stage name may change, but his birth name never will. So it's a start. :) ManfrenjenStJohn (talk) 06:44, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

I've backed out all the changes. The only cited source for the name change is the same newspaper story, which says end of this year, not now. Until we have a citable reliable source that he's changed his name now, we can't change the article.--Bbb23 (talk) 00:21, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

So the man saying it himself on television isn't a reliable source? You guys are pretty ridiculous. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.183.71.2 (talk) 02:25, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

I think this should go in the lead. We have A redirect here from Yasiin Bey after all... LazyMapleSunday (talk) 18:13, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

I think the Black Star article should be reverted back to Mos Def.. especially since their one album was released under the name "Mos Def". If you look at the page for Doggy Style it's listed under "Snoop Doggy Dogg" and not "Snoop Dogg", same with "Puff Daddy" and I would hope any other artist that changed their name at a leter date. 72.184.233.201 (talk) 21:35, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

• The article is now protected for a week while you all work this out. Any return to edit warring after protection expires will lead to all offenders being blocked, so please use this time to try and arrive at a consensus on how to incorporate this material. Consider WP:RFC or other forms of WP:DR if needed. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:06, 9 October 2011 (UTC)

Consensus

Here's my view. The article already has a reliably sourced announcement from Mos Def that he intends to change his name in 2012. Until we have a citable, reliable source that he's doing it earlier, we can't change the article at all. When and if the name change actually occurs and that change can be reliably sourced, then we need to discuss how to incorporate the change into the article.

If we can't reach a consensus on this preliminary part (the when, not the how), then I suppose we'll have to take it to some sort of dispute resolution. Although I was the one who requested protection of the article, I consider myself to be one of the editors warned by Beeblebrox, so I'm not going to battle over changes, although I might request protection again.

In the meantime, I will post a message about this on WP:BLPN to see if we can get some more input on the issues.--Bbb23 (talk) 21:14, 9 October 2011 (UTC)

Even if he changes his name, we should not change all previous instances to the new name. Only talking about events from the name change on should use his new name. See Metta World Peace or Lew Alcindor. The change should only happen once it fulfills the WP:COMMONNAME criteria; that is, the sources begin to refer to him by that name, and not just because it has legally happened. hbdragon88 (talk) 06:40, 10 October 2011 (UTC)