Drop the Hyphen: Jay-Z Will Now Be Known As Jay Z

The artist formerly known as Jay-Z has no more use for the hyphen in his name. Billboard editor Joe Levy reported last night that "according to his label," Hov will now use Jay Z as his official moniker. Jay hasn't commented on the change.

The artist formerly known as Jay-Z has no more use for the hyphen in his name. Billboard editor Joe Levy reported last night that "according to his label," Hov will now use Jay Z as his official moniker. Jay hasn't commented on the change.

Apparently, he's been using Jay Z for the past three years, and we all just missed it. Complex has a statement from Jay's publicist, Jana Fleischman:

Dude . . . We haven't used the hyphen since 2010 . . . 

You can see on iTunes that his name is stylized without the hyphen. His credit on Kanye-collaboration Watch the Throne, released in 2011, is also missing the hyphen.

So, this "official" change really just affects bloggers and journalists who've been typing his name wrong all along.