Stage Name - Zach Sherwin

If a rocket tried to launch on its own, it couldn’t do it

It’s propelled into orbit by boosters attached to it

These are called «stages,» and when their fuel’s exhausted

The rocket keeps going, but the stage falls off it

Now I need your attention like a tourist attraction

'Cause I’m making an announcement, like «folks, it’s the captain»

As of now it’s official, like a stage disattachin'

I am finished with the stage name «MC Mr. Napkins

Look, I needed that name to rock the stage

At an earlier stage of my career

But now it’s like a used-up stage on a rocket ship

And it’s time to let it fall away and disappear

My stage name, my stage name

I’m saying goodbye to my stage name

I will keep writing rhymes hot enough to set the page aflame

But I’m saying goodbye to my stage name

When I began performing in my old Cambridge, Massachusetts haunts

I had all these gimmicks, bells and whistles, and accoutrements

A huge curly ponytail, voluminous locks

A special coat, a bandanna, and the old-school-est, boomin'-est box

With which I’d play my instrumentals and tracks

I would rap wearing batting gloves with N’s on the back

These props helped me stand out, and they got me in character

Would rapping have been scarier without all that there?

For sure

But as time passed, and the stage fright receded

I dropped the props — they were no longer quite needed —

And that’s how the name feels now, I’m not mad that I had it

I’ve just outgrown it, and I’m ready to shed it and move past it

'Cause at best it feels neutral, but at worst I feel it makes people dismiss me

As another wacky comedy rap goofball

And on the one hand, who cares?

But on the other, let’s be honest:

It’s provoked some negative responses

Like when a club booker said she «hated it»

Or when my friend asked me to open a show

But then the promoter said «no» when my friend told him about my alias

Or how I felt a painful, shameful twinge

When my uncle, who I love, said that when he heard the name it made him cringe

That sucked, It stung and troubled me

But I didn’t buckle or knuckle under, I stuck to my guns stubbornly

They couldn’t make me quit or fire me

I’m retiring the name and this decision’s mine entirely

So look up in the sky and see me flyin' even higher

Desist from rappin'?

That’s not a thing I wish to happen, it’s the passion

Don’t think the rocket ship’s a-crashin'

I’m just forging forward as Zach Sherwin, not MC Mr. Napkins

My stage name, my stage name

I’m saying goodbye to my stage name

My stage name, my stage name

I’m saying goodbye to my stage name

My stage name, my stage name

I’m saying goodbye to my stage name

I will never stop the hip-hop

That will always stay the same

But I’m saying goodbye to my stage name

I had to Switchitup, of that fact I became certain

And I can feel my rocket’s crackly flame burnin'

I used to be the Mr. Napkins-renamed person

Now, I’m just Zachary James Sherwin