HoodCelebrityy Has Changed Her Stage Name
Walking Trophy artist HoodCelebrityy has rebranded to Tina, a stage name derived from her actual name Tina Pinnock.
Chatting it up with fans on Instagram Live this morning, the Jamaican-born artist attributed the new moniker to natural evolution.
“What inspired the name change is growth,” Tina said. “I feel like I’ve grown so much as an artist, as a human – my sound has grown so much… I’m evolving.”
But there also seems to be some industry politics behind her rebranding.
Opting to “keep it real” with her fanbase, Tina shared, “You guys (are) about to go to the next level with me in my career and the next level where I won’t be able to be put in a box, cause I kept it real with y’all. They were trying to keep HoodCelebrityy in a box and for my fans, for people who love and support me and want to see me be at my full potential, HoodCelebrityy did her time. Now it’s Tina to take it to the next level.”
She’s ringing in the new name with a Bounty Killer remix of I’m Back, a bars-packed hardcore tune nestled on Black Shadow’s successful Buzz riddim, which hosted 2001 hits such as Sean Paul’s Gimmie Di Light, Mad Cobra’s Press Trigger, Sizzla’s Pump Up and Capleton’s I Love To See.
She premiered the visuals on Wednesday on her YouTube channel, which still bears the name HoodCelebrityy, but assured fans that all her platforms will soon be updated with her new moniker.
The livestream came following recent posts where Tina bid her former alias farewell. In a Story post on Wednesday, she shared a photo which bore the words “RIP to the old self, you served a great purpose”.
Fans have also noticed the name update on her Instagram page, inspiring insightful interactions.
“Much love Tina,” one supporter wrote. “Glad to see you finally changed your name. No more HoodCelebrityy.”
She responded, “Thank you. It’s official; no more HoodCelebrityy. She did her time, it’s all about Tina now.”
In another post reflecting her 2019 single Inside, she commented in part, “Welcome to the new journey.”
In a 2018 interview on The Breakfast Club, co-host Charlamagne tha God questioned the longevity of the name HoodCelebrityy.
“Yeah, I think longevity is in your craft and I feel like that name has a story behind it,” she said at the time. “The story with me coming from the hood and me really going hard coming from (working at) a sneaker store to actually achieving my goals and feel like I don’t have to change it (the name) to go further because they always say don’t judge a book by its cover, so, if you’re judging me by my name, you’re already going in the wrong direction.”
A woman of St. Catherine soil, Tina relocated to the States when she was 12, later becoming besties with Bronx native and rapper Cardi B. Though she was already writing music and doing freestyles on social media, Tina said she was more focused on supporting Cardi B’s career at the time.
As fate would have it, one day, the Bodak Yellow rapper reposted one of her freestyles which played on Bounty Killer’s Another Level (featuring Baby Cham). It caught the attention of someone on Cardi’s team, signalling the start of her professional music career.
Tina, undoubtedly, got her big break with the 2017 self-affirming anthem Walking Trophy, which toasted to her yard roots while appealing to mainstream audiences. Since then, she has followed up with numbers like Inna Real Life, The Brukwine Breakdown, Bum Pon It, and So Pretty (with Kash Doll).
She is known for hanging with the best of them when it comes to versatility, from the hardcore bars of I’m Back to the sensual feels of Signs and playful punches of Liar, her spin on Burna Boy’s Last Last.