Musiq Soulchild

In explaining the origins of his name, Musiq said, "There were people who knew of me but they didn't really know me; they just knew me as 'that music dude.' So after getting that so much, I was like, 'Just call me Musiq.' It was so fresh to me because if I had to be called anything, I would have wanted to be called Music. That's how much I dug it; when you see me, I want you to automatically think of music."

The nickname Soulchild came from two ideas. He says 'Musiq' is the front man and 'Soulchild' is the idea behind it. He says it's "me as an artist in this generation, representing the traditions and the legacies of the past soul stars."

In 2001, Musiq dropped the "Soulchild" part of his name because he was feeling uninspired, but brought the moniker back in 2007 because he felt that only using, "Musiq" was bad for the music market.