Nick Young has exploded in popularity ever since joining the Lakers last season. He began dating rapper Iggy Azalea and, much like Lamar Odom, he has crossed over from sports into mainstream popularity thanks to this new visibility. Along the way, Young’s alter-ego has taken a life of its own.
Back in 2011, Young gave himself the nickname of “Swaggy P.” Swaggy P has not just become a nickname, but it is also his primary name, a brand and way of life.
Young talked about the Swaggy P. nickname at length in an excellent interview with SI’s Lee Jenkins recently. In Jenkins’ feature, we finally learn the origins of the Swaggy P. nickname. Seriously, I had been wondering about it for years.
Here is Jenkins’ description of how the “Swaggy P.” moniker was born.
In the summer of ’11, Young grew an Afro and wore one long earring, one short. Soulja Boy had a new hit, “Pretty Boy Swag,” and he listened to it on repeat. He thought back to Pretty Tony and Robertson Park and the peace he felt there, especially with a fresh pair of kicks on his feet. This is me, he told himself. I can’t think so much. I can’t be so tight. I have to be me. He decided to launch a Twitter account, under the handle @NickSwagyPYoung. Over the past three years Young has cultivated much mystery around the significance of the letter P, but that summer he told The Washington Post’s Michael Lee, “That’s just, back in my day, they used to call me Pretty Tony, because I was so pretty.”
So there you have it: Swaggy P. is a combination of a Soulja Boy song and the nickname “Pretty Tony,” which was his father’s nickname. Young originally misspelled “Swaggy” on his Twitter account but later corrected it. And now he is officially Swaggy P. and fans love him for it.
Now Swaggy’s only problem is being too popular and too pretty, to the point that it gets him into trouble with his girlfriend.
