Some bands or singers name-drop their own name in a song. Presumably* so listeners know who’s performing. I first noticed this in K-pop, but since I became aware of the idea, I hear it in R&B and rap as well. Where did it start? What band or artist did it first? And since I’m guessing it started with informal street rap, when was it first recorded?
*Comments about why they do it are welcome as well.
MCs introducing themselves was a convention in the earliest days of late '70’s Hip-Hop, though not necessarily with the strict phrasing involved in this trope [i.e., “My name is X, and I’m here to say…”]. One example comes in “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang, one of the first rap songs to gain mainstream attention, which begins with: “I am Wonder Mike and I’d like to say ‘Hello.’”
The term seems likely to be related to “Tin Pan Alley,” the area in New York where George (and Ira) worked composing songs. The name “tin pan” appears to specifically refer to the sound of a cheap piano; George was a pianist, while Ira was a lyricist. So, I suspect he was referring to himself.
Very early discs and records almost invariably started with the artist introducing himself and the song: “This is Harry Macdonough performing A Bird In A Gilded Cage” or “Arthur Collins here with the Metropolitan Orchestra singing My Sunflower Sue”.
But those were introductions, and not parts of the songs themselves.
Oh, hell yes. I’m pretty sure Big Bill Broonzy referred to himself by name (“old Bill” or something similar) in a few songs, and Robert Johnson did it in Kind Hearted Woman Blues: “Makes Mister Johnson drink”