Gnarls Barkley band name meaning

Music project of multi-instrumentalist, DJ and producer Danger Mouse (New York) and rapper / vocalist Cee Lo Green (Atlanta). The duo produces among others neo soul, funk and alternative hip hop. 

Charles Wade Barkley

In American linguistic tradition taboo words are sometimes covered, or names are given a mocking effect, by replacing the first consonant by ‘schm’, after which the original and the modified word are made to rhyme with each other. A musical example is Nilsson Schmilsson. This can also be done using the letter combination gn; examples include Prince Gnarles (Prince Charles) and Bob Gnarley (Bob Marley). 

Danger Mouse and Green applied this technique to change the name of famous basketball player Charles Wade Barkley (born 1963, see photo) into their band name.

Fugees band name meaning

(1994-1997; 2004-2009, US) – Set out as Rap Translators and later going by the name of Tranzlator Crew, the band with home base West Orange, New Jersey eventually became the Fugees.

According to former frontman Wyclef Jean (he is an American of Haitian ancestry) Fugees is a shortened form of refugees: 'Everyone in the United States is a refugee to some degree. No one's culture originated here.'

Babacools band name meaning

Band from Munich specialized in ragga funking. Ragga funking? According to those in the know this is a blend of reggae, mestizo, hip hop and urban.

Regarding the name Babacools: Baba cool (two words) is French for hippie or freak.

Baba cool style