american rapper songwriter dancer and record producer stanley kirk burrell
better known by his stage name m.c hammer grew up in a poor depressed neighborhood with his many
siblings in east oakland california as an adult he would reminisce about how difficult life was
in a drug and crime infested environment he was raised by a single mother after his parents split
up when he was just five years old when asked how he managed to avoid getting caught up in all the
illegal activity everyone around him was doing he chalked it up to the love he had for his mother
and not wanting to disappoint her as a young child to make some extra money
hammer would hustle tickets from the oakland a's baseball players and resell them he was already
familiar with the environment since his older brothers already had jobs working for the team
in addition to his ticket sales he would also put on a dance show in the parking
lot accompanied by his radio one day the team's owner charlie finley happened to be walking by
and took notice of his talon he decided to hire hammer as a clubhouse assistant at the tender age
of nine his work was so impressive it secured him a vice president position in his early teens
baseball also played an integral role in giving hammer his name a's outfielder reggie jackson
noticed how much hammer favored fellow outfielder hank aaron whose nickname
was the hammer after high school hammer began undergraduate classes at a local college but
quickly became discouraged with the experience so he decided to join the military he served
in the navy for a few years until his honorable discharge while there though he teamed up with
a roommate to create a bunch of demos right in their barracks after his military days were over
hammers spent some time as a member of a gospel hip-hop group known as the holy ghost boys he
then borrowed a substantial amount of money from a couple of former oakland a's players to start his
own record label called busted productions that company spawned busting records the independent
label of which hammer was ceo now billing himself as mc hammer for master of ceremonies
he recorded his debut album feel my power and released it independently in 1987 on his own label
purely by the sweat of his brow he accomplished an incredible feat selling over 60 000 copies
hammer's big break would come in 1988 while performing in an oakland nightclub he impressed
a record executive who offered him a multi-album contract with capitol records once signed hammer
reissued his first record this time he titled it let's get it started with additional tracks added
it included the popular singles pump it up turn this mother out they put me in the mix and the
title track hammer's third album titled please hammer don't hurt him was released in february
1990. it included the top 10 hit you can't touch this which sampled rick james super freak
you can't touch this yeah that's how we living and you know can't touch this unfortunately rick would
sue hammer for copyright infringement the suit was settled out of court when hammer agreed to credit
rick as co-composer effectively cutting him in on the millions of dollars the record was earning
this wouldn't be the only time hammer would make an appearance in court over the same issue
follow-up successes included a cover of the shylites have you seen her
and pray the project went on to become the first hip-hop album to earn diamond status
a movie also accompanied the album and was produced in 1990 of the same name
in an interview with maria shriver in the early 90s hammer revealed that he took the ultimate
precaution to protect the asset that started it all by insuring his legs for 10 million dollars
it may have seemed like it but not everything was coming up roses in hammer's career
a critical backlash began over the repetitive nature of his lyrics his clean-cut image and
his perceived over-reliance on sampling hammer was also frequently mocked in songs and music
videos by numerous artists it shouldn't go unsaid that for some individuals their disses were in
response to one apparently levied by hammer first one artist in particular new york-based hip-hop
group third base made things very personal when they called out hammer and his mother
on their debut album the cactus album later they claimed that hammer put out a 50 000 hit
on them he denied doing any such thing despite the criticisms hammer's career continued on an
upward trajectory and he took full advantage of other business opportunities to market
like mattel dolls lunchboxes and other merchandise he was also given his own saturday morning cartoon
called hammerman which he hosted and voiced after publicly dropping the mc from his stage
name hammer released too legit to quit in 1991. the title track would end up being the biggest
hit from the record landing in the top five music videos were produced for all four singles released
from the album but the too legit to quit video in particular featured many celebrity appearances
it's been ranked as one of the most expensive videos ever made the hand motions used within
the video also became very popular at the end of the too legit to quit video after james brown and
liz hammer to obtain the famous glove of michael jackson a silver white sequence glove is shown
on the hand of a michael jackson look-alike doing the too legit to quit hand gesture in 2009 hammer
appeared on the wendy williams show and told the story about a phone call he received from michael
regarding that portion of the video giving his approval and inclusion of it he explained how
michael had seen the video and liked it and both expressed they were fans of one another despite
the album's multi-platinum certification the sales were still only one-third of please hammer don't
hurt him in 1992 the past came back to haunt hammer when a recording artist named kevin
christian filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against him for copyright infringement of his
song oh oh you got the shang hammer would admit in depositions and court documents to getting
the idea for his song here comes the hammer from kevin's song a settlement with the record label
as well as hammer was eventually reached two years later hammer released his fifth album titled the
funky headhunter with his new label giant records to adapt to the changing landscape of hip-hop
this album was a much more aggressive sounding project he even changed his appearance to fit in
with the more popular gangsta rap audience the glittery parachute pants were gone and replaced
by saggy jeans and knit caps the content remained somewhat the same but the sound was very different
resulting in hammer losing favor with fans he also experienced some drama with mtv censors claim that
the music video for the album's first single pumps in a bump depicting hammer in speedos and with
what appeared to be physical confirmation that he was really enjoying himself was too graphic
this led to an alternative video being filmed with hammer fully clothed it's all good was the
second single released and was the most successful hammer took the opportunity on this album to diss
a bunch of rappers such as q-tip red man and run dmc for previous attacks they made against him
the following year hammer using the mc in his name once again released the album inside out the album
sold poorly compared to previous records and as a result giant dropped him from their roster
enter suge knight shook and hammer had already established a relationship dating back to the
late 80s so it was a no-brainer for him to offer hammer a deal hammer signed with death row records
then home to his close friend tupac shakur after tupac's death in 1996 hammer left the label
before his departure though he did complete an album titled too tight that was never released
hammer decided it was time to turn back to his gospel roots rey's pentecostal he strayed from
his christian faith during his success he began a television ministry called mchammer and friends
on the trinity broadcasting network as well as appearing on praise the lord programs
where he went public about his devotion to ministry as an ordained minister then
justice hammer was getting comfortable in his new lane he would file for bankruptcy in 1996.
originally having an estimated net worth of over 30 million dollars according to forbes magazine
speculations about his status first emerged during delays between the two legit to quit
and the funky headhunter albums with hammer having spent much of his money on staff
and personal luxuries such as over a dozen cars and thoroughbred racehorses
hammer was one of the producers for the vh1 biopic too legit the mc hammer story which
aired in december 2001. it became the second highest rated original movie in the history of
vh1 and broadcast simultaneously on bet over the years hammer would find himself achieving
only moderate sales with his next several albums including 1998's family affair 2001's active duty
2004's full blast 2006's look look look and 2009's dance jam the music he became the executive
producer of his own reality show called hammertime which aired on the a e network during the summer
of 2009. hammer continued to occasionally release singles over the past few years the one that
gained the most attention was better run run the song served as a response to another song called
so appalled by kanye west it also features jay-z wrapping a verse referring to hammer's
financial walls in addition to music hammer also continued to tap into a variety of other avenues
such as fashion martial arts and tag in november 2011 hammer was chased back to court
this time by uncle sam the us government filed a lawsuit against him for unpaid taxes
that totaled just under 800 thousand dollars for the years 1996 and 1997 this was also the time
when it was reported that hammer was going through his most difficult financial issues he tried to
assure fans and naysayers showing off proof that the payments had already been made on social media
however the district court ruled against him an interesting tidbit reported in 2012 was that
hammer was allegedly encouraged to marry whitney houston by her father at the super bowl in 1991.
he as well as the entire stadium no doubt had his eyes glued to witness her beauty and talent
on full display as she belted out arguably the best rendition ever of the star-spangled banner
in january 2020 hammer teamed up with cheetos to produce a super bowl commercial celebrating
the 30th anniversary of you can't touch them even though hammer hasn't released a new album in over
a decade he continues to tour regularly even more than music he enjoys investing time in his family
which includes his wife of 36 years stephanie and their children as well as maintaining a very close
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