MC Hammer
Stanley Kirk Burrell, better known by his stage name MC Hammer, is an American rapper and dancer, known for hit songs such as "U Can't Touch This", "2 Legit 2 Quit" and "Pumps and a Bump", flashy dance movements, extravagant choreography, and his namesake Hammer pants. Remembered for a rapid rise to fame, Hammer has also been an entrepreneur and celebrity spokesperson. A multi-award winner, he is considered a "forefather" and pioneering innovator of pop rap.
Born and raised in Oakland, California, Hammer served three years in the United States Navy before independently releasing his debut album Feel My Power in 1986. After signing a contract with Capitol Records, Hammer released his second album Let's Get It Started in 1988, which became his first multi-platinum hit. Hammer became the first hip hop artist to achieve diamond status with his next album Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em, helping him become one of the most prominent media celebrities of the early 1990s. After being labeled a sellout by the changing landscape of hip hop music which led to declining record sales for his fourth album, Too Legit To Quit, Hammer unsuccessfully attempted to appeal to the rise of gangsta rap with his next album, The Funky Headhunter. However, due to commercial overexposure, Hammer's popularity waned by the mid-1990s, which led to a highly publicized bankruptcy beginning in 1996. He has since released seven more albums, in addition to multiple songs after 2010.
Along with a Mattel doll and other merchandise, Hammer starred in a Saturday-morning cartoon called Hammerman in 1991. He became an ordained preacher during the late 1990s and hosted MC Hammer and Friends, a Christian ministry program on TBN. Hammer was also a dance judge on Dance Fever in 2003, was the co-creator of the dance website DanceJam.com, and was executive producer of his own reality show titled Hammertime.
Throughout his career, Hammer has managed his own recording business as a record label CEO. As a result, Hammer has created and produced his own acts/music including Ho Frat Hoo!, Oaktown's 3.5.7, Special Generation, Analise, DRS, B Angie B, Gentry Kozia and [|Oakland Fight Club]. A part of additional record labels, he has associated, collaborated and recorded with Psy, VMF, Tupac Shakur, Teddy Riley, Felton Pilate, Tha Dogg Pound, The Whole 9, The Hines Brother, Deion Sanders, Big Daddy Kane, BeBe & CeCe Winans and Jon Gibson. Hammer signed with Suge Knight's Death Row Records in 1995.
BET ranked Hammer as the No. 7 "Best Dancer of All Time". Vibes "The Best Rapper Ever Tournament" declared him the 17th favorite of all-time during the first round. He continues to perform concerts at music venues and appears in television advertisements, along with participating in social media and ministry/outreach functions. Hammer is also active in community and sports activities, being interviewed locally and nationally.
Early life and education
Stanley Kirk Burrell was born in Oakland, California, on March 30, 1962. His father was a professional poker player and gambling casino manager, as well as a warehouse supervisor. Hammer grew up poor with his mother and eight siblings in a small apartment in East Oakland. He recalled that six children were crammed into a three-bedroom housing project apartment. The Burrells would frequent thoroughbred horse races, eventually becoming [|owners and winners] of several graded stakes.In the Oakland Coliseum parking lot, the young Burrell would sell stray baseballs and dance accompanied by a beatboxer. Oakland Athletics team owner Charlie Finley saw the 11-year-old doing splits and hired Burrell as a clubhouse assistant and batboy as a result of his energy and flair. Burrell served as a "batboy" with the team from 1973 to 1980. In 2010, Hammer discussed his lifelong involvement with athletes on ESPN's First Take as well as explained that his brother Louis Burrell Jr. was actually the batboy while his job was to take calls and do "play-by-plays" for the A's absentee owner during every summer game. The colorful Finley, who lived in Chicago, used the child as his "eyes and ears". Reggie Jackson, in describing Burrell's role for Finley, took credit for his nickname:
Team players, including Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Pedro García, also dubbed Burrell "Little Hammer" due to his resemblance to Aaron. Ron Bergman, at the time an Oakland Tribune writer who covered the A's, recalled that: He was an informant in the clubhouse, an informant for Charlie, and he got the nickname "Pipeline". According to Hammer:
Burrell acquired the nickname "MC" for being a "master of ceremonies", which he used when he began performing at various clubs while on the road with the A's, and eventually in the military. Hammer, who played second base in high school, dreamed of being a professional baseball player but did not make the final cut at a San Francisco Giants tryout. However, he has been a participant and a player in the annual Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game, wearing an A's cap to represent Oakland.
Burrell went on to graduate from McClymonds High School in Oakland in 1980 and took undergraduate classes in communications. Discouraged by his studies at a local college and failing to win a place in a professional baseball organization, Burrell joined the United States Navy. He served with PATRON FOUR SEVEN of NAS Moffett Field in Mountain View, California, as a petty officer third class aviation storekeeper, until his honorable discharge after three years.
Music and entertainment career
Before Hammer's successful music career and "rags-to-riches-to-rags-and-back saga", Burrell formed a [|Christian rap group] with singer and musician Jon Gibson known as the Holy Ghost Boy. Hammer and Tramaine Hawkins performed with Gibson's band, in concerts at various venues such as the Beverly Theatre in Beverly Hills. Some early songs produced were "Word", "B-Boy Chill" and "Stupid Def Yal". Hammer also produced "Son of the King" during this time, releasing it on his debut album Feel My Power, as well as the re-released version Let's Get It Started. Additionally, "The Wall" featured Hammer, which was later released on Gibson's album Change of Heart. This was CCM's first rap hit by a blue-eyed soul singer and/or duo.In addition to later remixes of early releases, Hammer produced and recorded many rap songs that were never made public, yet are now available on the Internet. Through his record labels such as Bust It Records, Oaktown Records and Full Blast—Hammer has introduced, signed and/or produced new talent including: Oaktown's 3.5.7, Ho Frat Hoo!, the vocal quintet Special Generation, Analise, James Greer, One Cause One Effect, B Angie B, The Stooge Playaz, DASIT as seen on Ego Trip's The Rapper Show, Teabag, Common Unity, Geeman and Pleasure Ellis. At around age 12, Oakland native Keyshia Cole recorded with Hammer and sought career advice from him.
''Feel My Power'' (1986)
In the mid-1980s, while rapping in small venues and after a record deal went sour, Hammer borrowed US$20,000 each from former Oakland A's players Mike Davis and Dwayne Murphy to start an independent record label business. As the CEO of Bust It Productions, Hammer kept the company going by selling records from his basement and car. Bust It Records spawned Bustin' Records, and collectively the companies had more than 100 employees. Recording singles and selling them out of the trunk of his car, he marketed himself relentlessly. Coupled with his dance abilities, Hammer's style was unique at the time.Now billing himself as "MC Hammer", he recorded songs for his debut album Feel My Power in 1986. It was originally released on Hammer's independent label, Bustin' Records, and produced by Felton Pilate of Con Funk Shun. It sold over 60,000 copies and was distributed by City Hall Records. Hammer released singles from the album, including "Ring 'Em" in 1987. Largely on the strength of tireless street marketing by Hammer and his wife, in addition to continuous radio play, it achieved considerable popularity at dance clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area. In spring 1988, Tony Valera, played the track "Let's Get It Started" in his mix-shows. The track also gained popularity in nightclubs. Hammer declared he was "second to none from Doug E. Fresh, LL Cool J or DJ Run" within the song. He would continue to call out other East Coast rappers in future projects as well.
Heartened by his rising prospects, Hammer launched into seven-day-a-week rehearsals with the growing troupe of dancers, musicians and backup vocalists he had hired. It was Hammer's stage show and his infectious stage presence that led to his big break in 1988 while performing in an Oakland club. There, Hammer impressed a record executive who "didn't know who he was, but knew he was somebody", according to the New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. Though Hammer had previously received and declined offers from major record labels before, he agreed to a multi-album contract with Capitol Records with a $1,750,000 advance. It did not take long for Capitol to recoup its investment.
''Let's Get It Started'' (1988)
Once signed to Capitol Records, Hammer re-issued his first record with additional tracks added, which sold over two million copies. "Pump It Up", "Turn This Mutha Out", "Let's Get It Started" and "They Put Me in the Mix" were the most popular singles from this album. Not entirely satisfied with this first multi-platinum success, Hammer's music underwent a metamorphosis, shifting from the standard rap format. "I decided the next album would be more musical," he said at the time. Purists chastised him for being more dancer than rapper. Sitting in a leopard-print bodysuit before a concert, he defended his style: "People were ready for something different from the traditional rap style. The fact that the record has reached this level indicates the genre is growing."Hammer was close friends with Arsenio Hall, and as such, Hammer was first invited to perform the song "U Can't Touch This", prior to its release, on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1989. He also performed "Dancing Machine" which later appeared in the Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em: The Movie.
Hammer used some of the proceeds from this album to install a rolling recording studio in the back of his tour bus, where Hammer recorded much of his second album. In 1989, Hammer was featured on "You've Got Me Dancing" with Glen Goldsmith, which appeared on Goldsmith's album Don't Turn This Groove Around via RCA Records. The track was Hammer's first release in the UK. He also appeared in Glen Goldsmith's music video for this song. The single failed to chart. During this period, Hammer formed the rap group Oaktown's 3.5.7, releasing the No. 9 single "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" from the album Wild & Loose.