this wrapper is too legit to quit
too legit to quit site welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re taking a
look at the life and career of MC Hammer
Stanley Kirk Burrell was born March 30th
1962 in Oakland California life as a
young child was tough as he grew up in a
poor family and resided in a cramped
apartment with several siblings he spent
much of his time hanging around outside
the Oakland Athletics Stadium and was
eventually hired to work for the team at
age 11 during this period player Reggie
Jackson noticed his resemblance to the
legendary Hank Aaron and so he nicknamed
Burrell hammer
he was later dubbed MC after he became
interested in hip-hop and started
performing at clubs following his high
school graduation and an unsuccessful
tryout for the big leagues with the San
Francisco Giants Burrell spent time in
the Navy in the 1980s Burrell formed the
Christian rap group Holy Ghost Boys and
started going by the moniker MC Hammer
using borrowed money he got into the
music industry by launching an
independent record label this enabled
him to independently release his debut
1987 s feel my power on bustin records
thanks to MC Hammer’s relentless street
marketing the album managed to sell over
60,000 copies without major label
backing his big break came in 1988
that was the year his showmanship and
dancing abilities landed him a deal with
Capitol Records his first release with
the label was let’s get it started which
was a revamped edition of his first
album along with extra songs the top 30
efforts sold over 2 million copies on
the strength of singles like pump it up
and turn this mother out MC Hammer then
changed up his style with 1990s police
hammer don’t hurt him the album stayed
at number one on the pop charts for over
21 weeks and eventually became the first
hip hop record to achieve diamond status
most of its success was thanks to
hammers most notable track the Rick
James inspired you can’t touch this
touch this
the album also contained his highest
charting single prey which went to
number two
despite being denounced for his lyrics
and overuse of sampling by critics and
fans MC Hammer’s success continued he
acted in the movie please hammer don’t
hurt him toured the world lent his name
and image to merchandise and appeared in
his own Saturday morning cartoon the
rapper then ditched the MC from his name
and dropped too legit to quit though it
reached the Billboard top five the 1991
disc did not match his previous record
sales the album’s title cut was its most
successful single and was accompanied by
a pricey music video that spawned
popular hand-signs
unfortunately hammers career was never
quite the same after this release give
me the girls with the box and he tried
unsuccessfully to fit in with the
emerging gangsta rap crowd with the more
aggressive album the funky headhunter in
1994 then with 1995 inside out
hammer took back the MC in his stage
name but album sales were still slow
despite experimenting with genres like
pop and gospel the rapper continued to
find only modest sales with his later
albums too tight family affair
active duty full blast look-look-look
and dance jammed the music the rapper’s
personal life also suffered as years
went by his extravagant lifestyle left
him bankrupt and on more than one
occasion he lost money due to copyright
infringement however by the late 1990s
MC Hammer refocused on religion and
announced he had become an ordained
minister I see I see an endtime
preparation and I also see God declaring
Christ and his kingdom in Asia in
addition to music MC Hammer appeared on
television including the reality show
hammer time when it came to business he
dabbled in fashion sports management and
internet projects he continued to
release the occasional track and even
had a short-lived beef with rapper jay-z
after selling over fifty million albums
and winning three Grammy Awards MC
Hammer will always be remembered as a
great musical entertainer along with his
trademark baggy pants and flashy style
which were synonymous with 90s
overindulgence the rapper pioneered many
dance moves and is considered the
forefather of elaborate stage shows
simply put MC Hammer is one man you
can’t touch
break it down
too legit to quit site welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re taking a
look at the life and career of MC Hammer
Stanley Kirk Burrell was born March 30th
1962 in Oakland California life as a
young child was tough as he grew up in a
poor family and resided in a cramped
apartment with several siblings he spent
much of his time hanging around outside
the Oakland Athletics Stadium and was
eventually hired to work for the team at
age 11 during this period player Reggie
Jackson noticed his resemblance to the
legendary Hank Aaron and so he nicknamed
Burrell hammer
he was later dubbed MC after he became
interested in hip-hop and started
performing at clubs following his high
school graduation and an unsuccessful
tryout for the big leagues with the San
Francisco Giants Burrell spent time in
the Navy in the 1980s Burrell formed the
Christian rap group Holy Ghost Boys and
started going by the moniker MC Hammer
using borrowed money he got into the
music industry by launching an
independent record label this enabled
him to independently release his debut
1987 s feel my power on bustin records
thanks to MC Hammer’s relentless street
marketing the album managed to sell over
60,000 copies without major label
backing his big break came in 1988
that was the year his showmanship and
dancing abilities landed him a deal with
Capitol Records his first release with
the label was let’s get it started which
was a revamped edition of his first
album along with extra songs the top 30
efforts sold over 2 million copies on
the strength of singles like pump it up
and turn this mother out MC Hammer then
changed up his style with 1990s police
hammer don’t hurt him the album stayed
at number one on the pop charts for over
21 weeks and eventually became the first
hip hop record to achieve diamond status
most of its success was thanks to
hammers most notable track the Rick
James inspired you can’t touch this
touch this
the album also contained his highest
charting single prey which went to
number two
despite being denounced for his lyrics
and overuse of sampling by critics and
fans MC Hammer’s success continued he
acted in the movie please hammer don’t
hurt him toured the world lent his name
and image to merchandise and appeared in
his own Saturday morning cartoon the
rapper then ditched the MC from his name
and dropped too legit to quit though it
reached the Billboard top five the 1991
disc did not match his previous record
sales the album’s title cut was its most
successful single and was accompanied by
a pricey music video that spawned
popular hand-signs
unfortunately hammers career was never
quite the same after this release give
me the girls with the box and he tried
unsuccessfully to fit in with the
emerging gangsta rap crowd with the more
aggressive album the funky headhunter in
1994 then with 1995 inside out
hammer took back the MC in his stage
name but album sales were still slow
despite experimenting with genres like
pop and gospel the rapper continued to
find only modest sales with his later
albums too tight family affair
active duty full blast look-look-look
and dance jammed the music the rapper’s
personal life also suffered as years
went by his extravagant lifestyle left
him bankrupt and on more than one
occasion he lost money due to copyright
infringement however by the late 1990s
MC Hammer refocused on religion and
announced he had become an ordained
minister I see I see an endtime
preparation and I also see God declaring
Christ and his kingdom in Asia in
addition to music MC Hammer appeared on
television including the reality show
hammer time when it came to business he
dabbled in fashion sports management and
internet projects he continued to
release the occasional track and even
had a short-lived beef with rapper jay-z
after selling over fifty million albums
and winning three Grammy Awards MC
Hammer will always be remembered as a
great musical entertainer along with his
trademark baggy pants and flashy style
which were synonymous with 90s
overindulgence the rapper pioneered many
dance moves and is considered the
forefather of elaborate stage shows
simply put MC Hammer is one man you
can’t touch
break it down
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