Stanley Kirk Burrell,born March 30, 1962, better known by his stage name MC Hammer (or simply Hammer), is an American rapper, entertainer, business entrepreneur, dancer and actor. He had his greatest commercial success and popularity from the late 1980s until the mid-1990s. Remembered for a rapid rise to fame before losing the majority of his fortune, Hammer is also known for his hit records, including "U Can't Touch This", flamboyant dance movements and trademark Hammer pants. Hammer's superstar-status made him a household name and pop icon. He has sold more than 50 million records worldwide, demonstrating hip hop's potential for mass market success.
Burrell also became a preacher during the late 1990s, was a television show host and dance judge, is a record label CEO, and as of 2008 works as a co-creator of a dance website called DanceJam, while still performing concerts at music venues and assisting with other social media, ministry and outreach functions. In addition, he was executive producer of his own reality show called Hammertime which aired on the A&E Network during the summer of 2009. Prior to becoming ordained, Hammer signed with Suge Knight's Death Row Records by 1995.
M.C. Hammer is considered a "forefather" and innovator of pop rap, and is the first hip hop artist to achieve diamond status for an album. Hammer was later considered a sell-out rapper due in part to over-exposure and as a result of his increasingly gritty image as the landscape of rap changed. Nonetheless, BET ranked Hammer as the #7 "Best Dancer Of All Time". Vibe's "The Best Rapper Ever Tournament" declared him the 17th favorite of all-time during the first round.
Throughout his career, Hammer has managed his own recording business. As a result, he has created and produced his own acts including Oaktown's 3.5.7, Common Unity, Special Generation, Analise, One Cause One Effect, Teabag, Dom Kimberley, Geeman, Pleasure Ellis, B Angie B, Stooge Playaz, Ho Frat Ho and Wee Wee, among others. Apart of additional record labels, he has associated/collaborated/recorded with VMF, Tupac Shakur, Teddy Riley, Felton Pilate, Tha Dogg Pound, Deion Sanders, Big Daddy Kane and Jon Gibson, as well as others. In 1992, Doug E. Fresh was signed to M.C. Hammer's Bust It Records label.
Early life
Stanley Kirk Burrell was born in Oakland, California as the adopted son of a nightclub manager and a police department assistant. He grew up poor with his mother, a secretary, and eight siblings in a small apartment in East Oakland. The future rapper recalled that six children were crammed into a three-bedroom housing project apartment. The young Burrell sold stray baseballs and danced with a beatbox at the Oakland Coliseum parking lot to earn money for games sometimes. Oakland A's team owner Charles O. Finley saw the 11-year-old doing splits and hired him 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 life-long involvement with sports athletes on ESPN's First Take as well as explained that his brother Louis Burrell (who would later become Hammer's business manager) 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.[30] 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:
Hell, our chief executive, the guy that ran our team, uh, that communicated with Charlie Finley, the top man there, was a 13-year old kid. I nicknamed him "Hammer," because he looked like Hank Aaron.
Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Pedro Garcia may also have given Burrell the nickname "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:
Charlie said, "I'm getting you a new hat. I don't want you to have a hat that says "A's" on it. I'm getting you a hat that says 'Ex VP,' that says 'Executive Vice President.' You're running the joint around here." ... Every time I come down to the clubhouse, you know, Rollie would yell out "Oh, everybody be quiet! Here comes Pipeline!"
He acquired the nickname "M.C." 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 now become a regular participant/player in the annual Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game wearing an A's cap to represent Oakland (American League).
Burrell went on to graduate from high school in Oakland 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, Hammer considered the drug trade. Instead he joined the Navy for three years, serving with Patron (Patrol Squadron) Forty Seven (VP-47) of Moffett Field in Mountain View, California as a Petty Officer Third Class Aviation Store Keeper (AK3) until his honorable discharge.
Music career
Before his mainstream career and "rags-to-riches-to-rags-and-back saga", Burrell formed Christian rap music group Holy Ghost Boys, producing songs called "Word", "B-Boy Chill" and later releasing "This Wall" (it was within the lyrics of this song that Burrell first identified himself as M.C. Hammer) with CCM's Jon Gibson (or "J.G."). This rap hit appeared on Gibson's album Change of Heart, and "Son of the King" showed up on Hammer's debut album Feel My Power (1987), as well as the updated version Let's Get It Started (1988).
With exception 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. Via his record labels such as Bust It Records, Oaktown Records and FullBlast, Hammer has introduced, signed and produced new talent including Oaktown's 3.5.7, Ho Frat Ho, 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 (White) Rapper Show), Teabag, Common Unity, Geeman and Pleasure Ellis; both collaborating with him and producing raps of their own during his career. Some of these artists can now be found on YouTube or other video sites such as MTV.com.
At about the age of 12, Oakland native Keyshia Cole recorded with Hammer and sought career advice from him.
All about MC Hammer:
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