Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
The MC Hammer really is one you had to experience in real time. It’s hard to explain to young people who haven’t heard of him, but Oakland, Calif.’s, MC Hammer (born Stanley Burrell) really was the biggest thing going in hip-hop in the late ’80s. He wasn’t as big as Michael Jackson — who was? — but say, Bobby Brown? Sure. And Bobby Brown was HUGE in the late ’80s but you know who had a Saturday morning cartoon series on a major network? MC Hammer. “Hammerman” may not have been a hit, but it existed.
You know what else was huge back then? “The Simpsons” and Bart Simpson in particular. It was common to find people rocking T-shirts with Bart Simpson doing any number of things from skateboarding to being dressed like Michael Jackson. You know what Bart Simpson T-shirt I had? I had the one with Bart Simpson saying “U Can’t Touch This,” the hook from MC Hammer’s most ubiquitous song, “U Can’t Touch This.” Everybody in 1990 through, hell, the mid-1990s would say, “U Can’t Touch This” as a joke and a nod to MC Hammer. How big of a deal was MC Hammer back then? His album, 1990’s “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em” is still one of the best-selling albums in hip-hop history.
My point with all this is that MC Hammer was a thing. In 1990, when “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em” came out, I was turning 11 and well, anything that exciting was totally captivating to an 11-year-old. Plus, he was rapping, dancing and looking cool. I had Hammer pants because we all had Hammer pants. When he dropped 1991’s “2 Legit 2 Quit” album (he also dropped the “MC” from his moniker), he was still the coolest dude out. While not as popular as the previous album, “2 Legit…” spawned the single “2 Legit 2 Quit” and had everybody doing this funny hand motion. Though Hammer was…
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