When was MC Hammer born? MC Hammer was born on March 30.
Oakland rapper MC HJsmmer was born Stanley Kirk Burrell in 1962. He is well-known for being one of the most popular music artist of the 1990s and his subsequent bankruptcy. He was the first rapper to sell a diamond certified album with “Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em” with over 18 million sold.
At his height of success, he was touring, merchandising, and even had a Saturday morning cartoon. Later on, Hammer would turn to religion after his rap career and become an ordained minister in the Christian faith.
MC Hammer‘s No. 1 song “U Can’t Touch This” became the first song to win a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance on the night of February 20, 1991, during the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards. The song was also the first rap song to be nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year and won Best Rhythm & Blues Song for writers MC Hammer, Rick James and Alonzo Miller.
MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This”won Best Rap Solo Performance over Queen Latifah’s All Hail the Queen, Big Daddy Kane’s I Get The Job Done, Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby, and Monie Love’s Monie In The Middle.
In 1991, MC Hammer established Oaktown Stables, a stable that would eventually own nineteen thoroughbred racehorses. One of MC Hammer’s horses named Lite Light was a multiple Grade 1 stakes race winner. Lite Light went on to win the Kentucky Oaks against the reigning fillies at the time in 1991. MC Hammer’s D. Wayne Lukas-trained horse named Dance Floor, won the Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes and the Breeders’ Futurity Stakes in 1991. In 1992, Dance Floor ran in the Kentucky Derby and placed third.
M.C. Hammer in the Churchill Downs paddock before the Kentucky Derby, May 2, 1992. Behind him is his horse Dance Floor, who finished third in the Run for the Roses. Photo by Charles Bertram.
Unfortunately, MC Hammer filed for bankruptcy in 1996 ending Oaktown Stables.
Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em(Released February 12, 1990), the third studio album by MC Hammer was the first hip-hop album to sell 10 million units and go diamond. The album was produced, recorded, and mixed by Felton Pilate and James Earley and released by Capitol Records.
Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em spent 21 weeks at No. 1 the Billboard 200 with the help of its biggest hit “U Can’t Touch This” and 28 weeks at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album was was certified diamond on April 15, 1991, just 14 months after its release.
As the first hip-hop album to go diamond and selling 14 million units within a year, Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em‘s massive commercial success helped push MC Hammer and the Hip-Hop genre into a global phenomenon.
