As a result, he has created and produced his own acts including Oaktown's 3.5.7, Special Generation, Analise, DRS, B Angie B, and Wee Wee. Throughout his career, Hammer has managed his own recording business. Prior to becoming ordained, Hammer signed with Suge Knight's Death Row Records by 1995. Hammer was also a television show host and dance judge on Dance Fever in 2003, was co-creator of a dance website called, and is a record label CEO while still performing concerts at music venues and assisting with other social media, ministry and outreach functions. Additionally, he starred in a Saturday-morning cartoon called Hammerman in 1991 and was executive producer of his own reality show called Hammertime which aired on the A&E Network during the summer of 2009. Vibe's "The Best Rapper Ever Tournament" declared him the 17th favorite of all-time during the first round.īurrell became a preacher during the late 1990s with a Christian ministry program on TBN called M.C. BET ranked Hammer as the #7 "Best Dancer Of All Time". Hammer is considered a "forefather/pioneer" and innovator of pop rap (incorporating elements of freestyle music), and is the first hip hop artist to achieve diamond status for an album. Remembered for his rapid rise to fame, Hammer is known for hit records (such as "U Can't Touch This" and "2 Legit 2 Quit"), flashy dance movements, choreography and eponymous Hammer pants.Ī multi-award winner, M.C. He had his greatest commercial success and popularity from the late 1980s, until the early 1990s. I am Hammer because he was ‘Hammering Hank Aaron.Stanley Kirk Burrell (born March 30, 1962), better known by his stage name MC Hammer (or simply Hammer), is an American hip hop recording artist, dancer, record producer and entrepreneur. “That gentle, warm, joyful smile and his heartfelt embrace of a little kid from East Oakland in a moment empowered and changed my life,” Burrell tweeted about the photo. The photo grew in value when Little Hammer turned into MC Hammer, appearing in Rolling Stone and many other publications. He’s the A’s clubhouse boy.’ ”Īaron gave Burrell a look, smiled and put an arm around the kid’s shoulder. “He straightened up and I corrected it real fast,” he said. you look alike.’ ”Īaron, having been subjected to so much racism, wasn’t sure what to make of the photographer’s words. “I walked up to him with the Little Hammer and said, ‘Hank, I’d like a picture of you two guys. “Hank was sitting alone at his locker,” Riesterer said. Riesterer was working as an unofficial A’s photographer in 1975 when the team approached him with an idea: When the Brewers are in town, take Little Hammer to meet the Hammer. That meant a visit to Oakland twice a year. Aaron had spent 21 years of his Hall of Fame career with the Braves, in Milwaukee and Atlanta, before spending his final two at age 41 and 42 with the Brewers, who were in the American League then. The nickname led to another perk for Burrell: a chance to take a photo with his new idol and namesake. There are photos, shot by Riesterer, of Burrell popping bottles of champagne with the A’s after they won the A.L. 44, Aaron’s number, with “Hammer” on the back and “VP”– for vice president - on his hat. On occasion, Burrell would serve as a bat boy wearing No. “Charlie called him his vice president,” Vucinich said.Ħ takeaways from the Chicago Bulls’ loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, including another slow start and Joel Embiid’s perfect record The kid was to sit in the owner’s box and do play-by-play for Finley over the phone when Finley wasn’t in attendance for a game. Word of the nickname spread across the A’s organization, all the way to the top. The guy had played for the Braves, had played alongside Aaron, and thought this kid bore a striking resemblance to “Hammerin’ Hank.”Īnd so it was that Burrell became known as “Hammer.” One day, as longtime A’s clubhouse manager Steve Vucinich tells it, Burrell caught the eye of a visiting player. As a young teen he would sneak around the A’s clubhouses, too, where his two brothers were bat boys.īurrell had been around enough that he became a familiar face, and not just with the A’s. Before rap stardom in the 1990s, before “U Can’t Touch This” and hammer pants, Burrell, now 58, was just a kid who used to hang out at the Oakland Coliseum parking lot waiting for a spare ticket to watch the day’s game.
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