The Fall From Fame

The fall from fame

Stanley Kirk Burrell was the man who truly brought rap music to it's mass popularity. Burrell was known to the world as MC Hammer. His flamboyant style and nice guy approach swept the hip hop nation away. The talented dancer had a ear for catchy music that contributed toward his success. Although he was never able to achieve the level of success that he once possessed his influence in hip hop made him a legendary icon. For every action there is a reaction. It is ironic how in one breath someone could be on the top of the world and with the wrong move become virtually non- existent the next

That is exactly what happened to MC Hammer. Growing up during an era of funk and soul music, Hammer was fascinated by music particularly hip hop music. As a result with the assistance from his hometown baseball team the Oakland A's he was able to start his own record label . His performance in clubs and at parties led him to become recognized with a bigger record company. He signed a multi- album deal with Capital Records and the first album titled " Let's Get It Started" went double platinum. However the 1990 release of the album titled " Please Don't Hurt 'Em" was the start of controversy for Hammer. The album sales were great and it was the first hip hop album to sell more than ten million copies but critics claimed that the album contained hooks that were used by previous artist and that Hammer attempted to cover it up with catchy phrases.

Therefore he counteracted the criticism by dropping the MC from his stage name and doing more live shows. Despite the criticism Hammer's career was soaring with the MC Hammer dolls, clothing, apparel, shoes, and even his own cartoon show called Hammerman. In 1991,"Too Legit to Quit" album was produced and it gave him a chance to give answers to his critics. However, the album was not accept by the critics but the sells were strong a the album was still a hit.

To adapt to the changing of hip hop, Hammer changed record labels and signed with Giant Records. This brought about a more aggressive tone to his next album titled " The Funky headhunter." In 1995, Hammer released an album titled "Inside Out" which sold poorly and as a result Giant Records dropped him from their label.

Hammer's most successful album was " Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em" in which he earned thirty- three million dollars from but in 1996 he ended up thirteen million dollars in debt . First of all twelve million dollars