Talk:MC Hammer

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This article needs a serious copyedit, a less fannish style and some NPOV help. Goes on and on about how "important" he is—even the house he lived in at the peak of his fame is described as "world famous." --Szyslak 08:50, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Have had a stab at cleaning it up, I'll leave it to others to decide if what I've done is enough. Dan100 23:50, Dec 19, 2004 (UTC)

This dude could breakdance like no other. --Cyberman 1 July 2005 09:02 (UTC)

Contents 1 Someone needs to lock this 2 Is it true this guy built a revolving house to live in? 3 Can we get some documentation on his Naval career? 4 Hammertime redirects here 5 Hammer Blog 6 is there a word for what's going on with this article? 7 finley 8 famous failure 9 a hammer by any other name... 10 another pov-pusher 11 Pastoral Life

[edit] Someone needs to lock this

And put up a template saying "Stop! Hammer time!"--59.121.205.61 08:59, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is it true this guy built a revolving house to live in?

It would certainly explain why the house he lived in was "world famous".

[edit] Can we get some documentation on his Naval career?

?

[edit] Hammertime redirects here

Its AFD debate did not have consensus, so I made the editorial decision to merge and redirect here. Johnleemk | Talk 13:08, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Hammer Blog

I noticed that Hammer's blog, Look Look Look, links to this page. This means that he (MC Hammer) more than like monitors this page. It might be a good idea if some one who is a little tech savy could keep an eye out for annonymous user contributions. --130.184.11.129 19:43, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Indeed, as you suspected, the unflattering bits about him being a one-hit-wonder and his expensive house and bankrupcy were deleted by 67.187.196.195 on Feburary 22, and, after someone reverted those changes, they were deleted once again by 72.254.178.4 on Feburary 23. On Feburary 24, 72.254.130.83 deleted another reference to his fall from fame and a Nelly song mocking him. This is just before his blog went live. I've reverted some of the changes, in a hopefully more diplomatic and acceptable manner. Let's hope this doesn't turn into an edit war. 67.169.19.135 11:54, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] is there a word for what's going on with this article?

man, this is a horribly POV article. not even one word about his bankruptcy or his becoming a joke in the business. there is definitly an anonymous troll URL who takes anything unflattering out. this is a serious breech of wikipedia's reputation. can someone reedit this article to make it, you know, factual?

20:02, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Could you please add sources for the info above. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 06:41, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

i found the word i was looking for... POV-pushing. as for your question, is common knowledge not a good enough source? what exactly are you disputing with your dispute tag? the bankruptcy? the punchline? please let us know what you have a problem with.

Sparsefarce 17:41, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Common knowledge isn't really good enough I'm afraid, it's only common knowledge for a short while and we are building an encylopedia that will last. Personally I'm not disputing anything but others are hence my adding the disputed tag See the conversation here. I was sloppy and a bit rude of me not to post that link here this morning when i added the disputed tag. I was in a hurry, (had to go to work) sorry about that. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 18:51, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

i've added lots of sources about his decline and bankruptcy, also nelly's reference to him. anything else that needs to be cited? can we take the disputed tag off?

Sparsefarce 19:03, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] finley

According to an ESPN interview with Ricky Henderson, while Hammer did work for finley, it was as an "Executive General Manager", not honorary vice president, and his job was handing out per-diem, tracking attendance, etc. But according to imdb 's hammer movie listing, he was merely a batboy. It's known he was at least a batboy for sure, and it's probable that he held an honorary title. But I've yet to find a single source stating he was a spy for finley. Furthermore, the particular section should be moved into it's own sentence, or rewritten somehow to be a less jarring contrast. (link to ESPN article [1])

Link stating he was a batboy [2]

Also [3] from the baseball hall of fame calling him a "gopher", [4] PR release for the Hammer movie, stating he was a batboy only. ⇒ SWATJester ^Ready Aim _Fire! 20:04, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Here's a link to a Dec. 1990 Ebony Magazine article detailing many facts of MC Hammers life up until 1990. It mentions how MC Hammer got his nickname, his relationship with the Oakland A's, including how Bust It Productions was started with two $20,000 loans from two Oakland A's players. It has more details on his early life than this Wikipedia article. [5]

[edit] famous failure

i realize that this might not be the most opportune time to bring this up, what with the minor editing war we've got, but i must complain about the current opening sentence stating that he is known for parachute pants and "catchy hooks."

i'd say that above anything else, he is known as a famously losing all his money. this has even been mocked by The Simpsons (the behind the laughter episode, [6] where the simpson's rise to fame is mirrored by hammer's real life. they even buy hammer's old house at one point only to have it reposessed later.) and other shows, such as Clone High. ("Why, I watched the first two-thirds of the M.C. Hammer 'Behind the Music', and if there's one thing I've learned about money, it's that it never runs out.")

you never hear mc hammer currently mentioned in popular culture as a guy with "catchy hooks." you almost always hear about him as a famous person who went through bankrupcy.

any thoughts?

Sparsefarce 20:05, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! I'd written a whole freakin' reply to this message, and then I had to test all the links to make sure they went to the right place, and when I opened one in another tab, I accidentally closed the wrong tab AND LOST THE WHOLE THING!!!

All right, let me try to write invaluable crap so if I mess up again it won't matter. Long story short, I hate The Simpsons, The Fairly OddParents and any other messed up "comedy" cartoon that brainwashed America, got the terrorists cartoonists who made it rich and famous and gave them the right to make fun of everything half decent in our society. So what if some dips remember MC Hammer as a famous failure? A bunch of people remember him as an asset to hip-hop and a lot of today's rappers were actually influenced by him. He was a nice guy (and still is), he wrote quirky songs/raps that had nothing to do with thugs or sex or any of that crap, and he rocked (and still does). This article just needs to be rewritten to reflect both ideas people have. Darth Katana X

Personally i love the simpsons, I find pisstaking funny and don't consider myself at all a dip. Never the less I agree that he is known for his baggy pants and possibly catchy hooks. Maybe the best thing to do is simply remove the sentence altogether? (unless someone can come up with a wording that includes both reasons for fame) Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 12:01, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Can we then say he is known for his influence on hip hop, and his trademark parachute pants? Possibly even add something like "his meteoric rise and fall from fame"? Ah that last one sucks but you know what I mean. ⇒ SWATJester ^Ready Aim _Fire! 12:50, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

no, no, no! it doesn't suck that bad. i'd personally change the word "meteoric" but being known "for his <insert adjective> rise and fall from fame" would be fine. any takers? Sparsefarce 17:30, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

I reckon if you get the meaning right it's ok if the english sucks - someone will always come along and fix poor wording.And anyway it doesn't particulaly suck. Personally I like dramatic over meteoric. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 01:22, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

I've just been fiending for using the word meteoric in a sentence lately, but dramatic works just as well, I'm not picky. So "...known for his dramatic rise and fall from fame, leaving a lasting influence on hip hop, and his trademark parachute pants? ⇒ SWATJester ^Ready Aim _Fire! 01:46, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

i made the changes. let me know if there are any objections Sparsefarce 18:22, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

"Famous Faliure" hs very much against "NPOV". In fact, it is hard to claim that anybody with the success Hammer has had as a "failure". By the same token, you could say that Elvis and Salvador Dali were "Failures", because nothing they did later in life measured up to the success they had early on. His career may have ended, but he was highly successful during the peak of his career. Most people are considered to have successfull careers, and never get half the fame and fortune that Hammer did. Mushrom 05:58, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] a hammer by any other name...

should we decide on one name to refer to him consistently throughout the article? we call him hammer, mc hammer, and even burrell. i looked at the Diddy article (as he is another hip hop artist who has changed his name a lot), and they call him "Combs" fairly consistently. not sure if this has any revelence here, as many people have heard the name "Sean Combs," but i'd bet you'd be pressed to find someone who knows mc hammer's real name.

any thoughts?

Sparsefarce 18:26, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Sean Puffy Combs' name is well known, mostly because of his legal troubles. I am sure that if you ask most people, they will recognize Sean Combs and his various names as being one and the same person. However, almost nobody knows that MC Hammer's real name is Stanley Burrell. It should probably be listed as "Hammer" in the article though, since that is the name he is most widely known by. Mushrom 15:04, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] another pov-pusher

this time it's url 63.133.134.18. i'm afraid i'm going to go over the 3-revert rule to keep up with this guy. any one have any ideas of how to stop this?

Sparsefarce 19:14, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pastoral Life

I cleaned up some typos in the section about his Pastoral Life, but I was wondering why the reference to Charlie's Angels is even in that section? I haven't seen the movie--am I missing something?