Songoftheday 2/16/18 - Sweat running all over my chest I don't quit no! I just press harder than I ever did before...
from the album Too Legit To Quit (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 17
Today's song of the day comes from Oaktown rapper MC Hammer, whose breakthrough smash album Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em had topped the chart for 21 weeks, and spun off three top ten pop hits with "U Can't Touch This", "Have You Seen Her", and "Pray". Each one of those hits heavily sampled R&B giants like Rick James, Prince, and the Moments. The fourth single from the set, the album opener "Here Comes The Hammer", sampled James Brown's "Super Bad", but it wasn't as immediately earwormed like the others, and stalled at #54 on the pop chart in the U.S., though it did climb to #15 in the UK, the same rank it did on the American R&B chart. Another track, "Yo Sweetness", also did well in Britain, peaking at #16. With this massive success, with the accompanying merch extras like dolls, animated TV shows (Hammerman), lunch boxes and the like, Stanley Burrell's career was at such a high that it was precipitously in peril of being overexposed. But instead of growing and evolving his sound, MC Hammer dropped the "MC", simply became "Hammer", and recorded a third full-length album even more out there than the last. The title cut from the record, "2 Legit 2 Quit", was released as the first single, and the frenetic boast track did not feature any big samples this time. The track, written by Hammer, his brother Louis, Felton Pilate, Michael Kelly, and James Earley, centered on the chanted title, meant to go with hand gestures faux-signing out the four words. The music video that went along with this was one of the most costly in history, and what it paid for definite was not quality. You've got nearly 15 minutes of a mini movie at first stocked with celebrities mourning the seeming "retirement" of Hammer, but yet somehow in the middle of all that there's a concert hall just waiting for him to show up. A silly special effect-laden segment with James Brown ensues, and somehow Hammer and his posse are shuttled on some kind of energy globe to that same concert, rapping, flaming, and for a time dancing on top of the crowd like he's some sort of hip-hop Jesus. It comes to an end with a fake Michael Jackson (who apparently is on major sedatives) giving a gloved "2 Legit 2 Quit" sign from behind. Lord. There's an awesome review of the view on Digg which you can read by clicking here. It's worth it. Now for the crazy...
OOFDAH.
Nevertheless, due to Hammer's smaller but still substantial fanbase, "2 Legit 2 Quit" became his fourth top ten pop hit in January of 1991. The single also climbed to #3 for two weeks on Billboard's R&B chart, while the remixes of the track helped it go to #18 on their Dance Club Play list. Internationally, the record went all the way to #4 in New Zealand, and made the top-40 in Canada (#37) and the Netherlands (#39). In the UK, where his last album was so successful, the single only managed to hit #60, while in Australia, where "U Can't Touch This" went to #1, the song missed the top-40 at #43.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
For those who can't stand 15 minutes of Hammer, here's the edited video that just had the song...
and here's Hammer (with singer Saja killing the backing vocals) performing on the Arsenio Hall show, and you can tell he's going the full James Brown employing a small town for this performance...
Lastly, in 2012, K-pop star Psy performed his own "Gangnam Style" on the American Music Awards, and brought on Hammer himself for a "mash-up" with "2 Legit 2 Quit"...
Up tomorrow: Swedish duo are checking in for a spell.
Comments