American musician who signed a multi-record deal in April 1989. When his “Let’s Get Started” topped the U.S. R&B charts, he was named Favorite Artist of 1990, leading to concerts, albums and worldwide hits. By 1994 he was negotiating for a three-album deal for $25 million.
The son of a poker-club manager and the youngest of eight kids, he was nicknamed “little hammer” when he worked as the black batboy for the Oakland A’s baseball team. He went to college with a major in communications and made an attempt to play pro baseball but failed both. For three years, he served a stint in the U.S. Navy.
A regular church goer, Hammer formed a religious rap duo, the “Holy Choir Boys.” He put his musical career into gear with a $40,000 investment from baseball players Mike Davis and Dwayne Murphy, who believed in his talent. He formed Bustin’ Records and cut his first single, “Ring ‘Em,” which he sold out of the trunk of his car. With a favorable reception, he formed a band and cut “Feel My Power” in 1987, and it sold 60,000 copies.
Hammer’s 1990 album “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em” sold 25 million copies and in 1991 he earned a staggering $33 million. Wearing outrageous balloon pants, bare chest and gold chains, he blew his cash with abandon, going from rags-to-riches-to rags again. He built a $10 million mansion in California with two bowling alleys and an indoor basketball court. He bought 17 cars, including a sleek Lamborghini and a Range Rover, had his own private jet and hosted wild week-long bashes in the world’s top hotels. He was one of the richest rap stars in the world until he squandered millions with the high life and ended up in bankruptcy court in 1996, owing some $13.7 million. After topping the charts, he’d hit the bottom, no longer able to afford a $12 million mansion with 17 luxury cars and a $1 million payroll monthly to some 250 folks in his venue. The final nudge to show him how far he’d gone off-track was a surgery in 1996 to repair a leg injury. He realized that he was no longer focusing on the man that God had meant him to be.
Hammer opened a new venue, hosting his own Christian talk show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the “MC Hammer Ministries.” Back to his roots, Hammer found his new start in in the Ministry, leading 3,500 of the faithful in the Christian Center’s Gospel Hip Hop Night. “My priorities had been out of order,” Hammer said, “It was business all the way instead of God being first, family being second, community being third and business being fourth.”
By late 1998, Hammer was living more modestly in Tracy, CA, near San Francisco with his wife Stephanie and their kids, Akeiba, 10, Sarah, 5, Stanley, 3, and Jeremiah, three months. “I’m lucky to be alive,” he says with gratitude.
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