Hammer and Throngs

MC comsa: MC Hammer and his dancers brought hip-hop to the Chevy Court stage at the State Fair this year. MATT MUMAU PHOTOS

Hammer, who has gone through various
forms of hardship since his 1996 bankruptcy (several publications have
very recently reported that the Internal Revenue Service is again after
the rapper for money related to that incident), has continued to record
music and perform since his heyday, although you may not have heard
much from him these days. Yet his State Fair appearance, while
interesting for its mere inclusion as well as for its promise of a
chance to see the musician who was once at the top of the world, was
undoubtedly strange. 

Adorned in shades and oozing with jaded
cool, Hammer nevertheless seemed to have lost his understanding of how
to put on a live performance. He started and stopped his dance troupe
at odd intervals, chatted at long lengths between each song, which
interrupted the musical flow of the gig, and generally came across as
unprepared. 

Along the way, the rapper got busy in
the audience for “It’s All Good,” as he kept state troopers on their
toes, then he later waded back in for a now-obligatory Michael Jackson
tribute warbled by his sidekick Pleasure Ellis. The concert had
all the aspects of a Bowzer retro revival, right down to the climax
wherein Hammer corralled more than 100 delighted fans from the
audience, as they all got down to “U Can’t Touch This.” They boogied to
a prerecorded music track, with nary a live musician on the stage that
bears the portrait of local late bandmaster Stan Collella. 

The crowd had obviously come out to see
Hammer recite his hits, however, and they weren’t let down with large
dance numbers accompanying “2 Legit 2 Quit” and “That’s Why We Pray.”
Hammer showed that he’s still trying to bring it by revealing a new
tune, “Socialize,” as his bizarre climax—but that was a canned track,
too, as he left the stage and let the ad-hoc dance posse play him out.
An overall lack of polish to this show had to have left some fans
wondering why Hammer didn’t “Turn {That} Mother Out.”  

—Matt Mumau and Phil D. Rapper