History YMMV / MCHammer

* AudienceAlienatingEra: ''The Funky Headhunter'', in which Hammer responded to the many shots taken at him by from the newly-popular GangstaRap school by basically saying, "Hey, I'm down with this DarkerAndEdgier thing, too!" While it sold at first, it didn't impress the gangsta crowd ''one bit'', and his fans who did buy it were completely turned off by the usually family-friendly rapper's darker turn. This resulted in an album that appealed to no one, and is considered one of the key factors of his career's demise.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: ''The Funky Headhunter'', in which Hammer responded to the many shots taken at him by from the newly-popular GangstaRap school by basically saying, hey, I'm down with this DarkerAndEdgier thing, too. While it sold at first, it didn't impress the gangsta crowd ''one bit'', and his fans who did buy it were completely turned off by the usually family-friendly rapper's darker turn. This resulted in an album that appealed to no one, and is considered one of the key factors of his career's demise.

* VindicatedByHistory: An odd variation with ''The Funky Headhunter'', which sold well at the time but got Hammer laughed out of the rap game for good. Nowadays, while still considered sub-par by GangstaRap standards by virtue of not at all being very gangsta, it's been re-evaluated as still a decent 90's pop/hip-hop album, arguably featuring Hammer at his most technically competent in terms of songwriting.

* AcceptableTargets: MC Hammer's name has become synonymous with bankruptcy and ConspicuousConsumption. From the TV series ''Series/{{Leverage}}'':
-->'''Parker:''' Who ripped out the toilets?\\
'''Hardison:''' This was an IRS foreclosure. I got it cheap.\\
'''Eliot:''' IRS doesn't take toilets.\\
'''Hardison:''' They do when they're solid gold. Heard this used to be MC Hammer's place. I guess you can touch this, with a SWAT team and a federal warrant.

* MisattributedSong: He never recorded a song titled "I Like Big Butts". You're looking for "Baby Got Back" by Music/SirMixALot.

* VindicatedByHistory: An odd variation with ''The Funky Headhunter'', which sold well at the time but got Hammer laughed out of the rap game for good. Nowadays, while still considered sub-par by GangstaRap standards by virtue of [[WereStillRelevantDammit not at all being very gangsta]], it's been re-evaluated as still a decent 90's pop/hip-hop album, arguably featuring Hammer at his most technically competent in terms of songwriting.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The only reason many younger people ever heard of Rick James' "Super Freak" was because of the lawsuit Rick James filed against MC Hammer for the use of the song's EpicRiff.

** "U Can't Touch This" sampled the main riff from "Super Freak" by Rick James. At least James got some of the moola.

* NeverLiveItDown: MC Hammer's name has become synonymous with bankruptcy and ConspicuousConsumption. From the TV series ''Series/{{Leverage}}'':
-->'''Parker:''' Who ripped out the toilets?\\
'''Hardison:''' This was an IRS foreclosure. I got it cheap.\\
'''Eliot:''' IRS doesn't take toilets.\\
'''Hardison:''' They do when they're solid gold. Heard this used to be MC Hammer's place. I guess you can touch this, with a SWAT team and a federal warrant.

* WereStillRelevantDammit: ''The Funky Headhunter'', in which Hammer responded to the many shots taken at him by from the newly-popular GangstaRap school by basically saying, hey, I'm down with this DarkerAndEdgier thing, too. It sold, but it didn't impress the gangsta crowd ''one bit''.

* VindicatedByHistory: An odd variation with ''The Funky Headhunter'', which sold well at the time but got Hammer laughed out of the rap game for good. Nowadays, while still considered sub-par by GangstaRap standards by virtue of [[WereStillRelevantDammit not at all being very gangsta]], it's generally considered a decent 90's pop/hip-hop album, arguably featuring Hammer at his most technically competent in terms of songwriting.

* VindicatedByHistory: Subverted with ''The Funky Headhunter'', which sold well at the time but got Hammer laughed out of the rap game for good. Now, while still considered sub-par by GangstaRap standards, it's generally considered SoOkayItsAverage.

* {{Padding}}: In addition to the [[SampledUp constant sampling]] as opposed to rapping to original beats, the other criticism laid heavily on Hammer was the constant repetition of his songs' choruses. This usually happened as his music videos were very long, and the album versions usually matched that length as opposed to being trimmed. This is exceptionally noticeable in "2 Legit 2 Quit", in which the chorus of "Too legit, too legit to quit" is played over the final ''two and a half minutes'' of the song without any lyrics from Hammer; this is fine in the music video, where there's a ton of athlete cameos popping up in the meantime, but it can drone on for someone listening to the single on its own.

* EarWorm:
** "U Can't Touch This"
** In the span of "[[Letters2Numbers 2 Legit 2 Quit]]"'s six minutes, the words "too legit" are spoken a whopping ''120 times'', with the entire phrase "too legit to quit" appearing 57 times within that number. That's a certain recipe for Ear Worm whether you want the song to stick around in your mind or not.

* MemeticMutation: Stop! Hammertime. Over time, this meme went from being spoken to being seen, as Stop signs can still be seen to this day with "HAMMER TIME" stamped on there either as graffiti, as an embossing or as a bumper sticker.

* ChartDisplacement: Most younger listeners would be surprised to hear that "U Can't Touch This" was the lowest-peaking of his ''five'' top-10 hits.

* WereStillRelevantDammit: ''The Funky Headhunter'', in which Hammer responded to the many shots taken at him by from the newly-popular GangstaRap school by basically saying, hey, I'm down with this DarkerAndEdgier thing, too. It sold, but it didn't impress the gangsta crowd ''one bit''.

* SampledUp: Most of Hammer's songs relied on what could be... charitably... described as less than creative sampling choices. These included:

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: [[{{Music/Psy}} Best. Mashup.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck6i3HtktaY Ever.]]

* WereStillRelevantDammit: ''The Funky Headhunter'', in which Hammer responded to the many shots taken at him by from the newly-popular GangstaRap school by basically saying, hey, I'm down with this DarkerAndEdgier thing, too. It sold, but it didn't impress the gangsta crowd ''one bit''.

* SignatureSong: "U Can't Touch This," although "Too Legit" is fondly remembered by fans as well. The latter is still played at every Oakland A's home game, complete with the hand gestures displayed on the scoreboard.

* CounterpartComparison: MC Hammer is often referenced alongside Music/VanillaIce for good reason: They were both early [[TheNineties 90s]] mainstream rappers/dancers that were huge pop stars (and vilified as sellouts by the rap community) but became walking punchlines after their careers tanked and are now viewed by many as corny acts and mediocre rappers. Their [[SignatureSong signature songs]] both sampled preexisting popular songs, they both got into trouble for doing this without the original artist's permission, and their careers tanked largely because they both pretended to be something they weren't. Finally, they both had a unique sense of fashion that is routinely mocked and parodied today.