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M.C. Hammer

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Justin Bieber might have dominated the American Music Awards, but we’d say that MC Hammer and Psy won the night with

Politics

Watch Brilliant Barack Obama/MC Hammer Mash-Up ‘U Didn’t Build That’

By Judy Berman on

You might think you’re sick of any and all discussion of Barack Obama’s “You didn’t build that” speech — which is now officially a meme — but believe us, you want to watch the video below. From Hugh Atkin, the genius who brought us the legendary Eminem mash-up “Will the Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up?,” comes a very similar but perhaps even more fantastic video. “U Didn’t Build That” transforms Obama’s so-called gaffe into a victory lap of clever rhymes cobbled together from the president’s own words, to the tune of MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This.” Watch our leader spit brilliant lines like, “If you’ve given three dollars before / I’m asking again for a few dollars more / Clint Eastwood and the empty chair / Would be better than this Republican pair” as Michelle Obama dances, after the jump. … Read More

Television

10 of the Most Awkward and Unfunny ‘SNL’ Hosts

By Alison Nastasi on

Republican Party presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is currently considering a request from SNL creator Lorne Michaels to host the show. Nearly all candidates have appeared on the comedy series, but Steve Forbes was the last to actually host in 1996 — according to The Hollywood Reporter. SNL writer Jim Downey reminds readers that, “[Romney] was funny on Letterman, giving the Top Ten list,” but we’re still not buying it. Can the former Governor of Massachusetts prove that he’s a human being and not an android? Will he actually get the jokes? Will Jason Sudeikis prove that he can out-Romney even Romney? We prepped ourselves for the possible answers by revisiting some of the NBC series’ worst hosts. Unfunny, awkward, and awful SNL MCs await you past the break, proving that sometimes hot-button hosts just don’t have the funny to make it all work. As always, share your picks below. … Read More

Music

10 Musicians Who Got Religion, with Mixed Results

By Tom Hawking on

As we listened to the new Rapture album on Monday — once the initial shock that it just wasn’t very good had worn off — the thing we couldn’t help noticing was that the lyrics seemed pretty rabidly Christian. Perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise, considering the band’s name, but as far as we’re aware, their songs have never been overtly religious before. Anyway, it turns out that there’s a story behind this — according to the Village Voice, singer Luke Jenner converted to Catholicism in 2009. He’s not the first musician to undergo a road-to-Damascus experience — so after the jump, we’ve looked at a selection of other famous musical conversions, and what they meant for the both the artist in question and the music they made afterward. … Read More

Music

'90s Hip-Hop Icons: Where Are They Now?

By Margaret Eby on

With Slim Shady making his airwave-monopolizing return, as well as our other recent check-ups on ’90s alternative kids and Nickelodeon stars, we thought it might be worth a trip down recent memory lane to trace another group of 1990s icons. That’s right, it’s class-reunion time, hip-hop edition. What’s Doug E. Fresh doing? Has Sir Mix-a-lot expanded his position on butt-bouncing? Can we still not touch this, MC Hammer? The answers to all your burning questions about the hip-hop stars of 20 years ago, after the jump. … Read More

Web

What Do Your Tweets Reveal About You?

By Emily Temple on

Analyze Words is a new and super useful tool for determining other people’s personalities via their posts on Twitter. Developed by James W. Pennebaker, a University of Texas Professor of Psychology, along with his daughter Teal, Roger Booth and Chris Wilson, the program analyzes Tweets based on not the ‘content words’ but rather the ‘style words’ — like articles and prepositions — to determine the mental state of the author. Basically this means that you can plug in anyone’s Twitter handle and watch them be ranked in Emotional Style, Social Style and Thinking Style. We’ve been playing with this for hours. After the jump, check out some of our favorite Tweet analyses of famous… Read More

Music

MC Hammer’s Back: A Mix Tape and a Reality Show

By Michael Rosen on

His rhymes were addictive, his beats were catchy, and his dance moves were the envy of every bar mitzvah attendee. He was MC Hammer, and from his parachute pants to his “mind to rhyme and two fresh feet” one thing was certain: you couldn’t touch him. If you suddenly find yourself feeling nostalgic, don’t fear: Mixtape king Mick Boogie (ThePressPlayShow) presents Hammertime, a reported “ride through the past, present, and future, using the original samples to intro some of Hammers biggest hits,” as well as remixes by nVme and Good Life Mike featuring some of the best new faces in the game (6th Sense, Mistah… Read More

Web

MC Hammer’s New Show “Similar to an Unscripted Version of the Huxtable Family” [Morning Links]

By Caroline Stanley on

Book: A fascinating book about everyday peeps affected by Katrina. [NYT]
Dance/Opera: Love the choreography in West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof or Gypsy? DVR tonight’s Jerome Robbins doc on PBS. [Playbill]
Design: There’s no privacy in this proposed Chinese City Center. [Gizmodo]
Film: Dirty old filmmaker… Read More