MC Hammer Blog - The Maturation of Hip Hop

I worked at McDonalds back in the day. As an aspiring burger-flipper I had a taste for one of the swing shift supervisors. Her name was Lisa. And we went out. I goofed it up in front of her on stage with a musical comic one night singing a Lionel Ritchie song, the name of which now escapes me. And I tried to get us in to see RunDMC during a packed concert where the people there were spilling out the door and onto the street. We couldn't get into the press of people. Way too thick to get in. But I remember the air of excitement and the music throbbing and pounding.

12 years later in 1993 I took a friend to see Ice Cube so that we could cover the event for a college newspaper. I ended up losing a car that night to a blown head gasket I couldn't afford to repair, but my friend Jeff and I did get a ride into Toronto with the tow truck driver, who we smuggled into the show with our press passes. It was a wild ride of circumstance and cameraderie that lasts in my mind today.

I have more stories about Hip Hop and Rap concerts than I do about the classical music, jazz and classic rock that I have always listened to.

Somehow, though, I know how important Hip Hop and Rap are. I am a fringe dweller in this world, but I know its impact is in my house, on my radio and on my T.V. My kids light up around it like moths to the flame when the hear a beat or pick up a lyric with the joy only children can as they prance around singing movie songs with the words "I like big butts and I can not lie..."

So on it goes. The music is in my blood and it swirls all around us. Maybe its out of control. Maybe it is out of control because it embodies the life in each person it touches. I can't imagine how it could reach out and harm someone.

I met a Reggae artist named Errol Blackwood years ago and he told me that a person who makes music knows what the music serves; a musician knows if his music is good.

I admit to having listened to Metal that tended to eclipse the sun with a large serving of darkness. And I guess I should probably admit to being square as well.

Its hard to hold an opinion that doesn't start to sound derogatory. The Hammer seems like he can stand up and speak. He has a voice here. I wish him the best in his journey.

Maybe one day our children will meet.