MC Hammer was noticeably absent from the “Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop” and a previous speech he made might explain why.
Questlove produced the aforementioned special that aired on Sunday, Dec. 10, and took to Twitter for a Q&A where he expressed his sadness with MC Hammer turning down the event.
“We begged him to open,” Questlove told one fan who asked about Hammer’s absence.
“Of all the “No’s”….Hammer hurt the most. We really wanted him to have his flowers,” he added.
“Of course everyone was asked but Hammer’s “no”…..ugh man that woulda been amazing,
” he told another fan.Questlove’s reveal ignited a conversation on Twitter among hip-hop fans who shared their theories on why MC Hammer has been absent from all of the hip-hop 50 events throughout the year. One fan resurfaced a clip of Hammer’s speech last month during the street naming ceremony for Tupac Shakur.
While celebrating the iconic late rapper, MC Hammer went on to acknowledge his no-show at the hip-hop anniversary events despite being invited to all of them.
“You ain’t heard me go to none of
these hip-hop 50’s and just for the record I got invited to every one,” Hammer said. “But I really don’t have the patience for the fakeness. I’m really 60 years old. So I can’t get with the fakeness of it all. I can do it with the young cats but I can’t come around old cats and still be pretending.”
The clip got hip-hop fans talking about the criticism MC Hammer faced throughout his career from his hip-hop peers for his style of music along with the money woes he faced.
“I think
there probably a lot of resentment left over from when he was on top and his peers were critical of him,” one fan wrote. “Some of it was fair but a lot unnecessary and hurtful. I think that’s probably the fake attitudes he’s talking about.”
“He was hiphop… no one could perform like him during that period,” added someone else.
During his hey day, MC Hammer was mocked in music videos by 3rd Bass (including a rap battle with MC Serch), The D.O.C., DJ Debranz and Ice Cube. Later in 2010, Jay-Z offended MC
Hammer when a lyric on “So Appalled” referenced Hammer’s 1996 bankruptcy filing, according to Rap RadarRELATED CONTENT: Hip-Hop’s First Newspaper Cover Collection Compiled In New Book