Don’t hurt ’em
Rap legend MC Hammer performed atWoodrow Wilson Plaza on Thursday night as part of the “DC Grooves” concert series, but — appropriately for D.C. — he had weightier matters on his mind as well.
In fact, when we caught up with him at 12:15 a.m. last Thursday, he said he had just gotten off the phone with representatives of one of the major presidential candidates (he wouldn’t say which one, although he’s posted video of Ron Paul, so who knows?).
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In person and on his blog, he’s emphasizing that “2008 is today” — i.e., voters shouldn’t wait “till the last minute” to become engaged in the issues and candidates.
He’s also throwing his influence behind bringing the troops home from Iraq and getting involved in Darfur. “It’s important to me to create the awareness to stop that senseless bloodshed,” he told Yeas & Nays.
With respect to his profession, he disputed the notion that rap has gotten raunchier since his heyday, noting that his contemporaries included Ice-T and NWA, who “weren’t saying things you’d think of as politically correct.” He said while he “doesn’t condone using certain words to refer to women,” he won’t call out other artists for doing so: “It’s simply people reacting to their condition and their environment.”
He said customers and “those who control the airwaves” are as much to blame as the artists, arguing that if he puts out material with “five curse words in a row and it sells 10 million copies, don’t blame me, blame the people who bought it.”
He’s comfortable with his place in hip-hop history, citing his status as one of the first rap artists to sell out outdoor stadiums, inspire fashion trends and become attractive to marketers on Madison Avenue. “Now, 80 percent of all hip-hop is bought by young white teens,” he said.
He also sees himself as a reality TV pioneer, pointing out that when he did “The Surreal Life” five years ago, “it was a different world in terms of reality TV. That was one of the initial shows to spur the movement of reality TV. It wasn’t contrived. I could be myself.”
Hammer said he first came to D.C. in 1987 and has always gotten a great response. “It’s always been there over the years,” he said.
DC Grooves also hosts urban salsa legend Willie Colón on Friday and Little Richard on Sept. 20.
