Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story

As being co-executive producer of this autobiographical account of his life, MC Hammer could've done better explaining it to a degree where it should've been more specific. Some of what's missing in this movie are: some of his posse (like Oaktown 3-5-7 and 2BigMC), the proof (Billboard-wise) of his songs climbing to the top as history proved it in late '89 to early 90's, the clothes Hammer himself would really wear in his beginnings (I do have to admit some of the clothes he wears before he rises to fame are very too new), more of his children (he only had Akeyba portrayed in the movie), and most importantly, his role in the military which signifies his latest album 'ACTIVE DUTY' (which I'm not sure if it even cracked the Billboard 200 Albums in this day and age). Definitely huge chunks missing in the movie. Regarding the Hollywoodized elements, I didn't know Hammer faced so much of that gun-shooting thing. Or is that too fictional to prove? I was kinda confused by that, honestly .... The actor who portrayed Hammer as a child was a top notcher in his dancing moves but he don't look nothing like Hank Aaron when an athlete says he does. I saw a pic of the real Hammer when he was a kid. Definitely he looks like Hammer! The one who played him as an older Hammer did good on the moves, but still the real Hammer can do better! I do have to give this actor the kudos for putting his best. One thing, though. He doesn't look much of MC Hammer. Good try however ... Rest of the movie's tie-ins to the past is very very mixed. Many of the extras looked too too modern to even be in that timewarp of Hammer's past. There's not much folks with the Box, triangle-fades, Yellow highlights, but some of Hammer's posse had their styles in the movie on-point. The movie's theme shows a good lesson of how to be a rising star and learning from the mistakes we all face in life. I like it's religious inspirations .... Overall, it could've been better. Out of 5, I'd rate this a 2. Being a Hammer fan in the past, I still say Hammer paved the way for the rap music industry today. He let rap be known whether people liked him or not, especially his own.

Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story

The hardest part of being successful is remembering to pay your taxes.

A lesson learned by the young MC in this biography.

From an early age Stanley Burrell (Robert Bailey Jr.) would dance outside of Oakland A's games for money.

Eventually his moves landed him a job as the team's batboy and a nickname that would propel him into stardom.

Spreading his gospel on Sunday years later and selling his rap singles on the street, Stanley's new pseudonym: MC Hammer (Romany Malco) starts spreading as well.

It's not until he releases Can't Touch This, however, that Hammer hits hard.

But his expansive tastes and unending generosity towards his posse soon lands him in hot water with the IRS.

An exemplary VH1 bio-picture, Too Legit not only has the highs and the lows but also top- notch dancing and unexpected cameos.

In hindsight, however, Hammer should've named his hit-song Can't Tax This.

Yellow Light

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I first want to point out that I am a huge MC Hammer fan..I was fan of his when he used to do low budget videos in nightclubs..and was selling his music out of the back of his car. This movie was so glossed over I felt I was watching an afternoon special. The actor playing Hammer didn't look anything like him..the hairpieces that were used to "go back in time" were awful...and look just like toupees'...the dancing was marginal..MC Hammer moved ten times faster and was a lot more electrifying than what was portrayed onscreen..

Where was 2 Big MC?? Oaktown 357...Ace Juice, Special Generation etc....too many fragments missing from this story..Interesting how the song "Pray" was missing from the movie..yet they show Hammer in church twice...all in all this movie sucked..they would have been better off getting the real deal.

Actually MC Hammer and Tupac were down in 1996 when Hammer signed with Death Row. I have heard the album and it is tight. It is definitely a MC Hammer Death Row album. Hammer and Tupac were really close, like brothers. MC Hammer had spoken to Tupac right before he died and expressed concern, because Tupac got in an incident. MC Hammer believes that he could have did something to stop it, and he blamed the media for hyping up east coast-west coast rivalry. A person posting in 2001 who doesn't know that MC Hammer signed with death row, and was down with Tupac? Where have you been? He even goes back longer with Suge Knight. Suge Knight was there in 1994 at MC Hammer's house for the Funky Headhunter release. Suge Knight was saying that He was down with Hammer, and that Hammer was family, and that other artists were jealous, and trying to destroy him (like Too Short, who Hammer dogs in his death row album.) Hammer is from Oakland. Hammer is real. Do a search on Youtube for MC Hammer Tupac. Hammer talks about his relationship with Tupac, and after hearing that, you'll gain a lot of respect for Tupac. But any body who doesn't know that Tupac and Hammer were down must not have into rap in the 1990s.

The acting wasn't great, but at least the history followed MC Hammer up to his bankruptcy..

And then we jump to 1994. First of all, Tupac didn't join Death Row until early 1996, and even then I never remembered him being that down with Hammer. And why were they talking about the Tyson fight while Hammer was shooting "Pumps and a Bump?" The video came out in 1994, when Tyson was still in jail!

I guess this is what we should expect from a VH1 movie...