MC Hammer Net Worth 2024: Bio, Wife, Career & Facts
MC Hammer’s net worth in 2024 is currently estimated to be $2.5 million. The American rapper was one of the artists that grew and rose rapidly in fame in the 1990s. Sadly, there has been different news that he has lost his fortune due to mismanagement of wealth and funds.
Stanley Kirk Burell who is popularly known as MC Hammer or Hammer was born in Oakland, California on March 30, 1963. The award-winning rapper and dancer is one of the pioneer singers of Pop Rap.
He has been married to Stephanie for almost 30 years with 5 children comprising of 2 females and 3 males.
A lot is hidden about this great celebrity which will be exposed here but before we proceed to the full biography of MC Hammer and MC Hammer net worth let us take you through a piece of brief profile information about him.
MC Hammer Profile
Full Name: | Stanley Kirk Burell |
Nickname: | MC Hammer |
Date of Birth: | March 30, 1963 |
Place of Birth: | Oakland, California, United States |
Age: | 60 Years Old |
Nationality: | American |
Married to: | Stephanie |
Education: | Mc Chymond High School |
Career: | Recording artist, rapper, dancer, producer & entrepreneur |
Career Status: | Active from 1990s |
Net Worth: | $2.5 million |
Continue reading MC Hammer’s net worth and life history to figure out how the once-rich rapper starts struggling with debt. Also, you get to learn more about his personality, lifestyle, wife, and other details in this article.
Early Background and Family Life
Stanley Kirk Burell who is popularly known as MC Hammer was born on March 30, 1963, in Oakland, California. His father used to be a professional poker at Card Club’s Cardroom in Oakland, he was also the gambling casino manager. MC Hammer’s age is 59 years currently. Also, he once worked as a warehouse supervisor while his mother was a secretary. Apart from MC Hammer, the other 8 siblings were living with his parents in a small apartment in Oakland.
MC Hammer had to sell Stray baseball at a parking lot to support his family with other siblings while growing up. It was this hustling spirit that the Oakland A team owner, Charles saw that made him hire MC Hammer as his club assistant. The great rapper double as a club assistant as well as a batboy with the team from 1973 to 1980.
Concerning his educational background, In 1980, MC Hammer graduated from Mc Chymond High School in Oakland. He later started taking classes in communications before he joined the US Navy for 3 years serving. After his service years in the Navy, MC Hammer later form a rap music group with Jon Gibson and released an album, which signifies the beginning of his music career.
Music Career
MC Hammer is a popular American rapper, dancer, and record producer, especially in the 1990s. He started his music career by forming a Christian rap music group which was called “Holy Ghost Boys”. From there, he worked with Jon Gibson and another member of the group to produce different songs like Word, B-Boy Chill, The Wall all under Gibson’s album. In 1988, Jon Gibson’s album which was titled “Change of Heart” became the first Christian rap hit ever.
This signifies the beginning of MC Hammer’s music career because he started recording songs after which he released his first album titled “Feel My Power”. “Feel My Power” was the first album produced by MC Hammer with songs like Let’s Get it Started and others under it. This song was produced under his record label, Bust It Records which was established with a loan of $40,000 he borrowed from 2 Oakland A’s team players (Mike Davis and Dwayne Murphy) at that time.
Bust It Records at that time was run by MC Hammer in a basement from the back of his car. He was selling records of his song to run the music label. Not only that, MC Hammer signed a couple of artists then whom he collaborated and produced the song with. Some of them include Analise, James Greer, Pleasure Ellis, Teabag, Ho Frat Hoo, Geeman, and so on.
During this period, MC Hammer also records another song titled “Ring Em” which was very popular in the street of San Francisco especially in different dance clubs. Owing to him and his wife’s aggressive marketing, different radio mix-show, and stage shows. It was during one of his numerous shows that he met Capitol record executive. Despite rejecting the offer of many major records, MC Hammer got signed to Capitol record with an advanced payment of $1,750,000.
MC Hammer later reproduced his first album “Feel My Power” with the addition of some other songs Turn This Mutha Out, Let’s Get It Started, They Put Me in the Mix, and Pump It Up under Capitol record. The album sold over 2 million copies which was a good feat compared to his previous result.
His third album, Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt Em which was released originally on January 1, 1990, was also a success. This time, it tops the pop charts for 21 weeks. A single under it “U Can’t Touch This”, also ranked No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 after debuting at No. 27.
Since then MC Hammer has released many songs and albums which were successful commercially. The likes of Have You Seen Her, Pray, 3 legit 2 Quit and so on. Apart from the Capitol record, Hammer has worked with other different records like EMI Records, Giant, Death Row, Reprise, Warner Bros, and Full Blast Music.
With over 50 million records sold, he was able to gather a lot of fame and wealth. Even though this was without different challenges like court cases, bankruptcy claims, and rumors he was associated with.
MC Hammer as an Entrepreneur
Apart from being a recording artist, rapper, dancer, and producer, he is also an entrepreneur who has launched different business lines.
Among them is his mixed martial and management company named Alchemist which was established in 2010. He manages a lot of fighters via the company including Tim F. Kennedy, Nate Marquardt, and others. Similarly, he established a clothing line called Alchemist clothing where colorful new styles are adopted. Nate Marquardt and others were the models used in selling those clothing.
Net Worth
Hammer used to be one of the richest musicians in America before his fame began to dwindle with a lot of court cases and lawsuits. Currently, MC Hammer’s net worth is estimated to be around $2.5 million.
Songs and Albums
Some many songs and albums have been produced by MC Hammer since he debuted as a singer and rapper. Find below some of his albums as listed
- Feel My Power was released in 1986
- Let’s Get It Started was released in 1988
- Please, Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em released in 1990
- Too Legit to Quit was released in 1991
- The Funky Headhunter was released in 1994
- Inside Out was released in 1995
- Active Duty was released in 2001
- Full Blast was released in 2004
- Look Look Look was released in 2006
- DanceJamtheMusic was released in 2009
Awards and Recognition
MC Hammer is an award-winning singer, rapper with many recognition and awards from different organizations for his contributions to music especially Pop-Rap. Below are some of his awards;
- Grammy Award for the Best Rhythm and Blues Song in 1990
- Grammy Award for the Best Rap Solo in 1990
- Grammy Award for the Best Music Video: Long Form in 1990
- Soul Train Music Award for the Entertainer of the Year in 1991.
- Soul Train Music’s 5th Annual Awards in 1991
- The 9th Annual Soul Train Music 9th Annual Awards in 1995
- The 25th Anniversary Soul Train Awards Anniversary in 1995
- George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement on May 17, 2013
- Living Legends of Hip Hop Award from Hip Hop International in August 2008
Also, he has received many other awards including 8 American Music Awards, a Billboard Diamond Award, NAACP Image Awards, People’s Choice Award, and so on. He has also featured and anchor many awards like Soul Train Awards, Second Annual Shorty Awards, and many others.
Family Life and Personality
Hammer has been married to his wife for almost 30 years. MC Hammer’s wife, Stephanie gave birth to 5 children which include 2 daughters and 3 sons. MC Hammers daughters are named Sarah, Akeiba while his sons are Bobby, Jeremiah, and Sammy.
Controversies
Like every other popular artist, MC Hammer has been in the news for many controversies and rumors. Chiefly among them are his bankruptcy news and different court cases.
Just before there were rumors of MC Hammer being bankrupt, he was reported to have spent $12 million to build his home in Firemouth, California. Also, he spent massively to employ over 200 people and some other personal luxuries. During this period, Forbes reportedly estimates MC Hammer’s net worth to be $33 million. Only for rumors to start spreading that he is finding it difficult to pay his debt as a result of upward loans, large payroll, and dwindling in sales of his songs.
MC Hammer denied this on different shows that he is struggling with debt until April 1, 1996, when he filed for US bankruptcy in an Oakland Court. He was denied a bankruptcy discharge in April 2003. Series of back and forth investigations were done in between before it was later settled.
Also, in 2002, MC Hammer was sued for not completing a contract. It happened that he signed a contract with Simon & Schister, a publishing company in America that needs an inspirational manuscript for a book from him. An advance payment of $61,000 was given to him with an agreement of submission of the book the following year which MC Hammer failed to meet up.
Another lawsuit was from Kelvin Christian and his group who sue the pop-rap star for copyright infringement of their song. Although it was later settled out of the court.
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MC Hammer “We Gotta Do Better”
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FAQs
MC Hammer is currently 60 years old.
MC Hammer is happily married, he is married to his wife Stephanie Fuller.
MC Hammer is very much alive, there has been no rumor or news about his death.