48 - The Michigan Daily - W ee4, za. - Thursday, February 8, 1996 Fom giddy to gangsta, Hammer, please don't hurt your image By Eugene Bowen Daily Arts Writer With the fairly recent release of his fifth album, "M.C. Hammer V: Inside Out", the man for whom, four years ago, it was always "Hammer Time" is strug- gling to regain even a hint of the popular- ity he had back in the day when blacks didn't hate him and whites cared. There's no time like the present to analyze what causedthe HammerKingdomtocrumble, and to determine if his once-almighty dynasty can ever be rebuilt. It's happened to many a rap star, but not as badly as with M.C. Hammer. He came out in 1988 with "Let's Get It Started" and gained many props from the black community with such party favorites as the title track and "Turn This Mutha Out." The rest of the nation jumped on the boat. The extra duckets "white dollars" put in Hammer's pockets after singles like "U Can't Touch This" and "Pray" hit air- waves seemed to change him. He forgot those who propelled him to success; he forgot that if it weren't for black patron- age, white interest would never have come. But blacks remembered. When "Too Legit to Quit" came out in 1992, blacks avoided it like the plague; they slammed the CD and ridi- culed him. Whites followed suit, and M.C. Hammer was left virtually fan- less. The fact that "Too Legit to Quit" bombed so terribly following his multi- platinum "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em" attests to the concerted African American ire directed at him. Sensing it was time for him to "go back to his roots," Hammer, a child of Oakland, released "The Funky Head- hunter," a much more "gangsta" re- lease than his previous ones. But Hammer, gangsta?! Don't make me laugh. Too late -everyone already was. Make no mistake, blacks were al- ready determined to break him, and even if Hammer had released the best album in the history of music, the black community would have found some way to discredit him. On a positive note,"It's All Good" replaced "Whoop! There It Is" as the urban theme of 1994. But M.C. Hammer filled "The Funky Headhunter" with play-tough selec- tions, thereby pissing off rap lovers and adding Crisco to the proverbial fire that was being made to cook him in ... not so proverbially. Trumpeting his return as the return of a different man, Hammer- haters mocked his fakeness with evi- dent glee. But M.C. Hammer had (and still has) one thing going for him. Homebody can dance. He was never much of a rapper, but his ability to cut a little rug, coupled with his songs' very dance-friendly mu- sic, kept his head above water. At a point when most performers would have been dumped by their label without a second thought, Giant Records picked up M.C. Hammer hoping against hope that he had a miracle in his pocket. Perhaps he does: Pity. What if Ham- mer comes back so humbled that black people feel especially sorry for him? What if, through his music, Hammer basically promises to never sell out again? Could this persuade the black community to bestow its greatest gift for fallen performers- another chance - to M.C. Hammer? Probably not, but it's worth a shot. That is what "V" is all about. He touts this release as a musical delve into himself. What we supposedly get is neither giddy nor gangsta - it's Ham- mer, the true Hammer, in all his moods. Hammer sees himself as someone who has "gone through the experiences of betrayal and life's ups and downs, but who likes to have fun and, at the same time be a prayerful and a spiritual per- son with a lot of concern for society." This is how he speaks to us on this, his fifth album. M.C. Hammer still can't rap, though. His signature dance songs on "V," like "Luv-N-Happiness," "Sultry Funk" and "Bustin' Loose," have live beats and de- cent background shouts and chants. Yet the moment Hammer opens his mouth ... many more times than not the whole song nearly crumbles. Back in the day people were so caught in Hammer's musical vibe that they kindly overlooked his lyri- cal shortcomings. Hammer better not be expecting that same kindnessagain. With- out question, M.C. Hammer's poor skills on the mic are the Achilles' heel that he has a snowball's chance in hell of over- coming. Returning to his pre-"Funky Head- hunter" days, Hammer places two praise-da-Lawd songs on his album. The San Jose Community Choir con- tributes background vocals to both, "coin' Up Yonder" and "He Keeps Doing Great Things for Me." M.C. Hammer also keeps up the positive flow with songs like "Everything Is Alright" and "A Brighter Day." He even raps "Nothing But Love," a dedication to the late Eazy-E - another guy whose rap- ping wasn't all that. In "V," Hammer completely avoids repeating dopish attempts at sounding hardcore; he's much safer repeating his old-school song methods. Yet this album is truly much deeper than his previous ones. Similar to what 2PAC did last year, Hammer has changed; the energy of that change can be felt in his music. Even reading his song titles you can see how hard M.C. Hammer is trying to regain the public's love, which, once U Hammer, shown here at the American Music Awards in 1991, has suffered a severe blow to the image over the course of his career. you get a taste of, you feel naked with- out. "I Hope Things Change," "Keep On," "Everything Is Alright," "A Brighter Day" - makes you wonder whether he's singing these songs for us or for himself. If Hammer's looking for sympathy, he's gotten it from me. "V" is not a bad CD, and it does have a few songs worthy of ... respect (did I say that?). But since realism makes for better sarcasm, I re- main a realist. I feel this album is very a personal; this makes it M.C. Hammer's greatest work. Yet it will still not have the general.appeal of his previous works. I predict that blacks will continue to for- sake Hammer, and whites will continue to follow suit. Sure, they will be denying themselves an interestingglimpseat Ham- mer, but they won't care. Hammer once said of"V": "It focuses on lifting your spirit, on bringing joy and good times that'll make you feel good... Put this record on, and it takes you to a better place; especially if things aren't going right." Advice for Hammer: Practice whatyou preach. Find your solace in your songs, because if you're still expecting it from former fans you have a long wait ahead. The lack ofadoration you will continue to receive shouldn't shape your self-con- sciousness. You let fans' enthusiasm change you into someone you weren't, and you lost everything because of it. Don't allow their apathy or your shame to push you deeper into a pit of despair from which you may never emerge. You may not be the best, but you're too good for that. Good luck M.C. Hammer. INDIE FILM Continued from Page 1B Beyond a work of art's selling point, it almost goes without saying that the less money involved in a project, the more freedom there is for its partici- pants. The less capital at stake, the less limitations on pure experimentation. In other words, more often than not, the cheaper the film, the higher th quality. Not only are the new batch of semi- mainstream independent films gener- ally of a higher quality than those fromW the bigger studios, but because they don't cater to stars' ridiculous egos (translates: paychecks) they are able to keep costs down and, therefore, not losing as much money as bigger studios routinely do. According to a recent Entertainment Weekly poll, the average Hollywood studio film costs about $34 million to produce and at least another $10 mil- lion to advertise and promote. The av* erage independent film costs $1-3 mil- lion to make and another million or two to promote. Obviously, you don't need to be a marketing genius to figure out which scenario is more profitable. Yet, somehow the bald guys with the bucks just don't seem to get it. Weighing in at an astounding $175 million (before advertising revenues), this summer's "Waterworld" was by far the biggest "whoops" Hollywood has ever uttered. The recent pirate-schlock flick "Cut- throat Island" from producer-director Renny Harlin and actor Geena Davis was a comparative lightweight at $92 million (before advertising). It was such a disaster at the box-office that Carolco, the mid-sized company that released it, has now gone belly-up in the sun. Often starting from the East Coast (particularly New York City) indepen- dent film scene and then moving on towards the festival circuit and hope- fully, eventual national distribution, independent film has burrowed enough of a niche into the status quo to almost warrant being called a new genre. In 1995, it was "Crumb," Terry Zwigoff's modestly-budgeted docu- mentary about legendary cartoonist I. Crumb, and "Georgia," Ulu Grosbard's trailblazing drama of sibling rivalry set against the back-drop of the music in* dustry that used modest budgets to reap decent rewards. In addition, it was Sundance Film Festival (see side bar) hero, writer-di- rector Ed Burns who scraped up the $26,000 necessary to make a rough, black and white comedy called "The Brothers McMullen"; it went on to earn $10 million in American theaters alone and was even briefly a top 10 film of the week. In 1994, it was Sundance Film Festival hero writer-director Kevin'' Smith who scraped up the $23,000 nec- essary to make his black-and-white comedy, "Clerks." This movie went on to earn $3 million in American theaters alone. In 1993, it was Sundance Film Festi- val heroes, director Bryan Singer and writer-director Nick Gomez, whose "Public Access" and "Laws of Grav- ity," respectively, were both made in the under $100,000 range and went on to reap big rewards for their companies. In 1992, it was Sundance hero writer- director Hal Hartley whose modestly- budgeted "Trust" went on to earn a couple million at the box office. In 1991, it was Richard Linklater with "Slacker" and Allison Anders with "Gas, Food, Lodging." In the '80s it was filmmakers like Jim Jarmusch and Gus Van Sant. In the'60s and 1970, it was filmnakers like Mar-s tin Scorsese, Arthur Penn, Dennis Hop- per and John Cassevetes. The presence has always been there; it's only re- cently started raking in the cash. Small, truly independent companies like Circle ("Raising Arizona"), First Look ("The Secret of Roan Inish"), I.R.S. ("Gas, Food, Lodging"), Sev- enth Art ("Risk"), Strand Releasing ("Totally F**cked Up"), Tara ("The Vanishing"), Hemdale("BrightAngel")@ and Trimark ("Federal Hill") operate without a father-figure, big-studio to support them. The "fake indies," namely Miramax ("Georgia"), Grammercy ("The Usual Suspects"), Fine Line, ("Double Happiness"), Goldwyn ("Go Fish), Sony Pictures Classics ("Ama- teur") are all "indies" under the support of a large, corporate studio. Not only has the demand for these kinds of films grown, but the capacity to distribute them, as well. While "Black Sheep," a silly, over- bloated comedy featuring ex and cur- rent Saturday Night Live cast members may be the country's current No. 1 hit, don't expect it to last long. There's a new force in town and the first people they're gonna take out are the Chris Farley's of the world. 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