MC Hammer Revisits Some of His Most Famous Looks, Including Hammer Pants (Because Duh)
MC Hammer playing it cool at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. (Photo: Getty Images)
Do not refer to Hammer pants as harem pants.
That’s my takeaway from talking with MC Hammer, singer of “U Can’t Touch This” and popularizer of parachute pants. The iconic personality, 54, recently hosted an event for 3M’s Command Strips at Grand Central Terminal in New York, where excited attendees young and old — we saw a granny or two! — donned ’90s accessories (think: inflatable boom boxes, crazy colored wigs, and Day-Glo everything) to lip-sync the star’s hits.
Images of the Hammertime and Surreal Life star — in Hammer pants, of course — decorated Vanderbilt Hall while his songs played, taking us back to the era that was Too Legit to Quit. And from behind his dark sunglasses, he indulged us by talking about all things ’90s — even if he had to correct us here and there.
Hammer making one man’s dream come true at the Command Strips event. (Photo: Getty Images)
“It was great times during the ’90s in a lot of respects, especially musically. Hip-hop was starting to resonate around the world and was being introduced to a lot of cultures,” Hammer, whose attire sadly did not include Hammer pants, told Yahoo Celebrity. “We produced some music in the late ’80s, early ’90s that was really timeless.”
He also produced some eclectic red carpet and stage looks. We brought images of some of his classic looks, which he scrolled through and riffed on.
Photo: Getty Images
Hammer at the 1991 Grammy Awards: “That was a fun day. One of the designers brought that jacket and said, ‘Hey, do you like it?’ I said, ‘Yeah, give me that, and give me the boots. I’m gonna space out today.’”
Photo: Getty Images
Performing in 1991: When we referred to his bottoms in this photo as “harem pants,” he corrected us politely but firmly. “No, the Hammer pant. I don’t rebrand my own [thing]. But, yeah, I like that a lot too. I like the color scheme there. Very cool.”
Photo: Getty Images
Onstage in Paris in 1991: “It’s got the suspenders built into it. We did that a lot, so I have a lot with the suspenders built in.”
Photo: Getty Images
The 1992 American Music Awards: “It’s a one-piece workout, like a wrestler’s outfit. I always want to portray physicality, so being in shape and being physical is a big part of my power dance style.”
Photo: Getty Images
Also at the 1992 AMAs: “That’s a little more in the evening. More for evening wear. Going out to the club at nighttime. Cleaner look.”
Photo: Getty Images
This gem is not fashion-focused, but we couldn’t resist showing him with Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg at the 1996 AMAs: “I have a bunch of those [photos of] me and Pac and Snoop.” Good memories? “Oh, yeah. Great memories.”
For the record, he does not have a closet at home just for Hammer pants. “But I have a closet for Hammer clothes,” he shared. Several of his most famous outfits are already housed in “the Smithsonian and places like that. They’re already in museums.”
Hammer at the Yeezy Season 3 presentation. (Photo: Getty Images)
Hammer’s love of fashion remains strong — that’s among the reasons why you may have seen him in the audience at the Yeezy Season 3 presentation at Madison Square Garden in February. He sat behind the Kardashians and tweeted out a video of them dancing that went viral.
Asked when he and Kanye became friendly, Hammer replied, “From the beginning when he first started. I met him way back then. We’ve always had a good, friendly relationship. I see where he grabs his colorful music from, and I dig the fashion sense. Obviously I’m a fashion guy, so we see the world — our lens is very similar in a lot of respects.”
Hammer, seated behind the Kardashians, at the Yeezy show. (Photo: Splash News)
We’re not sure how Hammer could see anything at the Yeezy presentation with Khloé, Kylie, and Kim’s crazy fur coats blocking him, but he enjoyed the show nonetheless.
Over the weekend, the in style for Hammer was the cap and gown. His son Jeremiah graduated from a Los Angeles-area high school, and the singer delivered the commencement address to the teens. Asked in advance whether his speech would be humorous or emotional, he said neither.
“I think I have a responsibility to really give some substance during the commencement speech,” said the ordained minister, who has five children with his wife of 30 years, Stephanie. “These are young people, high school, and one of the things I’ve noticed that’s missing in life is people are not passing down enough information to the generations. When young people don’t know something, the reason they don’t know is because you didn’t tell them. So share the information.”
Hammer at his son Jeremiah’s graduation. (Photo: Instagram)
And seeing as he’s been married for three decades — a rarity in Hollywood — we asked him to share some information with us — how he’s made it work.
“I think the real secret is understanding that life is always evolving and you’ve got to give everybody the opportunity to grow,” he said. “So nothing is so bad that you can’t … When the sun comes up in the morning, you have an opportunity to see it through a different lens and work through it, ya know? Don’t put yourself or your relationship under so much pressure like everything is so finite. We allow room for us to evolve and grow.”
Good advice for relationships and good advice for fashion.
