From the late 1980s to the mid 1990s, it looked like rapper MC Hammer would always be "2 Legit 2 Quit," but his story took some unexpected turns that made his life story as colorful as his collection of parachute pants. Hammer's real name is Stanley Kirk Burrell, and he was born in Oakland California in 1962. He was from a religious family and had more of an interest in baseball as a youth. He was a bat boy for the Oakland A's and quickly gained the attention of fans for his dancing skills during the games' breaks. It was also there that he would earn the nickname Hammer because he looked like "Hammerin'" Hank Aaron.

After high school, Hammer joined the Navy and turned to hip-hop after his discharge. He started performing and created his own record label called Bust It. He released his debut album in 1987 called Feel My Power. The sounds on the album led to a contract with Capitol Records. The album was rereleased as Let's Get It Started in 1988 and featured the hit "Turn This Mutha Out." Although the album was a success, Hammer would go down in musical history for his next release, Please Hammer, Don't Hurt ‘Em, which dropped in 1990.

The single from that release, "U Can't Touch This," was a massive success and pushed the album to the number one spot on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and the Billboard 200. The album was followed by Too Legit to Quit in 1991, which was another hit with the title single. He was a superstar in the music business and released two more albums in the mid 1990s. The extravagant overspending of Hammer led to him filing for bankruptcy in 1996. The tough times pushed him back to faith, and he turned his attention to releasing a religious album called Family Affair. Problems in production led to a limited release of the album. Hammer had a few albums in the works afterward and finally released Active Duty in 2001, which had a patriotic theme.