Ain’t no party like a Hammer House Party cuz a Hammer House Party is 2 legit to quit!
MC Hammer ain’t broke, fam. He still moves like he did in 1991 (Check it. That was twenty-eight years ago!), he’s still smooth af, and he resurrected the house party that we old timeys remember from the days of yore. For real though, Aspercreme should have set up a vendor tent right next to a Dr. Scholls.
Tag Team opened the show and in apropos fashion and got the facts out of the way from the get go. Steve Rolln takes a seat at center stage and greets the crowd with, “Now, before we go any further, let me just say this. We old!” No doubt, the audience related as they broke into raucous laughs and applause.
After the age-related banter, Tag Team was back again. You knew it from the drop of the first beat. It was on. The nostalgia train was fired up and so was the crowd. Soccer moms and divorcees alike were booty shakin’ like it was 1992 and they just snowed the door guy at Stages with their fake IDs.
After DJ Brain Supreme and his man, Steve Rolln kicked off the show, the energy was up, the blazing hot fireball in the sky was finally cutting everyone a break, dranks were flowin’, and 2 Live Crew was up.
Massive amounts of energy exuded from the group most notably known for the track, “Me So Horny”. (Fun fact: “Me so horny. Me love you long time.” was sampled from Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 blockbuster film, Full Metal Jacket. Not-so-fun fact: Luther Campbell, a.k.a. “Luke Skyywalker” was not present for this show.)
Mr. Mixx, a.k.a. DJ Treach, donned a satiny button-down shirt featuring the lovely bikini-clad lady booties from the album cover for As Nasty As They Wanna Be. After technical difficulties with their gear foiled the smooth segue into their act, they recovered like the professional hip-hop vets that they are and wrecked the crowd, leaving the iconic hit for the set’s round up.
Biz Markie followed 2 Live Crew. He commanded the stage in all of his Biz-Mark glory and performed a set of cringy melodic numbers. Biz nailed his signature off-key performance and received many accolades from the crowd, when all that I could think about was his stint with the Beastie Boys and DJ Lance Rock (Yo Gabba Gabba!) Give me beat-box-Biz all day. Leave the melodies for Manilow.
Biz was gassed so it’s time for L-O-C. Tone Loc entered stage left wearing a black, red, and white tracksuit, looking exceptionally…. errr… umm…fit? Very thin – at least for Loc – he sounded incredible and brought the energy back to the stage.
He performed his most well-known hits, “Wild Thing” and “Funky Cold Medina”. He made light of the elephant in the room – age – but shows no evidence of the aging process. Loc looked great, sounded great, and as a matter of fact, nailed the performance far and beyond that of his role in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective back in 1837 (sic).
Sir Mix-a-Lot prefaced our beloved headliner. Did you know that he did more than “Baby Got Back”? Omg! Neither did I. Mix, as I like to call him, emanated this fierce focus, only to be magnified by the 27 pounds of gold that he put on during his act.
Mr. A-Lot ventured into the crowd, rapped eye-to-eye with fans and, well, eye-to-iPhone, as well. He saw 90s hip hop and raised it to 90s grunge when he covered Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. That is not a typo. The sentiment seemed genuine, but the cover was wincey.
The culmination of the show came together in grand fashion when a full troupe of dancers hit the stage, standing at full attention, motionless, and waiting for a cue from their captain to let the show commence.
Hammer dropped it like it’s hot as he appeared on stage. It was like 1990 Hammer, sans the Hammer pants and lines shaved into his ramp fade.
He opened with “Let’s Get It Started” and graced the audience with hits like “2 Legit To Quit”, “Pumps in the Bump”, and of course the 1992 mega-super-crazy-colossal hit, “Can’t Touch This”.
Hammer’s performance was highlighted by a stage full of dancers who packed tremendous, professional talent. The choreography was stunning and Hammer kept up like he ain’t never known arthritis.
August 9th was the fifth anniversary of the death of Michael Brown. MC Hammer spent a great deal of the show raising awareness and prayers for victims of gun violence and paying tribute to Brown. Some feel as if the show may have taken a snooze during this time as he performed a string of songs partially containing Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy, Mercy Me” and Prince’s “When Doves Cry”.
Hammer’s House Party may have been likened to that of the film, “Uncle Drew”, except with aged rappers who still got it instead of aged basketball players who can still ball.
It was a spectacular show despite the lack of visual stage elements and undoubtedly proved to be a success among concertgoers….. ahem…. PARTY PEOPLLLLLLLLE!
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Check out Mick’s full photo albums: https://photography.micklite.com/Music/Hammers-House-Party-at-Hollywood-Casino-Amp-8919
Danya is a music junkie and an accomplished producer and writer. With over 20 years in the music and media industry, she worked in St. Louis radio as an on-air talent for 16 years, in television as a writer/producer/assignment editor at KMOV-TV, and started her own podcast at Radiodanya.com showcasing St. Louis’ local music scene, is currently the host of
Arch City Live and is an on-air talent on 105.7 The Point. She received her Bachelor Degree from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and her Masters Degree from Saint Louis University. In addition to contributing to Arch City Media, she is a writer/editor/photographer for an online publication dedicated to documenting live shows throughout the U.S.: The Spectatour: We Spectate, We Tour. Aside from music’s spectrum of genres, she is also an avid hockey, baseball, and soccer fan.
