Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em

Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em is the third studio album by American rapper MC Hammer, released on February 12, 1990 by Capitol Records and EMI Records. Produced, recorded and mixed by Felton Pilate and James Earley, it was made on a small budget of around $10,000 and recorded on a modified tour bus between May 1988 and November 1989.

Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em received lukewarm reviews by critics and hip hop purist fans about over the repetitive nature of his lyrics, his clean-cut image and his perceived over-reliance on using hooks from other artists for the basis of his singles. Despite this, the album received five nominations at the 1991 Grammy Awards including Album of the Year, becoming the first Hip Hop record to be nominated on this category and eventually winning Best Rap Solo Performance and Best R&B Song for "U Can't Touch This" and Best Music Video: Long Form. Also, it won five awards at the 1991 American Music Awards including Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album and Favorite Pop/Rock album.

The album is considered Hammer's mainstream breakthrough album and a commercial juggernaut. It peaked at number one for twenty one weeks at the US Billboard 200 becoming the first time ever for a rap recording on the pop charts and was best-selling album of 1990. It was the first Hip Hop album to be certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over ten million in the United States. Also it was certified platinum in serverial territories including United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Spain. It was on the best-selling hip hop albums with over 17 million copies worldwide, as of July 15, 2012.

To promote the album, six official singles was released: "Help the Children", "Dancin' Machine", "Pray", "Have You Seen Her", "Here Comes the Hammer" and the smash hit "U Can't Touch This" that reached the Top 10 at the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number one in Australia, Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden, and number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. Most of the singles released from the album proved to be successful on radio and video television. Following the album success, Hammer embarked on the Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em World Tour, that stretched from 1990 to 1991 with 144 dates, grossing over $32 million.

Background
Hammer's previous album Let's Get It Started (1988) was certified two times platinum for selling over two million copies in the United States. By the end of 1989, it sold over 1.5 million units in the United States. Not quite satisfied with the multi-platinum success, Hammer's music underwent a metamorphosis, shifting from the standard rap format in his upcoming album. According to Hammer: "I decided the next album would be more musical." Purists chastised him for being more dancer than rapper. Sitting in a leopard-print bodysuit before a concert, he defended his style: "People were ready for something different from the traditional rap style. The fact that the record has reached this level indicates the genre is growing."

During the summer 1988, while he was on tour, Hammer started to record his third studio album on a modified tour bus. After spending part of his advance from Capitol Records on $50,000 worth of equipment for the back of the tour bus, he used his free time on the road to record his next album. According to Guinness World Records of hit singles, the album cost just $10,000 to produce, roughly the same budget as his independent debut. Capitol launched the album with an innovative marketing strategy, mailing out free cassette singles and a personalized letter to 100,000 kids, most of whom were black or Hispanic. The letter, signed by Hammer, asked the youths to phone MTV and request his video.

Album overview and promotion
Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em was released on February 12, 1990. It features the commercially successful single "U Can't Touch This", which sampled Rick James' 1981 single, "Super Freak". It was produced, recorded and mixed by Felton Pilate and James Earley, on a modified tour bus in 1989. Despite heavy airplay and a No. 27 chart debut, "U Can't Touch This" peaked at No. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, because it was only released as a twelve-inch vinyl single with not other single type available. However, the album was a No. 1 success for 21 weeks at the US Billboard 200. The song has been used in many movies and television shows to date, and appears on soundtrack and compilation albums as well (such as Man of the House and Back 2 Back Hits). During this time, Hammer released "This Is What We Do" for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film and soundtrack (1990) and "That's What I Said" on the Rocky V soundtrack (1990).

Follow-up singles included "Have You Seen Her" (a cover of the Chi-Lites) and "Pray" (a beat sampled from Prince's "When Doves Cry" and Faith No More's "We Care a Lot"). "Pray" was his biggest hit in the US, peaking at No. 2. It was also a major UK success, peaking at No. 8. The album was notable for sampling other high-profile artists, and gave some of these artists a new fan base. "Dancin' Machine" sampled The Jackson 5, "Help the Children" (also the name of an outreach foundation Hammer started) interpolates Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)", and "She's Soft and Wet" also sampled Prince's "Soft and Wet".

Following the success of the album, Hammer toured extensively in Europe, which included a sold-out concert at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. With the sponsorship of PepsiCo International, Pepsi CEO Christopher A. Sinclair went on tour with him during 1991. By June 1991, the album sold 14.5 million copies worldwide. It would go on to become the first hip-hop album to earn diamond status, selling more than 18 million units to date.

Critical reception
Hammer experienced critical backlash over the repetitive nature of his lyrics, his clean-cut image and his perceived over-reliance on using hooks from other artists for the basis of his singles. He was dissed in music videos by The D.O.C. and Ice Cube. Oakland hip-hop group Digital Underground mocked him in the CD insert of its Sex Packets album, by placing his picture in with the other members, and referring to him as an unknown derelict. He was also mentioned in the song "The Humpty Dance", with Shock G claiming: "People say 'Ya look like MC Hammer on crack, Humpty!'."

On the track "To da Break of Dawn", Hammer is depicted as an "amateur, swinging a Hammer from a body bag [his pants]", from LL Cool J's album Mama Said Knock You Out (1990). Additional lyrics included: "My old gym teacher ain't supposed to rap." He later referenced Hammer in "I Shot Ya (remix)", a track on his album Mr. Smith (1995). However, LL Cool J would later compliment and commend Hammer's abilities/talents on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop, which aired in 2008. On Hammer's second album, Let's Get It Started (1988), he originally claimed: "And when it comes to straight up rockin' / I'm second to none / from Doug E. Fresh to LL or DJ Run."

Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em was also criticized for its sampling of songs by other musicians. The album sampled high-profile artists, and gave some of these artists a new fan base as a result. "U Can't Touch This" sampled "Super Freak" by Rick James; "Dancin' Machine" sampled the Jackson 5; "Have You Seen Her" is a semi-cover of The Chi-Lites song; "Help the Children" interpolates Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)"; "Pray" samples "When Doves Cry" and "She's Soft and Wet" samples "Soft and Wet", both songs by Prince.

Commercial reception
Released on February 12, 1990, Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em reached the number one position on the US Billboard 200 in the week ending June 9, 1990 becoming the first rap album to reach the top spot on the pop charts. By August, it was selling over 100,000 copies a day. In less than six months, it sold more than four million copies, making it the biggest selling rap album at the time, beating Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill. By October 1990, it had reached the six million mark, and by November of the same year, seven million units sold in the United States. Eventually, it stayed 21 weeks at the top of US Billboard 200 becoming the longest run by a male black artist since Michael Jackson Thriller.

By January 1991, the album reached 8 million units sold, becoming the first album to do so in one calendar year since Prince's Purple Rain in 1984. In the same month, it reached the 9 million mark in US sales. By May 1991, the album certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, for sales of over ten million copies in the United States.

The album ranked No. 1 for twenty-one weeks on the US Billboard 200, due primarily to the success of the single "U Can't Touch This". Likewise, the album saw longevity on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, peaking at No. 1 and staying atop the chart for twenty-eight weeks. It was the top selling album of 1990 in the United States, and is one of the best-selling hip hop albums of all time.

In Canada, the album was the sixth best-selling album of 1990 and the single, "U Can't Touch This", was the sixth best-selling single of that year. Eventually, it was certified 8x platinum for selling over 800,000 units in the country, and won International Album of the Year at the 1991 Juno Awards. Also, it was certified triple platinum in New Zealand. In May 1991, Hammer received an award for sales of more than 1 million units of his album "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em" in EMI Music Worldwide's international territories of Japan, SE Asia, Australasia, Africa and Latin America. As of July 1991, it sold 17 million of copies worldwide.

Most of the singles released from the album proved to be successful on radio and television, with "U Can't Touch This", "Pray", "Have You Seen Her", "Here Comes the Hammer" and "Yo!! Sweetness" (UK only) all charting. The album raised rap music to a new level of popularity. It became the first hip-hop album to be ever nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1991. The album has sold over 17 million copies worldwide, as of July 15, 2012.

Lawsuits
Rick James sued Hammer for infringement of copyright on the song "U Can't Touch This", but the suit was settled out of court when Hammer agreed to credit James as co-composer, effectively cutting James in on the millions of dollars the record was earning. Hammer was also sued by a former producer, Felton Pilate (who is also a member of the successful R&B band Con Funk Shun), and by several of his former backers. Additionally, he faced charges that performance troupe members (aka posse) endured an abusive, militaristic atmosphere.

In 1992, Hammer admitted in depositions and court documents to getting the idea for the song "Here Comes the Hammer", from a Texas-based Christian recording artist named Kevin Abdullah. Abdullah had filed a US$16 million lawsuit against Hammer for copyright infringement for his song entitled "Oh-Oh, You Got the Shing". Hammer settled with Abdullah for $250,000 in 1995.

Samples
"Work This" "Help the Children" "Here Comes the Hammer" "Pray" "U Can't Touch This" "Yo!! Sweetness" "She's Soft and Wet" "Black Is Black"
 * "Let's Work" by Prince
 * "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" by Marvin Gaye
 * "Super Bad" by James Brown
 * "When Doves Cry" by Prince
 * "We Care a Lot" by Faith No More
 * "Super Freak" by Rick James
 * "Give It to Me Baby" by Rick James
 * "Your Sweetness Is My Weakness" by Barry White
 * "Soft and Wet" by Prince
 * "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" by James Brown

Film
The Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em album was accompanied by a direct-to-video film titled Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em: The Movie (1990). It stars Hammer as a rapper who returns to his old neighborhood, and defeats an illegal drug trade dealer who is using kids to traffic his product. Hammer plays an additional role of preacher "Reverend Pressure". The film costarred Juice Sneed, Keyon White, Joe Mack and Davina H'Ollier.

The movie won Hammer, director Rupert Wainwright and producer John Oetjen a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Long Form at the 33rd Grammy Awards. Besides Hammer, music talent included Ho Frat Hoo! (1991 MTV Video Music Awards Best Choreography in a Video winner for "Pray" along with Hammer), Torture, Special Generation and rapper One Cause One Effect.

Additional releases included The Making of Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em (1990), Hammer Time (1990) and Here Comes the Hammer (1991). All projects were Capitol Records Productions.