MC Hammer
MC Hammer and his producers recorded "U Can't Touch This" on a converted tour bus outfitted with $50,000 in equipment, recording between live shows with a total production budget of $10,000. Rick James had banned all rappers from sampling his music, but after hearing this track climb the charts, he reversed course, settled out of court, and accepted co-writing credit and royalties. The album "Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em" logged 32 consecutive weeks at number 1 or 2, the longest such uninterrupted run since Billboard merged its charts in 1963. It was the first hip-hop album ever nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys.
In our deep dive into U Can't Touch This, we trace the song from a tour bus recording session to the chart run that forced a genre to be taken seriously, and what it reveals about a rapper who understood exactly how to make something millions of people couldn't turn off.
