December 13th 2023.
MC Hammer was noticeably absent from the “Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop”, and according to Questlove's Twitter Q&A, he "really wanted him to have his flowers". Questlove said "We begged him to open" but MC Hammer still turned down the event. This sparked a conversation on Twitter among hip-hop fans who shared their theories on why Hammer had been absent from all of the Hip Hop 50 events throughout the year.
One fan resurfaced a clip of Hammer’s speech last month during the street naming ceremony for Tupac Shakur. MC Hammer acknowledged his no-show at the hip-hop anniversary events despite being invited to all of them. He said “You ain’t heard me go to none of these hip hop 50’s and just for the record I got invited to every one. But I really don’t have the patience for the fakeness.”
Hammer went on to explain his reasoning further, saying “I’m really 60 years old. So I can’t get with the fakeness of it all. I can do it with the young cats but I can’t come around old cats and still be pretending.”
The clip sparked a lot of conversation among fans, some of whom speculated that the "fakeness" MC Hammer referred to was resentment from his hip-hop peers for his style of music and money woes.
During his hey day, MC Hammer was mocked in music videos by 3rd Bass, The D.O.C., DJ Debranz and Ice Cube. Later, in 2010, Jay-Z even referenced Hammer’s 1996 bankruptcy filing in the rap lyric “So Appalled”.
These jeers and taunts from the hip-hop community could be a part of the “fakeness” MC Hammer is referring to. It's possible that this is why he turned down the invitation to the “Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop”, and why Questlove was so disappointed that he wasn't able to be there and "have his flowers".
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