Recorded 1987–1988 Label Capitol
EMI Records | Genre Golden age hip hop | |
Released September 28, 1988 (1988-09-28) Let's Get It Started
(1988) Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em
(1990) | ||
Let's Get It Started is the second release by hip hop emcee M.C. Hammer. The album went double platinum with "Pump It Up", "Let's Get It Started", "Turn This Mutha Out" and "They Put Me in the Mix" as the most popular tracks from this album. Music videos were also produced for all of these songs. The album topped the R&B charts and peaked at #30 on the Billboard 200. It was #1 on the US R&B charts.
Contents
The album produced Top-5 rap single hits. "Turn This Mutha Out" peaked the highest at #3 on the US Rap charts and also cracked the Top-15 on both the Dance and R&B charts (#12). However, none of the singles made much of a dent in the pop charts.
Album and song history
Once signed to Capitol Records, Hammer re-issued his first record (a revised version of Feel My Power) with additional tracks added and sold over 2 million copies. Recorded between 1987–1988, it was released on September 28, 1988. "Pump It Up", "Turn This Mutha Out", "Let's Get It Started" and "They Put Me in the Mix" were released as singles from this album which all charted.
But not quite satisfied with this first multi-platinum success, Hammer's music underwent a metamorphosis, shifting from the standard rap format in his upcoming album. "I decided the next album would be more musical," he says. 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."[1]
M.C. Hammer was very good friends with Arsenio Hall and therefore was invited to perform on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1989 prior to the release of Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em.[2] With the success of that album, Feel My Power and Let's Get It Started received more attention.
Music videos were produced for "Ring 'Em/Pump It Up (Here's The News)", "Let's Get It Started", "They Put Me in the Mix" (later remixed) and "Turn This Mutha Out". Hammer used some of the proceeds from this album to install a rolling recording studio in the back of his tour bus, where he recorded much of his second album.[3] "Turn This Mutha Out" is also featured on the MTV Party to Go 1 album.
Hammer's popular rap song, "Turn This Mutha Out", samples George Clinton's "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)", as well as the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache". The rap single peaked at #3 on the US Rap charts and cracked the Top-15 on both the Dance and R&B charts (#12). Allmusic It was also nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video in 1989.
Hammer performed "Pump it Up" during Showtime at the Apollo on September 16, 1989.[4]
In January 1990, Hammer won two American Music Awards for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist and Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album and was nominated for Favorite Soul/R&B Album (Let's Get It Started).
Track listing
- "Intro: Turn This Mutha Out" (Explicit) 2:38
- "Let's Get It Started (Radio Edit)" 4:08
- "Ring 'Em" 4:20
- "Cold Go MC Hammer" 4:05
- "You're Being Served" 4:45
- "It's Gone (Edit)" 3:56
- "(Hammer Hammer) They Put Me in the Mix (Edit)" 3:28
- "Son of the King" 3:53
- "That's What I Said" 3:38
- "Feel My Power" 3:07
- "Pump It Up (Here's the News) (Radio Edit)" 4:35
Samples used
"Let's Get It Started"
"Pump It Up"
"Turn This Mutha Out"
"They Put Me in the Mix"