By Anna Belle
Last night’s Hammertime episode was a full hour instead of two half-hour episodes and it flowed much better. No doubt, in part (hey, I must have some rapper in me) from the film crew and editing, but the subject matter (the Hammer family) and Tracy, Calif., and other scenery along the way combines for an enjoyable 50 or so minutes.
With the family planning a surprise 47th birthday party for Stanley, he announces that he has a show in Utah that he can’t miss and that he’s taking Booby (Stanley Jr., age 13) with him to dance. Everyone is slightly upset by this, but Jeremiah (age 11) more so, because he is also aspiring to dance and be part of his dad’s crew.
Jamaris, Stanley’s nephew (age 18) is looking for a job and Stanley encourages his stack of cash to grow by giving him a $20. Now I understood that gesture without any problem. It’s kind of like that age-old principle of “breaking luck” or “making that first sale.” So while Jamaris is out pounding the pavement looking for a job, the rest of the family is planning a surprise birthday party for Stanley’s return.
Before he leaves for Utah, Stanley drops in at Shade 45 San Francisco (Shade 45 is SIRIUS XM’s uncensored, commercial-free hip-hop channel created by Eminem, Shady Records, Interscope Records and SIRIUS) to promote his upcoming show and talk about reuniting with his friend Vanilla Ice (Robbie Van Winkle).
I guess the question of how MC Hammer made it BIG and then lost it all may be the thing most people want to know about now that he has his own reality show, but by no means is he unique or alone in that issue. But what is unique is Stanley’s message, and it is this message that he brings to Shade 45 and the listeners who may be unemployed and losing everything: at the end of the day, holding the family together will be the biggest payoff. Stanley said it best, “Hold on to love and family.”
Back in Tracy, Jamaris is interviewing at Straw Hat pizza, pondering the hourly wage, how much discount he gets and at the end of the interview, happy he got the job.
When Stanley gets home, he finds Marv and Booby engaged in a dance-off and it’s time to head off to Utah.
Now you see the “persona separation” happen. Now it is Hammer Time because this part of the show deals with MC Hammer, on the road, preparing for a performance, doing a sound check, pulling everything together. While rehearing, Vanilla Ice comes in and Hammer comes off the stage to say hello and welcome an old friend that he’s known for 20 or more years. During that time there’s been successes, disappointments, good times and bad, but they’ve always been friends.
Back in Tracy, the family visits Jamaris at Straw Hat to check up on him at his new job. Later on, A’Keiba comes home to help with the party preparations. They decide to write a song for the party so Jeremiah writes the words and A’Keiba lays down the beat. Rehearsal begins, decorations go up, the cake gets decorated and Samuel learns how to blow a kazoo.
Back in Utah, Hammer goes in to normal preparation mode: no calls, no disturbances — just visualizing what he’ll do during the show.
Vanilla Ice opens for Hammer and gets the crowd on their feet. Then Hammer comes on stage. There’s very little of the show in this episode and that’s because the show is about Stanley Burrell. If you want to see some show footage, I suggest you find out where his performing and buy yourself a ticket (check Vegas). At the end of the show, he decides to bring some of the fans on stage to perform his new tune, “I Got Gigs.”
From the traffic on Twitter, people are already wondering when it’s coming out, along with some of the music played on the A&E show.
The show’s over, he’s back in Tracy and at home wondering where everyone is and “surprise” … his family pulled it off and surprises him for his birthday. The kids do a great job on the original number they created (such talent) and from what I could tell, everyone has a great time.
Happy Birthday Stanley!
Photo above: Credit: © 2009 AETN/Zach Dilgard
