REBRANDING: Three Lessons From MC Hammer

My childhood was simple. All my pants were jams, Pizza Hut still had dinner tables, and the “labradoodle” was mere science fiction. Times have changed, culture has evolved, and Taylor Swift has had Eras. But one thing has stayed the same: I don’t know anything about business. 

What I do know about is hip hop music. I know the streets. 

MC Hammer (or as he now goes, “Hammer”) took my youth by storm. He was more than simple bespeckled innocence. On the back of the U Can’t Touch This single, MC Hammer went on to sell 50 million copies worldwide and became ubiquitous with “the game.”

But after stalling in 1994, MC did what (I’ve read) many businesses also do: he held long meetings on growth trajectories and investor returns. Mr. Hammer, his board of directors and a select group of McKinsey consultants came to the same conclusion as several NASDAQ corporations: Let’s rebrand! 

"LET'S REBRAND." -Corporations & MC Hammer

MC Hammer, the fleet footed optimist, became Hammer, the street hardened ruffian. 

Now I’m no stranger to controversy, so I’ll just say it: That was a bad move, Hammer. Thumbs down.

Here are three incredible lessons we should all be applying to our own rap (and/or business) identities: 

#1 | Caricature is identity.

The reason their jokes about your parachute pants and pompadour hair work is because everyone recognizes them as yours. The things you get teased for are the things you’re known for. Run away from them, and you run away from your identity. Accept them and you solidify it. 

Hanging up the rhinestone jacket for gang colors was definitely a weird move for MC Hammer. (And picking up the rhinestone jacket, instead of the letter jacket, seems just as weird for a brand like Bud Lite. But I’m just an old skool rap expert here so the business contexts are beyond me.)

#2 | Being serious and being taken seriously are not the same thing. 

I’m always the life of the party. But just because I start every dinner with a dance break doesn’t mean that my friends don’t know I can be real sometimes too. Yes, I’m 2 Legit 2 Quit. Yes, I ask that you remove your shoes in my house and dance to that song. But as the night goes on, if you’d like to talk about your sick greyhound or reduced quality at the Studio City Farmer’s Market, I’m all ears. I can be a good listener and friend as well. That’s real street smarts.  

People take you seriously when you bring value. Fun and funny are valuable while the next option in a long line of turncoat pretenders is not. You don’t need to act serious to be taken seriously. Ask Clearly Canadian what they think of Liquid Death. (My wife wrote that last line, I don’t know what it means. Are those businesses?)

#3 | Maybe your brand isn’t your problem.

MC Hammer bought a house for $12m, then renovated it for $30m, then sold it for $5m. Now we can all agree, that’s baller. That’s some real badass 4 lyfe stuff. But, also, I think, (though I haven’t done the math) it’s unsustainable. His net worth went from $70m to negative $13m in about four years. 

The personal WhatsApp threads I have with various top tier rap performers all agree on one thing: Success isn’t built on the beat; it’s built on the balance sheet. For instance, I stopped buying my speakers at Radio Shack because their inventory necessitated price points of +200% against online comps. Their slow speed to pivot operational behavior in the face of shifting markets drove a decrease in customer consideration. When they changed their name but not their business model (Radio Shack >>> The Shack) they might have changed the wrong thing. IDK, I’m just a deep-cut rap fan, but I heard a well-groomed man at my country club say that Radio Shack’s fundamental issues were deeper than their branding. I believe him!

IDK, I'M JUST A DEEP-CUT RAP FAN...

All that is to say that if Hammer were still dancing his MC happy feet I think he’d be dating Super Bowl Champion Travis Kelce instead of Taylor Swift.

Maybe your business could be dating Travis Kelce too.