Stunning dance moves helped to catapult MC Hammer to fame, and now they may help to revive his sagging entertainment career.
According to Business Week, the former rap star (real name Stanley Burrell) is hoping to edge out Internet giant YouTube with a new website called DanceJam.com, an online spot for sharing and watching dance videos.
The site will reportedly provide dance demonstrations and hold head-to-head competitions between user-submitted dance videos.
Hammer is co-founder and chief strategy officer of the new website, which is set to launch in mid-January.
Along with partners Geoffrey Arone, the chief executive, and Anthony Young, the chief technology officer, Hammer has spent months stockpiling video of people dancing in preparation for the launch.
The timing for the dance-based site may be right, considering the ballooning populariy of dance-oriented snap music, Soulja Boy's choreography hit "Crank Dat" and shows like "Dancing With The Stars," but some say that competing with YouTube may be easier said than done.
"When people are looking for any video, whether it be about skateboarding, dancing or a science project, they don't stop to think about where's the best place to find it," said James McQuivey, a media analyst with Forrester Research. "They just start off by going to YouTube."
Although Hammer went bankrupt in 1996 after becoming a rap sensation, several entrepreneurial heavyweights co-sign the former rapper's business savvy, including Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, which is worth $7 billion.
"We really learned a lot from Hammer," said Benioff, who enlisted advice from Hammer when Salesforce.com was just taking off. "He is the most entrepreneurial individual I have ever met."
Hammer seems confident in his own abilities as well.
"There is no high-tech lingo or business strategy that you can talk that is above my head," Hammer said. "I breathe this stuff."
Lady_Toxic said
07:58 01/03 2008
mc hammer oh hell noooooooo lol
fabasketball said
09:16 01/03 2008
lol nooooooo
Crazypickney said
09:59 01/03 2008
I detect someone doesnt have any more money left in his piggybank
Stunning dance moves helped to catapult MC Hammer to fame, and now they may help to revive his sagging entertainment career.
According to Business Week, the former rap star (real name Stanley Burrell) is hoping to edge out Internet giant YouTube with a new website called DanceJam.com, an online spot for sharing and watching dance videos.
The site will reportedly provide dance demonstrations and hold head-to-head competitions between user-submitted dance videos.
Hammer is co-founder and chief strategy officer of the new website, which is set to launch in mid-January.
Along with partners Geoffrey Arone, the chief executive, and Anthony Young, the chief technology officer, Hammer has spent months stockpiling video of people dancing in preparation for the launch.
The timing for the dance-based site may be right, considering the ballooning populariy of dance-oriented snap music, Soulja Boy's choreography hit "Crank Dat" and shows like "Dancing With The Stars," but some say that competing with YouTube may be easier said than done.
"When people are looking for any video, whether it be about skateboarding, dancing or a science project, they don't stop to think about where's the best place to find it," said James McQuivey, a media analyst with Forrester Research. "They just start off by going to YouTube."
Although Hammer went bankrupt in 1996 after becoming a rap sensation, several entrepreneurial heavyweights co-sign the former rapper's business savvy, including Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, which is worth $7 billion.
"We really learned a lot from Hammer," said Benioff, who enlisted advice from Hammer when Salesforce.com was just taking off. "He is the most entrepreneurial individual I have ever met."
Hammer seems confident in his own abilities as well.
"There is no high-tech lingo or business strategy that you can talk that is above my head," Hammer said. "I breathe this stuff."