The piece below is preserved as a 2010 archive record of the MC Hammer / Jay-Z viral exchange — the YouTube-distributed feud that has since been studied as an early example of asymmetric celebrity-feud marketing. Original 2010 coverage retained as written.
MC Hammer isn't the Hammer you and I grew up with. He's now actively involved in the tech space, recently headlining a Tech Crunch Disrupt Conference event. He's gone from on top of the world, to filing bankruptcy, to back in the limelight once again. The man is nothing if not resourceful. He currently has a mixed martial arts management company called Alchemist Management, a clothing line Alchemist Clothing, and a company he co-founded Dance Jame is now a part of Action Sports Group.
Recently, rap mogul Jay-Z spit a verse on Kanye West's "So Appalled" G.O.O.D Music leak where he said:
"And Hammer went broke so you know I'm more focused / I lost 30 mil so I spent another 30 / Cause unlike Hammer 30 million can't hurt me."
It seems that Hammer was so upset that he took to the internet to voice his dissatisfaction. MC Hammer released a music video to YouTube titled "Better Run Run." In the video Hammer shows off he can still dance. The video depicts an actor playing an overweight Jay-Z running from the devil: "The devil said Imma give you the world / I'll take it plus give me a girl / Mr. Devil can you give me a sign / He said throw the Roc up, that's one of mine." The MMA fighters Hammer has under his Management are seen throughout the video, perceivably his muscle, and there is a 30-second part towards the end of the video that shows Hammer in the ring during boxing practice.
Jay-Z's response, given to Idolator: "He took it the wrong way, I didn't know that wasn't on the table for discussion."
The video is now studied as one of the earliest major rap feuds to play out almost entirely on YouTube, and as a foundational case in asymmetric celebrity-feud marketing — where the smaller commercial party engineers the exchange to attract attention while the larger commercial party correctly declines to engage.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
