90s rapper's career U-turn after trading music career for life as a preacher

10 September 2023 , 11:20

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MC Hammer is known for his hit U Can't Touch This (Image: Mirrorpix)

One iconic 90s rapper underwent a major career U-turn after finding fame and selling millions of records.

Trading his success as a rapper and sought-after musician, MC Hammer, whose real name is Stanley Kirk Burrell, decided to become a preacher after becoming bankrupt. Deciding to dedicate his life to God, Stanley's life was then transformed and he left his fame in the past.

Best-known for his hit U Can't Touch This, MC Hammer went bankrupt in 1996, with his bankruptcy highly publicised. Having amassed an eye-watering net worth early on in his career, MC Hammer is said to have been worth around $33m (around £26m). He then got into debt, according to various reports, with him said to have amassed a debt of around $13m (around £10m) amid dwindling album sales, unpaid loans, a large payroll, and a lavish lifestyle.

MC Hammer shot to fame in the 90s (EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)

He is now reported to be a preacher (Getty Images North America)

In the mid-nineties, he then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oakland, California. In 1997, the iconic rapper sold his Fremont, California estate and mansion for $5.3m (around £4.2m), after filing for bankruptcy the year before, and then a year later in 1998, his bankruptcy was converted to Chapter 7.

But after the highly publicised bankruptcy drama, MC Hammer, who is now 61 years of age, had a spiritual awakening. Reaffirming his beliefs in 1997, the iconic rapping sensation began a television ministry called M.C. Hammer and Friends on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. He went public about his devotion to ministry as an ordained minister and even officiated at the celebrity weddings of actor Corey Feldman and Susie Sprague.

MC Hammer has married some famous celebrities amid his career U-turn (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

His new path came after the murder of his pal and fellow rapper Tupac. This was when he became ordained in the Church Of God In Christ. And speaking to the Los Angeles Times at the time, he said: "Whether the bankruptcy played any role in my refocusing, that’s great. Hallelujah, I hope it did.

"But the most important part of what occurred to me was love, missing the love of God in the way that I had known it," he added.

Mollie Quirk