LA's Got Talent

June 5, 2009 7:15 PM

Hammer Pants mob invades a retail clothing store. SLYT
posted by exogenous (84 comments total)

Where are the tasers when you really need them?
posted by jquinby at 7:20 PM on June 5, 2009 [8 favorites]

You can touch it alright, but you have to remove the head to kill it.
posted by orme at 7:21 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

That was a total ruse for shoplifting.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:23 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

That was pretty awesome.
posted by doctor_negative at 7:25 PM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

so uh i guess this is what were doing instead of activism now alright

awesome
posted by boo_radley at 7:26 PM on June 5, 2009 [8 favorites]

So this M.C Hammer reality show, it vibrates? I wish one of these anarchic spontanious heartwarming carefully orchestrated publicity stunts pulled off by expensive ad agencies would happen to me.
posted by idiopath at 7:29 PM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Lamé without the accent mark becomes, well, you know.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:33 PM on June 5, 2009 [5 favorites]

Uh oh! Uh oh uh oh! Uh oh! Uh oh!
posted by rusty at 7:34 PM on June 5, 2009

Quite possibly the greatest video on youtube.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 7:38 PM on June 5, 2009

Wow, unemployed actors will do anything to avoid real work, won't they?
posted by longsleeves at 7:41 PM on June 5, 2009

Yeah. That's how we're living and you know?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:41 PM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

if the commercials are officially leaping off of the TV screen and blitzing me in public places, hooligan-style, I think it's officially time to declare war.
posted by hermitosis at 7:44 PM on June 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

You mean this?
posted by Xoebe at 7:44 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

In 2009, instead of using flash mobs for activism, people just wore Hammer Pants and had pillow fights.
posted by dunkadunc at 7:48 PM on June 5, 2009

I loved it.
posted by davebarnes at 7:49 PM on June 5, 2009

Where the hell did the find that much gold lamé?
posted by Space Kitty at 7:52 PM on June 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

they
posted by Space Kitty at 7:52 PM on June 5, 2009

"Flash Mobs? Is this 2004? Look, I know we're in a down economy but you hipsters can contribute something to society instead of this usless bullshit." - ArnoldSchwartenigger

Ah, Youtube comments...
posted by Stylus Happenstance at 7:54 PM on June 5, 2009 [4 favorites]

I imagine if I was the director of the original video, I would have been deeply moved by this.
posted by fungible at 7:57 PM on June 5, 2009 [4 favorites]

Stop the hammer time.
posted by TwelveTwo at 8:08 PM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Beautiful. No corporate mobile phone companies required.

Anyone who disses this for not being "activist" enough is being a jackass. It's right in front of your nose. You want activist, the map is right there.
posted by mediareport at 8:10 PM on June 5, 2009

How can I Stop....Hammertime?
posted by bottlebrushtree at 8:11 PM on June 5, 2009

longsleeves: these actors are not unemployed, they are working a PR job, getting the public appropriately nostalgic about M.C. Hammer to boost his reality show's ratings. Us Mefites, on the other hand, are giving the show free publicity, presumably because we have nothing better to do.
posted by idiopath at 8:12 PM on June 5, 2009 [8 favorites]

presumably because we have nothing better to do.

Always an accurate presumption. I'm gonna go take pictures of my cat on top of famous books, dressed as their authors, bbl.
posted by TwelveTwo at 8:15 PM on June 5, 2009 [16 favorites]

I want to join them and punch them at the same time. Cognitive dissonance, you win this time.
posted by ryoshu at 8:18 PM on June 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

I do not know what these people are selling (bulk golden hammer pants, possibly?) but I wholeheartedly endorse this sort of protracted, choreographed wierdness over the garbage that is typical advertising.

Ah, no, wait - I see they're advertising an actual MC Hammer TV show, which is garbage that will make it on to TV. I take it all back.

You know what I don't endorse, though? Seeing the blue get played like this.
posted by mhoye at 8:20 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

TwelveTwo: by clicking the [+] button, I have accepted your offer to show me pictures of your cats dressed as authors. Does one of your cats by any chance look like Samuel Beckett? Because that would be cool.
posted by idiopath at 8:21 PM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

So you think you can pants?
posted by fleetmouse at 8:22 PM on June 5, 2009 [4 favorites]

longsleeves: these actors are not unemployed, they are working a PR job

Point taken, but it ain't exactly the Danish play, is it?
posted by longsleeves at 8:22 PM on June 5, 2009

You can enjoy the Hammer pants, and not actually watch the show.
No need to feel used...
posted by stifford at 8:23 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

I was watching this thinking oh uh, because one of the things I really like about LA is that people don't feel the need to do shit like this. Then I realized that half of them looked like professional dancers and that it was a viral ad they were being paid to do it. Thank god.
posted by fshgrl at 8:29 PM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

No, but I got one that does a decent Oswald Spengler impression and I can't imagine a better author to dedicate a funny picture of a cat to.
posted by TwelveTwo at 8:30 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Check out the woman at 0:25 reacting as the MC Jihad rushes inside the store. I think she may be genuinely afraid for her life.
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:35 PM on June 5, 2009

That is, my comment is in reference to idiopath's comment, not in reference to fleetmouse's. I'm sorry PR companies, my pants do not do impressions, quit calling.

Dr. Zira:

I would be too. When it is Hammer Time nothing is safe to touch, and she just found her perfect jeans.
posted by TwelveTwo at 8:37 PM on June 5, 2009

Interesting, but I'm kind of disappointed that this flash mob stuff usually takes the LOL in-your-face approach. I'd like to see a lot more of the surreal, clever mob stuff like when Improv Anywhere sent hundreds of blue-shirted people into Best Buy to browse around. I wish they'd do stuff like that. Come on, Internet, go make me some videos like that.
posted by crapmatic at 8:39 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'd like to see a lot more of the surreal, clever mob stuff like when Improv Anywhere sent hundreds of blue-shirted people into Best Buy to browse around.

Agreed. Their Surprise Wedding Reception was awesome. Warms my cold, cynical heart.
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:44 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Way too choreographed to be a real flash mob. Color me skeptical.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:49 PM on June 5, 2009

This was pretty cool.

News flash, ad agency: my retro nostalgia for MC Hammer's one great song and subsequent video for that song is not enough to get me to watch a reality show based on the man's current life.

Go back in time. Get MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice to live in a house together, at the height of their popularity. Show us footage of them bouncing ideas for the Addams' Family rap and the TMNT song off of each other.

I'd pay to watch that.
posted by graventy at 8:49 PM on June 5, 2009

Improv Everywhere did this better... four years ago.
posted by twoleftfeet at 9:03 PM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Boy, these flash mobs sure do have a lot of cameras stationed around this store.
posted by munchingzombie at 9:05 PM on June 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

Edgy stuff. Paradigms shifted. Consciousness was raised. Ad's were busted.
Edgy stuff.
posted by signal at 9:11 PM on June 5, 2009

Way too choreographed to be a real flash mob. Color me skeptical.

That's because this is an ad for an upcoming MC Hammer "reality" show. And I'm kinda surprised that this post is still around.
posted by NoMich at 9:14 PM on June 5, 2009

Dammit, this store is on my block, and nobody thought to invite me to this awesomeness?! I wouldn't been out of place though, as my personal Hammer pants are purple, not gold.
posted by archae at 9:22 PM on June 5, 2009

That was one Flashy Mob.

So which ones are the hipsters again?
posted by mazola at 9:41 PM on June 5, 2009

idiopath: Does one of your cats by any chance look like Samuel Beckett? Because that would be cool.

Somebody's cat certainly does.
posted by sleevener at 9:42 PM on June 5, 2009 [8 favorites]

ads are part of our culture and are worthy of as much attention, discussion, discourse, praise, and criticism as anything else.

And? MC Hammer had two good songs.



[does 2 L 2 Q hand sign]
posted by device55 at 9:55 PM on June 5, 2009

device55: yes, it is better to discuss and criticize ads than to pretend they do not exist, but I also thinks it does a disservice to treat a choreographed PR stunt as if it were a spontaneous amateur act of random absurdity.
posted by idiopath at 9:59 PM on June 5, 2009

GOD DAMMIT THIS IS AN AD & WE GOT PLAYED PLEASE MODS DELETE DELETE DELETE ARGH IT'S BURNING
posted by Joseph Gurl at 10:05 PM on June 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

I favorited this before I looked at it. I came in here to read the comments before I looked at it. Now I'm going to unfavorite it because it's an ad before I look at it. That's the magic of MetaFilter.
posted by davejay at 10:27 PM on June 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

That was pretty awesome.
posted by doctor_negative at 7:25 PM on June 5 [+] [!]

Wow... Anti-eponysterical.
posted by gc at 10:27 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Also, I laughed when the first guy went shooting across the floor crab-style. I would like to see that in the wild more, in the grocery store, in the library, silhouetted at the end of a lonely alley...

It's marketing. Despite my enjoyment, I have no need to watch this "Master of Ceremonies" Hammer's Television Program. I would like to watch the made for TV's "Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story" again. It's fantastic.
posted by gc at 10:35 PM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Real mobs can't dance.
posted by zach4000 at 11:05 PM on June 5, 2009

hey john we are going to go to guatemala and dig wells and distribute mosquito netting over the summer would you like to join up

gosh i would love to come but i have to go do something inane which people dead to the real splendors of life will call whimsical fun and they will defend it with unusual fervor for reasons they are at a complete loss to explain ... it is the only way i can make money
posted by boo_radley at 11:11 PM on June 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

Also, I laughed when the first guy went shooting across the floor crab-style

I laughed hard. If you look at the guys face and how into it he is, hilarious!

When are they going to recreate Hammer's banned video where his hip-thrusting dance took place around his poolside while clad in a speedo?
posted by P.o.B. at 11:17 PM on June 5, 2009

Real mobs can't dance.

I don't know... I've seen some two step and some hustle crowds insta-form rather impressively. And then there's the unstoppable Electric Slide...
posted by yeloson at 11:35 PM on June 5, 2009

When you see the camera set up you would have to be an idiot to think this was anything less than a professional production, an ad in this case. Stop hurting the internets.
posted by 2sheets at 12:02 AM on June 6, 2009

I'm a huge defender of a photographer's right to shoot in public spaces.

This video is a stronger challenge to my view than almost anything else I've encountered.
posted by gum at 12:14 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Improv Everywhere did this better... four years ago.

I saw no gold lame pants in that clip. I saw no Hammer-dancing. That said, I agree that Improv Everywhere's contribution to the marketing industry of the last decade really should be recognized, therefore I urge everyone to go out and buy their book, Causing a Scene, available from all good bookshops for just twenty bucks and an invaluable source of ideas for imaginatively bankrupt advertising directors everywhere.

Break it down...
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:16 AM on June 6, 2009

These actors are not unemployed, they are working a PR job

There's this concept of 'underemployment', right?

I mean, based on the fact that only about four of those ninety-seven people could actually, like, dance, I'm thinking it's either this or busing tables at Bennigan's.
posted by rokusan at 12:19 AM on June 6, 2009

I think a more compelling viral video would be cell phone cam captures of a big firetruck, ladder extending and trailing 100 ft long weighted lamé pants knocking over pedestrians. Something grand like that. These sudden attacks of dancers or whatever is pretty much deforested wasteland territory at this point.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:24 AM on June 6, 2009

definitely west of the beb.
posted by quarter waters and a bag of chips at 12:58 AM on June 6, 2009

I don't see what everybody is so upset about. A hundred pairs of gold Hammer pants, cameras already pre-positioned, and a twenty year old MC Hammer song played over the PA System are the markings of well put together flash mob.
posted by P.o.B. at 2:13 AM on June 6, 2009

Pepsi Gold?

c'mon seriously delete this already mods
posted by Hartham's Hugging Robots at 2:14 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

After watching that clip, I strongly feel that all the armies in the world should wear Hammer Pants.

How could you possibly shoot at someone who, upon donning said pants, feels compelled to shuffle slide, twist and spin?
posted by bwg at 3:50 AM on June 6, 2009

"Mom! Dad! I got an acting job!!"
posted by applemeat at 5:50 AM on June 6, 2009

***Thanks for the FREE PRESS RELEASE, FREE-PRESS-RELEASE DOT COM***

A&E's Hammertime (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfxCnZ4Dp3c&fmt=22) viral video, directed by Marc Klasfeld (http://www.rhfilms.com/marc-klasfeld) of Rockhard Films, launches today. Klasfeld’s viral video, a fun and spirited piece, was done for A&E’s new MC Hammer reality show called Hammertime, which debuts this month.

“A&E approached me to come up with a viral idea for Hammertime that would show Hammer is back. I thought it would be funny to contrast the hipster skinny leg jeans that are in style today with the parachute baggy look of Hammer pants of the 90s. So we planned to have a big crowd of people in Hammer pants flashmob an unsuspecting jeans store in full MC Hammer style,” said Marc Klasfeld, award-winning director and founder of Rockhard Films.

Now I would like to see a flashmob bumrush the Rockhard Films production office just for the "priceless" reaction of the unsuspecting Marc Klasfeld.
posted by Hammond Rye at 6:02 AM on June 6, 2009

I love this so much.

OH NOES IT'S MADE BY THE MAN! WE'VE ALL BEEN PLAYED GUYS! ABORT! ABORT! Oh, wait. It's still awesome.
posted by liquorice at 7:17 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

This just reinforces my plan for when I win the lottery. Instead of taking drugs, I'll just hire people to perform hallucinations for me at random intervals.
posted by Standeck at 7:34 AM on June 6, 2009 [3 favorites]

Instead of taking drugs, I'll just hire people to perform hallucinations for me at random intervals.

So, yeah, I was at this party once at David Lynch's house...
posted by rokusan at 7:40 AM on June 6, 2009

Banhammer time.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:05 AM on June 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Maybe this guy was part of the group?
posted by educatedslacker at 8:15 AM on June 6, 2009

Hey, you got your advertising in my flashmob!

NO. YOU got YOUR flashmob in MY advertising!

I don't see the disparity here. We talk about ads. We talk about flashmobs. We talk about funny videos. This is actually some pretty concentrated mefi brand WIN here...
posted by butterstick at 8:52 AM on June 6, 2009

ads are part of our culture and are worthy of as much attention, discussion, discourse, praise, and criticism as anything else.

As anything else? Anything? Then why filter at all?
posted by hermitosis at 9:02 AM on June 6, 2009

Metafilter delivers people.
posted by mike_bling at 9:17 AM on June 6, 2009

As anything else? Anything? Then why filter at all?

Because we filter by quality, not type? I think this rises to some reasonably notable measure of fun.
posted by butterstick at 9:20 AM on June 6, 2009

Oh, we're sucking the fun out of it now boy!

By the time we're done with this it will no longer be post-worthy.

MetaFilter: By the time we're done with this it will no longer be post-worthy
posted by mazola at 9:49 AM on June 6, 2009

BREAKING NEWS: It appears that one of the MC Hammer dancers was led astray ...
posted by New Frontier at 9:51 AM on June 6, 2009 [2 favorites]

Pepsi Blue
posted by Sys Rq at 11:30 AM on June 6, 2009

Maybe I'm paranoid, but the Yankees' broadcasters on YES network just spent half an inning talking about Hammer Pants, MC Hammer, his music, his comeback... and ended it with a "by the way we're just told that MC Hammer has a new TV show on A&E...."

All during the play by play.

So this tricksy marketing they're doing... how pervasive is it?
posted by rokusan at 11:49 AM on June 6, 2009

Are you sure this is marketing for an MC Hammer project? Because rather than tune into A&S two watch, two or three views of that is putting me deep into "Oh yeah, that's why I own five or six Dead Kennedys albums" territory.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 10:10 PM on June 6, 2009

"longsleeves: these actors are not unemployed, they are working a PR job"

Work is work, but I imagine this sort of work is attractive to actors who are otherwise unemployed or doing unpaid theater gigs.
posted by krinklyfig at 2:56 PM on June 7, 2009

I liked MC Hammer better when he was still known as the guy who lost his money through employing a gigantic posse and turned to Jesus, the former celebrity. He even appeared on TBN, the televangelist network, the default venue for coming out as a born-again of the most wacky variety. It's a much more interesting story without the comeback.

However, after looking through his discography, I didn't realize he's been releasing albums all this time. Admittedly, he is something of a pioneer in the business and has some real talent, and it's clear he has a real love for music. So, props to Hammer for keeping it up in the face of humorous obscurity. He's even a bit self-deprecating and is able to laugh at himself. Funny, his infamous lavish mansion was in Fremont, where I lived for five years or so. Never paid a visit ...

Here's something else I didn't know: "During the height of his career, Hammer had his legs insured for a substantial amount of money." Who says the actuarial business is boring? Imagine trying to compute odds of injury for a Hammer Dance. You probably get a reduced deductible for having appropriately billowy pants, so it all sort of makes sense now.
posted by krinklyfig at 3:13 PM on June 7, 2009

he is something of a pioneer in the business and has some real talent

That's actually a contrary viewpoint to most critics and fellow rappers. MC Hammer's break out smash was nothing more than a complete Rick James lift with some really thin ego polishing rapping grafted on top.
posted by Burhanistan at 5:34 PM on June 7, 2009

"MC Hammer's break out smash was nothing more than a complete Rick James lift with some really thin ego polishing rapping grafted on top."

I'm not really trying to defend his integrity as a musician or anything like that, but I was sort of referring to his dancing and re-purposing hooks and riffs, the latter of which was controversial at the time but has become "how it's done." Not that he invented sampling or anything, but his use of the riff doesn't strike me as stealing so much anymore, and his version of the song was markedly different than the original.

Here's something about it:

"In the late 1980s, James' career took a nose dive. However, when rap star M.C. Hammer sampled "Super Freak" for his song "U Can't Touch This," the latter song became a huge hit. Though the usage was unauthorized, James and M.C. Hammer settled out of court and he reaped the benefits, including his first Grammy that he shared with M.C. Hammer and co-writer of "Super Freak," Alonzo Miller."

I'm pretty jaded and cynical about popular music and the business behind it, but I can't seem to find the energy to get angry at MC Hammer anymore. Now that sounds a little like a lyric in a county song ...

(I still don't like Vanilla Ice, but don't care so much anymore about his breakout song's use of a Queen/Bowie riff.)
posted by krinklyfig at 5:53 PM on June 7, 2009