Wired Covers DanceJam Without Trashing M.C. Hammer
Michael Arrington
41 comments »
I wrote about DanceJam last week, disclosing that I was an investor and saying I’d be linking to other coverage of the startup. Wired just posted a good overview of the company, which was founded by M.C. Hammer, Geoffrey Arone and Anthony Young.
In the article they mention an issue that has been bugging me - that some people have suggested that we only included MC Hammer as an expert panelist at the TechCrunch40 conference because of his race, or because I invested in his startup.
That is just completely ridiculous and untrue. First of all, we were lucky to have someone with Hammer’s background to help fill out the panel. He’s intelligent and has been through a lot of ups and downs in his career - giving him wisdom. He is also clearly more connected to America’s youth than any other person who attended the event.
And he handled himself brilliantly. At one point I remember seeing the other panelists shaking their head in agreement when Hammer made a comment on stage. Clearly he deserved to be there as much as any other expert, and we really needed his point of view on the startups that launched.
So in fact Hammer did two favors for me - agreeing to spend time at our conference, and letting me invest in his new startup. I think DanceJam is great (obviously, since I put money behind it). In fact, it would have almost certainly been one of the forty presenting startups if not for the conflict of interest.
Eliot Van Buskirk, who wrote the Wired article, agrees:
After TechCrunch announced that Hammer would be part of the expert panel at the TechCrunch20 conference in September, Valleywag speculated that TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington included Hammer because of his race. Then, when details surfaced that Arrington is an investor in DanceJam, allegations of nepotism were leveled at the TechCrunch founder.
The nepotism issue seems to have blown over, and as was obvious during our meeting, Hammer is no mere figurehead.
Hopefully next year when we begin to announce our experts for the next TechCrunch40, people will be a little more circumspect before trashing people who we invite who don’t quite fit the mold of “web 2.0 guru.” Our only goal is to put on an entertaining and educational show, and we’re not going to stop inviting people who help us achieve those goals.
Racism is bad news and has to be accepted. Sexism and gender bias and insensitivity are other growing menaces.
http://tekno-world.blogspot.com
“He is also clearly more connected to America’s youth than any other person who attended the event.”
You must know the (thousands of?) attendees pretty well.
Hammer is the man! AND yes, he brings wisdom, like ability, and the right attitude. It would have been easy for the Hammer to run and hide under a rock. But, he has chosen to swing for the fences like a champion.
As far as what some of the other fools are saying —-well, let’s just say they are TURDS!
Mike, would you have invested in Dancejam had not the founder was mcHammer? lol
i’m sure the idea and strategy is good - but when the founder is someone called mcHammer…well, the overall picture brightens exponentially
Hammer is back! And to think that people scoffed back in the day when he challenged the erstwhile “king of pop”.
What we really want to know is if Hammer allows Arrington to say “what up dawg?” to him.
Racism is bad unless its for comedic use
As the qualification for “Web 2.0 guru” is to be able to say “This pile of magic beans will reach profitability within 3 years” with a straight face, I see no reason whatsoever why a hip-hop star should not qualify.
If anything, MC Hammer goes even more perfectly with Web 2.0 than most. A 45-year-old man who was cool 20 years ago goes perfectly with the balding investors convinced that they can “get down with the kids” by creating the next YouTube/Myspace. When they go to parties it must be like a singularity of terrible middle-aged dancing.
He even has the perfect Web 2.0 name - Stanley Kirk Burrel.
Wow, it’s unbeliveable tht they have a hefty sponsoring of 1m :O.. that’s mega..
definitely something to check out
Connected to today’s youth? Is it 1991? Cause all the kids I see on the “streets” are wearing parachute pants and doin’ Addam’s Family Rap. Word.
I think its great that we are seeing new faces in the startup scene. Technological innovation and entrepreneurship shouldn’t be confined to the stereotypical Silicon Valley web 2.0 types (apologies for the generalization). The world is a big place, and we should embrace the diverse backgrounds of entrepreneurs rather than laugh about it, or worse, play the race/nepotism card. I’ve seen comments here about the startup scene becoming stale (Mike had a good post about this), so this seems like a refreshing, and very welcome change.
You can’t touch this.
Shafqat
#9 - its coming back. I guarantee it.
I don’t think it has anything to do with race. Hammer is a great guy with a lot of successes and experience to bring to the table.
However, if it has anything to do with race, then I will say it sad that in this day and age we still judge people by their skin colors rather than the content of their character. It’s 2007, time to stop playing the race card.
~
Racism is an ugly part of our society. That is why was Hammer the ONLY black person on TechCrunch.
I cant belive this, LOL
If it will have some interesting stuff like entertainment it will attract more readers, since there seems lot of scope for techcrunch as it has already very strong reader base.
-Paul
A lot of us grew up with MC Hammer, so I think it’s a great choice.
Today’s date is Monday, November 12, 2007 — or is it 1956?
As North Americans, we should all be embarrassed by our subpar social standards. We should be raising the bar — not maintaining the status quo. I am sick of mainstream media and the general population keeping things like race alive in our society.
Folks, what will it take to wake up from this nightmare? Do we need to be stripped of everything we are to understand what being human is all about? It seems that way.
oh please
Um, this part is probably true: “some people have suggested that we only included MC Hammer as an expert panelist at the TechCrunch40 conference because I invested in his startup.”
this part is probably not: “some people have suggested that we only included MC Hammer as an expert panelist at the TechCrunch40 conference because of his race.”
“He is also clearly more connected to America’s youth than any other person who attended the event.”
AHAHAHAHAHAHA
“A lot of us grew up with MC Hammer, so I think it’s a great choice.”
I’ll let you in on a little secret: If you grew up with MC Hammer, you are no longer what general society considers to be a part of “America’s youth.”
Can’t touch this baby!
MC is the bomb!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Lucky to have Hammer??? Come on, that dude would do anythign for a $ these days. He’s so broke that he’s all but resorted to “Getting Hyphy” on the streets of Oaktown for money!
I hope you include yourself in the Dead Pool if it goes under.
I see a lot of bashing on this thread. Life is about failures and successes.
We learn what life really means in time of failure (at least for me). And that is the experience (lessons learned) MA was talking about. So MC is coming back up, if not already up
man, you’re a star F’er, Arrington, and you can’t even manage to pick any real stars
@17: I fear I’m dogpiling here, but you and others who grew up with MC Hammer are not the target audience for this website. I’m too young to remember Hammer and I’m still basically too old for this website.
If Hammer wants to appeal to the youth of today, the site needs to be renamed “GangsterHizzle” or something and feature repetitive dancing to songs about crack and hos, with voting on who holds their gat in the most threatening way. (I know that even I’m demonstrating my old age - 22 - by using the word ‘hizzle’ which is presumably 5 years out of date.)
Mike:
Come on. The only color this is about is green. Money in your pocket.
Hammer will get you more press exposure for Techcrunch and for a company you have personally invested.
It’s always about what’s best for Mikey!
It is MC Hammers Startup .. So what is the big deal .
Dont you want any type of diversification in the Tech Crunch panel ?
Fuck Hammer. He tried to kill MC Serch.
GAS FACE! Haahlaghlaghlaghlaghlaghaghl..
Yes, MC Hammer made some great comments while on the panel.
Everyone who was there won’t forget the challenging series of questions he asked Zivity, in part because he had us all laughing at his spot on assessment.
Great panelist!
I am appalled at the tone of this “conversation”.
I’m considerably less appalled. Thanks.
Ah, 3rd Bass…they were the best white rappers.
Black cat is bad luck, bad guys wear black
Musta been a white guy who started all that
(Make the Gas Face!) For those little white lies
Dismiss the myth, that evil is not black
but opposite spectrum, this done by red man
with horns on his head, laid down the ill plan
Got all his helpers, said, “Make it snappy!
Tell all the people that their hair can’t be nappy!”
Michael Arrington gets the gas face
PayPerPost gets the gas face
Mike, shaking their heads would be for NO. Nodding their heads would be for YES. You got it mixed up.
And God bless Hammer - he’s an amazing worship leader and preacher too.
Hammer is very involved in the youth community in Tracy, CA. He’s at all his kid’s events.
@35, 36: Uh, you do know he paid an LA gang $100K to have 3rd Bass killed? What a great role model!
When I fist saw that MC Hammer was on the panel I was somewhat taken aback (I will speak for “any other person who attended the event” that they were also.) (Not race or creed, just an odd choice because we hadn’t seen him in awhile.)
I attended the event as a DemoPit participant and I will say that he was, by far, the coolest guy in the room. It was fantastic to see him there, and I recall him getting the largest (and only heartfelt) applause and even standing ovation when he as announced. I hope that he does well and he should have been onstage as a presenter over 1/2 of the junk in the TC40. (Prediction: DanceJam outperforms / outlasts / is worth more than Mint in the long run.)
It was a nice curveball to have him there. Thanks Mike for taking the risk. I appreciated it. His app was actually very well done, and he nearly made the People’s Choice Vote.
I can’t dance, so I’m not his demographic, but I don’t Facebook either…
I’m annoyed by people that get upset that you make money, or attempt to make money. You provide(d) something that people want and are willing to pay for. You fill a need and earn your money. Keep it up.
One more thing…
Ingredients for success: Find something you are passionate about, find a way to put it online and make money at it.
MC Hammer + his passion for dance + real world usability + a void + funding to make his vision (and the other founders) a reality + TC/MA/McH exposure = probable success.
I’d invest too.