Let's Get It Started (album)

Let's Get It Started
Studio album by M.C. Hammer
Released	September 28, 1988
Recorded	1987-1988
Genre	Pop, Hip hop
Label	Capitol/EMI Records
M.C. Hammer chronology
Feel My Power (1987) Let's Get It Started (1988) Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em (1990)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
RapReviews	(3/10)

Let's Get It Started is the second album released by pop rap emcee M.C. Hammer. The album went double platinum with "Pump It Up", "Let's Get It Started", "Turn This Mutha Out" and "They Put Me in the Mix" as the most popular tracks from this album. Music videos were also produced for all of these songs. The album topped the R&B charts and peaked at #30 on the Billboard 200. It was #1 on the US R&B charts.

The album produced Top-5 rap single hits. "Turn This Mutha Out" peaked the highest at #3 on the US Rap charts and also cracked the Top-15 on both the Dance and R&B charts (#12). However, none of the singles made much of a dent in the pop charts.

Album history

Once signed to Capitol Records, Hammer re-issued his first record (a revised version of Feel My Power) with additional tracks added and sold over 2 million copies. Recorded between 1987-1988, it was released on September 28, 1988. "Pump It Up", "Turn This Mutha Out", "Let's Get It Started" and "They Put Me in the Mix" were released as singles from this album which all charted.

But not quite satisfied with this first multi-platinum success, Hammer's music underwent a metamorphosis, shifting from the standard rap format in his upcoming album. "I decided the next album would be more musical," he says. Purists chastised him for being more dancer than rapper. Sitting in a leopard-print bodysuit before a concert, he defended his style: "People were ready for something different from the traditional rap style. The fact that the record has reached this level indicates the genre is growing."[1]

M.C. Hammer was very good friends with Arsenio Hall and therefore was invited to perform on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1989 prior to the release of Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em.[2]

Music videos were produced for "Ring 'Em/Pump It Up (Here's The News)", "Let's Get It Started", "They Put Me in the Mix" (later remixed) and "Turn This Mutha Out". Hammer used some of the proceeds from this album to install a rolling recording studio in the back of his tour bus, where he recorded much of his sophomore effort.[3]

Track listing

1. "Intro: Turn This Mutha Out"
2. "Let's Get It Started"
3. "Ring 'Em"
4. "Cold Go MC Hammer"
5. "You're Being Served"
6. "It's Gone"
7. "They Put Me in the Mix"
8. "Son of the King"
9. "That's What I Said"
10. "Feel My Power"
11. "Pump It Up (Here's the News)"

Samples used

"Let's Get It Started"

• "Change The Beat" by Fab Five Freddy
• "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen
• "Rock Box" by Run-D.M.C.
• "Rock The Bells" by LL Cool J
• "Give It to Me Baby" by Rick James

"Pump It Up"

• "The Champ" by The Mohawks
• "Hot Pants" by James Brown
• "Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)" by Hashim

"Turn This Mutha Out"

• "Apache" by Incredible Bongo Band
• "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)" by Parliament.
• "Rocket in the Pocket (live)" by Cerrone

See also

• List of number-one R&B albums of 1989 (U.S.)