Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

MC Hammer’s philosophical tweet goes viral and sparks memes

Rapper’s profound musings have surprised fans

Ellie Harrison
Tuesday 23 February 2021 09:45 EST
Comments
MC Hammer
MC Hammer (Michele Eve Sandberg/Shutterstock)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

MC Hammer has surprised many Twitter users with his philosophical musings on the platform this week.

The rapper, known for hits such as “U Can’t Touch This” and “2 Legit 2 Quit”, has gone viral after responding to a tweet that said: “Philosophy is flirtation with ideas. Science is commitment to truth.”

Hammer disagreed with the post, writing: “You bore us. If science is a ‘commitment to truth’ shall we site [sic] all the historical non-truths perpetuated by scientists? Of course not. It’s not science vs Philosophy ... It’s Science + Philosophy.”

He added: “Elevate your Thinking and Consciousness. When you measure include the measurer.”

Hammer also shared an academic article about the philosophy of science and a reading list that includes the work of philosopher Michael Foucault.

Read more - BBC Wales guest goes viral after leaving explicit item in background of news interview

Many social media users were delighted by Hammer’s penchant for philosophy.

“MC Hammer could write The Symposium but Plato could never write ‘Can’t Touch This’,” joked one person.

“I cannot even describe how happy I am that MC Hammer is part of philosophy twitter,” said another.

A third said: “Saw someone tweeting about history and philosophy of sci/tech with the handle mchammer and was like huh, I wonder how he managed to snag that handle. It’s because it’s MC Hammer. MC Hammer continues to be a legend apparently, for different reasons.”

“‘When you measure include the measurer’ is a perfect summation of my scientific career and I’m so mad I never thought of it as elegantly as the legendary MC,” said a fourth. “This tweet is going in my talks.”

Hammer, who has 3.2 million followers, has been retweeting much of the praise.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in