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Pumps and a Bump

Field	Value
name	Pumps and a Bump
cover	Hammer - Pumps And A Bump.jpg
caption	Single cover
type	single
artist	Hammer
album	The Funky Headhunter
released	February 28, 1994
recorded	1993
genre	West Coast hip hop
length	5:05
label	Giant
writer	{{flat list
* Gerald Baillergeau<ref name	"discogs"
prev_title	This Is the Way We Roll
prev_year	1992
next_title	It's All Good
next_year	1994

Stanley Burrell
Gerald Baillergeau
Deuce Deuce
George Clinton
Garry Shider
David Spradley}}
Hammer
Gerald Baillergeau

"Pumps and a Bump" is a song by American rapper MC Hammer, now named as only Hammer, released in February 1994 by Giant Records as the first single from his fifth album, The Funky Headhunter (1994). It was both co-written and co-produced by Hammer, and peaked at No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart and No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the final Top 40 hit of Hammer's career. "Pumps and a Bump" represented a departure from the rapper's previous pop image, and contains a sample of George Clinton's 1982 single "Atomic Dog".

Critical reception

Larry Flick from Billboard magazine wrote, "Preview of the forthcoming The Funky Headhunter collection (which also marks a label switch from Capitol to Giant) shows a new and improved Hammer. The bloated pomp and circumstance has been replaced by a gritty jack-swing groove and an electro-funk tone worthy of George Clinton. Track does not instantly hit you over the head, but it does crawl up your spine and sneak into your brain after a couple of spins. Once that happens, you won't be able to stop humming the melody. A smash." Pan-European magazine Music & Media stated, "Words and rhythm are in perfect harmony. Based on a sample from P-funk president George Clinton's 'Atomic Dog', this uncensored sex anthem is set to the perfect pulse." James Hamilton from the Record Mirror Dance Update described it as a "cheerfully sexist chanting and jiggling catchy P'funk jackswinger" in his weekly dance column.

Music video

The original music video for "Pumps and a Bump" featured Hammer wearing nothing but a Speedo and dancing suggestively alongside numerous swimsuit-clad women, which resulted in it being banned from MTV as it was considered too graphic. An alternative video was filmed with Hammer fully clothed and featuring an appearance by Deion Sanders, while promoted as representing a remix of the song. The video was nominated for Best Choreography at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards.

Impact

In 2010, American Idol contestant Larry Platt performed his own song titled "Pants on the Ground", which Entertainment Weekly claimed sounded similar to "Pumps and a Bump". Spin magazine described the banned music video as "'Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show' cranked to 11".

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1994)	Peak
position
UK Club Chart (Music Week)	53
US Billboard Hot 100	26
US Hot Dance Club Songs (Billboard)	34
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)	21
US Hot Rap Songs (Billboard)	3

Year-end charts

Chart (1994)	Position	US Hot Rap songs
50

Certifications

References

(10 December 2018). "MC Hammer: Work with Notable Producers".
(1994). ""Pumps and a Bump"". Discogs.
"The Funky Headhunter - MC Hammer". [[AllMusic]].
Staff. (August 15, 2013). "A DECADE IN RAP CENSORSHIP (1990-1999)". [[Spin (magazine).
Flick, Larry. (January 29, 1994). "Single Reviews: Pop".
(June 11, 1994). "New Releases: Singles".
Hamilton, James. (May 14, 1994). "DJ directory".
Sanchez, Karissa. (June 27, 2013). "25. Hammer's animal skin Speedo - The Worst Hip-Hop Fashion Fails of All Time". [[Complex (magazine).
Holmes, Dave. (June 12, 2014). "Dave Holmes Hits the Summer Songs of 1994". [[New York (magazine).
''[[Billboard (magazine). Billboard]]'' (April 16, 1994), p. 48.
Slezak, Michael. (January 14, 2010). "'American Idol' recap: Devil Went Down to Georgia".
(April 30, 1994). "The ''RM'' Club Chart".
(December 24, 1994). "The Year in Music: Hot 100 Single Sales".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1994-singles mc-hammer-songs g-funk-songs 1994-songs songs-written-by-mc-hammer songs-written-by-garry-shider songs-written-by-george-clinton-(funk-musician) giant-records-(warner)-singles music-video-controversies

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