MC Hammer offers to rap for Gujarat victims

Rapper MC Hammer has agreed to donate his talents to raise money toward rebuilding the earthquake-ravaged areas of Gujarat. The Indus Entrepreneurs announced earlier this week that the flamboyant entertainer, leader of the hip hop musical wave in the early 1990s, has agreed to trot out his hits to help the newly-formed United Community Alliance''s (UCA) efforts to raise money for Gujarat.UCA, a coalition of some 38 mostly non-profit South Asian groups in and around the Bay Area, was put together last week with the help of TiE. It is hoping to raise at least $2 million at the March 2 concert at the Jubillee Church in San Jose, Calif., which Hammer attends. Organizers are hoping that the former first family, Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, will accept their invitation to attend. It all happened when TiE member Devendra Verma of Redwood Ventures was having dinner with Hammer last week, and Verma casually mentioned how the Indian American community was trying to raise money for the earthquake survivors. Hammer told Verma that his church has been talking of doing just that. "It took me all of 30 seconds to convince MC to do a concert for us," Verma told India-West. Hammer said he would do it at the church, and invited Verma to take a look at it. The sprawling church can seat around 3,500 and is "absolutely magnificent," said TiE member Ramesh Yadav.. Hammer is these days moving from the MTV kind of music to the realm of spirituality. The contents of his 1998 album, Family Affair, is all based on spirituality. His fans probably know that he''s currently the host of a successful San Francisco radio show called, MC Hammer''s World Hit Gospel Show. Sure, the rapper is still trying to build up a comfortable nest egg for himself and his family after going from boom to bust in the mid-1990s. In fact, he has two concerts planned for later this month in India, one in Mumbai and one in Bangalore. (India-West)