As celebrity friends and fans react to the untimely passing of hip hop hitmaker Heavy D, reports emerge the rapper was trying to get healthier in the months leading up to his death.

The 6’4″ star weighed more than 300 lbs. when he died, but was working out hard at some Los Angeles area gyms to shed excess pounds. At one gym, Ultra Body Fitness, trainers who worked with Heavy D a impressive reported six to seven days a week have erected shrines to the recently deceased rap legend. TMZ reports:

One of his most recent trainers — a guy named Tony, who helped Heavy D lose 150 pounds in 2008 — tells TMZ, D stopped in to Ultra Body Fitness in West Hollywood 3 months before his death … and began to re-strategize his training program… At that point, sources close to Heavy D tell us, the rapper embarked on a daily running regimen and frequented several other nearby gyms to diversify his exercise experience — incorporating everything from hiking to boxing.

The death of the influential rapper- real name Dwight Arrington Myers- at the age of 44- came as a shock to celebrities and fans alike, who took to Twitter to eulogize Heavy D. Fellow 90′s star MC Hammer tweeted:

“We had a lot of great times touring together. He had a heart of gold. He was a part of what’s good about the world.”

Rapper and mogul Diddy added:

“Heavy D is the person who gave me my 1st chance in the music industry… He got me my internship at Uptown. He Believed when no one else did. My Heart is Broken. Pls pray for my man Heavy D and his Family. PLS #RipHeavyD love you Boy. 4ever”

Heavy D Was Trying to Get Healthier When He Died is a post from: The Inquisitr

Watch out Google, MC Hammer is coming after the search market. Hammer announced at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco that he was launching a new search engine, WireDoo, which will provide a new type of search.

Hammer says that Wiredoo will be a “deep search” engine. Mashable reports that search engines like Google and Bing rely on links and keywords to provide results. Wiredoo will provide results on the search topic, but also related topics.

For instance, if you search for the word “car” on Wiredoo, you’ll get results about insurance, safety ratings, and price. If you search for “MC Hammer,” you’ll find links to parachute pants, platinum albums, and bankruptcy.

Hammer said that Wiredoo is not trying to compete directly with search engine giants like Google and Yahoo. Instead, Wiredoo will provide a new service for people.

Hammer said:

“It’s not a competitive attempt to recreate search…  You can always make things better. There’s always a next version. Do we really need another search engine? Of course not. But if something can be an added value, then we’ll find a definite use for it.”

Wiredoo, which has the tagline “Search once and see what’s related,” is currently in Beta. 

Do you think MC Hammer’s Wiredoo will be a success? Are you interested in a relation search engine?

MC Hammer Launches WireDoo Search Engine is a post from: The Inquisitr

What do reality TV show personality, Tila Tequila and former rap star/preacher MC Hammer have in common?

According to TMZ.com, both artists are linked to the “Gathering of the Juggalos,” a music festival founded by hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse.

In last years ‘gathering,’ two artists- Method Man and Tila Tequila- were brutally attacked by fans during their performances at the event.  Videos show angry members from the crowd hurling objects including beer cans and rocks at Tequila, as bodyguards stand on stage and attempt to swat down the projectiles.

With those events in the past- Tila threatened to file a lawsuit over the attack but nothing came to fruition as far as we can tell-  MC Hammer (seemingly) figured it would be safe to perform at the 2011 Gathering of the Juggalos, scheduled to take place this August.

Hit this link to see the possibly NSFW video of Tequila as she dodges flying objects on stage during last years festival.

via TMZ

Tila Tequila and MC Hammer Linked? is a post from: The Inquisitr

The new Xbox 360 Slim? Thanks, but no thanks Microsoft. Not while there’s some dude on eBay selling this Xbox 360 case, as signed by MC HAMMER himself. Oh yes:

And here’s the auction text, that genuinely made me do a lol:

White Xbox 360 case, signed by MC Hammer.

* For use with HDMI versions
* No Faceplate
* Can be touched

See also: Xbox 360 autographed by Sarah Palin going for a million bucks

[Ebay, via GameSniped]

The MC Hammer Xbox 360, yours for under $50 (currently) is a post from: The Inquisitr

Former rap star turned startup founder MC Hammer is in serious financial trouble, and may be facing bankruptcy, casting some doubt on user generated dance site DanceJam.

According to reports, MC Hammer owes $671,182 to the IRS and the State of California in three separate tax debts, each of which has resulted in liens being placed on property owned by Hammer and his wife.

MC Hammer has declared bankruptcy previously (in 1996), and it’s not clear from reports whether the new debts may force him to declare bankruptcy a second time. What the do show though is that MC Hammer can’t pay his bills, and that could be representative of even deeper financial issues at play.

The news won’t help struggling startup DanceJam, that launched with much fanfare at the TechCrunch40 conference in San Francisco in September 2007. Hammer is listed as the co-founder of the site, and also holds the position of CSO; primarily his role for the site has been as its public face, a celebrity spokesman of sorts that promotes DanceJam in the media and at events. Having your star co-founder face bankruptcy and possible court time over unpaid tax isn’t a good look for any startup.

DanceJam has struggled to build any significant traffic, managing only 168,000 unique visitors in July according to Compete, and is ranked at 38,726 on Alexa. An angel round of $1 million was backed by Ron Conway, Michael Arrington and others, and Softbank Capital and Rustic Canyon Partners invested over two rounds of $3.5million and $3.92 million each. $8.42 million in total for stats that are lackluster isn’t a positive sign.

MC Hammer in serious financial trouble, will DanceJam be far behind? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Via Gawker, one of the coolest flashmob videos I’ve ever seen.

A large crowd of gold-panted dancers rush a crowded LA boutique and break it down to MC Hammer’s iconic 80s hit “U Can’t Touch This.”

The mob was not spontaneous or grassroots, however- AdRants reports that it was a guerilla marketing tactic to promote A&E’s new show Hammertime, detailing Hammer’s current day to day life.

MC Hammer flashmob hits trendy LA store [VIDEO] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Here’s a cool video of a flash mob doing the MC Hammer dance, gold parachute pants and all, at a store on Sunset Blvd. in L.A. The flash mob stunt was pulled off flawlessly and filmed as part of the promo for A&E’s upcoming reality show “Hammer Time” that explores MC’s family life.

MC Hammer Dance Flash Mob Video

Hammer Time

MC Hammer Dance Flash Mob: Parachute Pants are Back in Style [VIDEO] is a post from: The Inquisitr

First, Hammer popped up at this week’s Twitter-oriented “Shorty Awards,” and he didn’t go unnoticed, either. Listed as a “special appearance” and billed right under Shaq and CNN’s Rick Sanchez, Hammer ended up stealing a good bit of the spotlight from the highly covered event.

The guy’s got 60,000 followers on his Twitter account. And now, the Hammerman is popping up in a spoof video said to show the secrets behind Digg’s mysterious algorithms:

All right, so let me just ask: When did it become Hammertime again? And, for the love of Vanilla Ice, can we at least get some parachute pants on that guy if he’s going to be dancing all around the Web 2.0 world?

Why is MC Hammer Suddenly All Over Social Media? is a post from: The Inquisitr