Well, I was pretty sure with AllAdvantage being resurrected as AGLOCO was the harbinger of Web2.0 End Times — but now, I wonder if MC Hammer being declared as some kind of Web2.0 “Expert” really is.
If you hadn’t heard, TechCrunch20, the conference which alleges to put a sense of merit back into startup conferences, has declared MC Hammer a Web2.0 “expert” and put him on the panel of judges. These judges will select amongst the bajillions of entries the rarified few who will present their wares to VC’s and industries insiders over a two day period.
- Mark Andreeson, founder of Netscape.
- Chris Anderson, Editor-In-Chief of Wired.
- Dave Winer, grandfather of RSS, and author of one of the first blogs ever.
Anyway, the list rolls on as to the identities and credentials of the other experts, but it is just a shade of mind blowing that they would regard MC Hammer as an “expert” that would have the chops to be able to a) understand what many of these technologies are about b) be able to place these technologies into appropriate strategic, financial, and competitive contexts and c) be able to judge amongst them which ones would be any more worthy of attention than any other.
Lest you think I am a Hammer hater, the fountain of all knowledge says that although he enjoyed tremendous ground breaking success as one of the first pop rap artists, he also squandered through much of his 30 million dollar fortune.
This relegated him to a punchline for many jokes, and getting featured on such programs as VH1’s Behind The Hits, and MTV’s Surreal Life where they had profiled many D-List stars in the past.
Putting MC Hammer onto the panel of experts makes as much as — I don’t know … putting *ME* up on that panel of experts. Sure, its going to generate some cheap buzz today, but does TechCrunch20 really need cheap buzz? And what *does* MC Hammer bring to the table anyway? A legacy of trailbreaking pop music that has all but crashed and burned?
I mean, is a gentleman with his level of busines acumen really in a position to judge others?
May 11th, 2007 at 4:23 pm | Permalink
[...] of anti-DEMO conference. And the first thing that some people — like Ben Metcalfe and I, and Tony Hung at Deep Jive Interests, for example — think when we look at the list is: What the F? MC [...]
May 11th, 2007 at 6:02 pm | Permalink
What does he bring to the table?
I thought it was obvious. Really big pants.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:49 pm | Permalink
Certainly not going into the defense of MCH, but too many of those panels only have experts as members. Sometimes the outsider view can be pretty interesting.
Geeks/experts tend to be less tolerant in their judgement than Joe Average . But in the end the success mostly depends on Joe Average.
But I wouldn’t say MCH is Joe Average.
May 13th, 2007 at 5:02 pm | Permalink
I have no idea if Hammer is actually a techie, but there are all kinds of entertainers who do are very adept at technology.
Asia Carerra and Wil Wheaton, just to name two.