U can't pay this: MC Hammer sued over delinquent car loan
The suit, filed in a California court last week, names MC Hammer and U Can't Touch This LLC as defendants in the case, claiming the bank loaned them $114,000 to buy the vehicle in 2023.
But after allegedly missing a number of monthly payments, the rapper and his company still owe more than $76,000.
Hammer, whose real name is Stanley Burrell, broke onto the rap scene in the 1980s, but became a global figure with "U Can't Touch This."
The rapper's signature "Hammer Pants," coupled with his rapidly moving elastic legs, made for a dance move that was copied all over the world.
Despite a tie-up Mattel figurine and the "Hammerman" cartoon, his stardom waned and by the mid-1990s, Hammer was going through bankruptcy.
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France 24
11 hours ago
- France 24
Italian Brainrot: the AI memes only kids know
A walking shark in oversized sneakers, an orange with muscular arms and a twirling "Ballerina Cappuccina" with a mug for a head are among the strange stars of the online phenomenon called Italian Brainrot. "At first it's not funny at all, but it kind of grows on you," 16-year-old Yoshi Yamanaka-Nebesney from New York told AFP. "You might use it to annoy someone and find that funny." The name nods to the stupefying effect of scrolling through mindless social media posts, especially over-the-top images created with artificial intelligence tools. Shouty, crude and often nonsensical Italian voiceovers feature in many of the clips made by people in various countries that began to spread this year on platforms such as TikTok, embraced by young Gen Z and Gen Alpha members. The dozen-plus cartoonish AI creatures have fast become memes, inspiring a stream of new content such as "Brainrot Rap", viewed 116 million times on YouTube. A YouTube Short titled "Learn to Draw 5 Crazy Italian Brainrot Animals" -- including a cactus-elephant crossover named "Lirili Larila" -- has also been watched 320 million times. "There's a whole bunch of phrases that all these characters have," said Yamanaka-Nebesney, in Tokyo with his mother Chinami, who had no idea what he was talking about. School-age Italian Brainrot fans can be found from Kenya to Spain and South Korea, while some of the most popular videos reference Indonesia's language and culture instead. "I went on trips with my boys to Mexico" and people would "crack jokes about it" there too, Yamanaka-Nebesney said. 'Melodic language' Internet trends move fast, and Italian Brainrot "hit its peak maybe two months ago or a month ago", said Idil Galip, a University of Amsterdam lecturer in new media and digital culture. Italian -- a "melodic language that has opportunities for jokes" -- has appeared in other memes before. And "there are just so many people in Indonesia" sharing posts which have potential for global reach, Galip said. A "multi-level marketing economy" has even emerged, with AI video-makers targeting Italian Brainrot's huge audience through online ads or merchandise sales, she added. Nurina, a 41-year-old Indonesian NGO worker, said her seven-year-old loves the mashed-up brainrot world. "Sometimes when I pick him up from school, or when I'm working from home, he shouts, 'Mommy! Bombardino Crocodilo!'" -- a bomber plane character with a crocodile head. "I know it's fun to watch," said Nurina, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. "I just need to make him understand that this is not real." Some videos have been criticised for containing offensive messages that go over young viewers' heads, such as rambling references in Italian to "Bombardino Crocodilo" bombing children in Gaza. "The problem is that these characters are put into adult content" and "many parents are not tech-savvy" enough to spot the dangers, warned Oriza Sativa, a Jakarta-based clinical psychologist. Tung Tung Tung Sahur The best-known Indonesian brainrot character "Tung Tung Tung Sahur" resembles a long drum called a kentongan, which is used to wake people up for a pre-dawn meal, or sahur, during Ramadan. Indonesia has a young, digitally active population of around 280 million, and "Tung Tung Tung Sahur" is not its only viral export. This summer, video footage -- not AI-generated -- of a sunglass-wearing boy dancing on a rowboat during a race at a western Indonesian festival also became an internet sensation. Noxa, the TikToker behind the original "Tung Tung Tung Sahur" clip, is now represented by a Paris-based collective of artists, lawyers and researchers called Mementum Lab. "Noxa is a content creator based in Indonesia. He's under 20," they told AFP. "He makes fast, overstimulated, AI-assisted videos." "He doesn't call himself a 'contemporary artist', but we think he's already acting like one," said Mementum Lab, which is focused on complex emerging issues around AI intellectual property, and says it is helping Noxa negotiate deals for his work. Noxa, in comments provided by the collective, said the character was "inspired by the sound of the sahur drum I used to hear". "I didn't want my character to be just another passing joke -- I wanted him to have meaning," he said. Cultural nuances can be lost at a mass scale, however, with one 12-year-old tourist in Tokyo saying he thought "Tung Tung Tung Sahur" was a baseball bat. And the generation gap looks set to persist. "What's that?!" laughed a woman as she puzzled at the row of Italian Brainrot dolls. © 2025 AFP
France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Gunman kills police officer near Atlanta CDC headquarters
No other people were killed or physically wounded in the shooting, during which multiple rounds were fired in the CDC campus, police said. "Officers arrived -- found a critically injured DeKalb County police officer that was down," Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a press conference. The police officer was later identified as 33-year-old David Rose of the DeKalb County Police Department. He left behind a pregnant wife and two children, the department said in a statement. The shooter's identity has not been released. Schierbaum said it was too early in the investigation to comment on reports by CNN and the New York Times that the gunman blamed the coronavirus vaccine for an unspecified illness he may have had. The man's father had reported to authorities earlier Friday that he was suicidal, the reports said. The shooting began before 5:00 pm local time (2100 GMT) near the CDC campus and a pharmacy, Schierbaum said. The suspect -- who police believe was a single shooter -- was found dead on the second floor of a CVS drugstore with a gunshot wound, which may have been self-inflicted. "The shooter is deceased, and we don't have any civilians that have been shot in this active shooter incident," Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens told reporters. Ninety-two children in a daycare on the CDC campus were safely evacuated and were being reunited with families at a nearby school. "We at @CDCgov are heartbroken by today's attack on our Roybal Campus," CDC director Susan Monarez wrote on X, praising the "courageous" policeman who was killed. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp also paid homage to those who "answer the call to serve and who protect their fellow Georgians".
France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Mexico discounts risk of 'invasion' after Trump order to target cartels
"There will be no invasion of Mexico," Sheinbaum said after The New York Times reported that Trump had secretly signed a directive to use military force against cartels that his administration has declared terrorist organizations. "We were informed that this executive order was coming and that it had nothing to do with the participation of any military personnel or any institution in our territory," Sheinbaum told her regular morning conference. The Mexican foreign ministry said later that Mexico "would not accept the participation of US military forces on our territory." The remarks followed a statement released by the US embassy in Mexico, which said both countries would use "every tool at our disposal to protect our peoples" from drug trafficking groups. US ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said on X that the countries "face a common enemy: the violent criminal cartels." The Pentagon referred questions on the issue to the White House, which did not immediately confirm the order. The Times said Trump's order provided an official basis for military operations at sea or on foreign soil against the cartels. In February, his administration designated eight drug trafficking groups as terrorist organizations. Six are Mexican, one is Venezuelan and the eighth originates in El Salvador. Two weeks ago, his administration added another Venezuelan gang, the Cartel of the Suns, which has shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades. On Thursday, the US Justice Department doubled to $50 million its bounty on Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, whom it accuses of leading the Cartel of the Suns. Venezuela has dismissed the allegations, with Foreign Minister Yvan Gil calling it "the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen." Sheinbaum has made strenuous efforts to show Trump she is acting against her country's cartels, whom he accuses of flooding the United States with drugs, particularly fentanyl. "We are cooperating, we are collaborating, but there will be no invasion. That is absolutely ruled out," she said. She said that in "every call" with US officials, Mexico insisted that this "is not permitted." The 63-year-old has been dubbed the "Trump whisperer" for repeatedly securing reprieves from his threats of stiff tariffs over the smuggling of drugs and migrants across their shared border.
