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How the director got Hammer to deliver Addams Family “Groove”

Chris Well

“They do what they want to do, say what they want to say, live how they want to live, play how they want to play…”

“Addams Groove,” performed by hip-hop artist Hammer as the theme song for the 1991 film The Addams Family, introduced a whole new generation to the horrific household. The second single from his 1991 album Too Legit to Quit, the music video featured Hammer and several of his dancers performing around the Addams home with many of the film’s cast. Watch these two videos to see the original music video, and then watch for some behind-the-scenes info…

The film’s director, Barry Sonnenfeld, told SYFY about first connecting with Hammer—whom he was going to ask to do the film’s hit song. “At the time, I knew [Hammer] was a car collector, so I parked my 1962 Lincoln Continental in front of the entrance where we were meeting MC Hammer,” Sonnenfeld said. “And when the meeting was over, I walked him to the elevator downstairs, and I said, ‘How many cars do you have?’ He said, ‘Eleven.’ And I said, ‘I think it’s gonna be 12.’ And he said, ‘Wait, that’s not your Lincoln, is it?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ And I sold him my Lincoln in the elevator. And the next day he came and paid cash for it.”

About the Addams Family

The Addams Family is an unconventional household that is fond of the morbid and grotesque, but don't realize that people find them scary. Created by cartoonist Charles Addams in 1938, they started out as a series of one-panel cartoons, published in The New Yorker over a 50-year period. They have since been adapted to other media, including more than one television series, numerous films, video games, a stage musical, and more.

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