The rapper born Stanley Burrell was a fleet-footed performer with a knack for self-promotion. He'd recorded some independent singles and was making noise around the Bay Area Hip-Hop scene; but he knew he'd have to grind harder if he wanted to take things to the next level.
He'd founded his own record label, Bust-It Records, in ; and Hammer recruited a crew of aspiring DJs, hypemen and dancers, with the idea being that, in order to make that leap, he needed the best stage show around. He'd had them audition for a video and soon brought them on as his full-time dancers. He would rechristen them all: Suhayla became "Sweet L. Tabatha joined them after P and L. The two girls had become close friends, and "Terrible T" was the newcomer.
We had a new girl. Hammer dubbed the group "Oaktown's 3. He taught us how to think of a song -- to choreograph a song. Not just out there dancing, but how to listen to it, all of those elements, changes in the music, how to accent that. There were things that he brought to dancing for us. The rehearsals were intense.
You could be in there six to ten hours, maybe twelve hours, and you have not eaten. People are coming from work or school or whatever they did and trying to hang.
There was no sidestepping. Hammer would collaborate with the girls on routines for his shows, and the fact that they'd all had a background in club dancing proved to be a benefit: they could handle the intensity of Hammer's choreography and understood the energy he was trying to communicate in his shows. Along with Hammer's cousin, Ace Juice, they would gain notice as high-powered backing dancers. And MC Hammer was becoming a force. In , he released his debut album; after subsequently landing a deal with Capitol, the project was re-released as his major label debut, Let's Get It Started.
The album was a platinum-seller, and suddenly Hammer and his roster of artists were hot commodities. He says that he wrote all of it, but Hammer did not. We all co-wrote with him. Because it's a man writing for women. You can't really do it from a woman's perspective.
He didn't do it all. The group immediately set about recording their debut album. With their album out, the ladies hit the road with Hammer as both backing dancers and opening act. But the members of Oaktown's 3. And they were noticing a lack of checks. Even as Hammer's star had risen, Oaktown's 3. Hammer's recruitment of the girls had been informal, but now they were a major act.
Bay Area shows," L. Hammer said 'we've got The Arsenio Hall Show scheduled, these are the songs we're doing. The girls were confused when they were handed paychecks for their TV appearance. It was when they got paid for the Arsenio gig that L. Once P realized they should've been paid but weren't — despite the demanding schedule— she made it known that she wasn't happy. Lil P was getting weary of Hammer's iron grip on the group; she'd been frustrated with Hammer's approach and the lack of money the group was seeing.
Hammer kept a tight hold on Oaktown's 3. By mid, Lil P was no longer in Oaktown's 3. Sweet L. Oaktown's 's second release in , Fully Loaded included more material written and co-written by Djuana J. Johnican, Tabatha King and Treasure Williams. Terrible T and Sweet L. Due to internal conflict between the management and record company representing Oaktown's , this group was unable to receive the consistent support they needed to be a successful act and they split up in Artist descriptions on Last.
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