M.C. Hammer appearing at AFI's 36th Life Achievement Award in Hollywood. Hammer, the rapper-gone-actor-gone-businessman, announced his search engine WireDoo at the Web 2.0 Summit.
M.C. Hammer appearing at AFI's 36th Life Achievement Award in Hollywood. Hammer, the rapper-gone-actor-gone-businessman, announced his search engine WireDoo at the Web 2.0 Summit. Reuters/Mario Anzuoni

At San Francisco's Web 2.0 Summit Wednesday, rapper, actor, entrepreneur and ordained minister M.C. Hammer announced he has already launched a new search engine by the name of WireDoo.

The 49-year-old Hammer said WireDoo is not trying to compete with the search giants like Google, but wants to offer consumers a deeper type of search.

Unlike other search engines, WireDoo ads relationship information to search results so if a user searches for the word car, they also receive results for similar related topics, like insurance and consumer safety ratings.

WireDoo's tagline is, Search once and see what's related.

WireDoo is not Hammer's first foray into the Internet business. In 2008, Hammer launched DanceJam.com, a Web site for videos of dancing competitions, styles and techniques, and announced himself as the company's co-founder and chief strategy officer. Hammer is also a frequent guest at the TechCrunch40 conferences.

Similarly, other celebrities like Mike Tyson and Ashton Kutcher have found auxiliary careers launching or investing in start-up tech companies.

Hammer, a.k.a. Stanley Kirk Burrell, originally hit it big as a rapper in the late 80s and mid-90s with hits like 'U Can't Touch This' and '2 Legit 2 Quit.' Hammer was the first hip-hop artist to ever achieve a diamond status for an album, but as a result of excessive spending, he later filed for bankruptcy in April 1996 after compiling $13 million in debt.

In 2002, Hammer signed a book contract with publishers Simon & Schuster, but was later sued by the book company when he never submitted his manuscript. The company sought to take back the $61,000 it had given to Hammer in advance for the unwritten book about fatherhood. The book was reportedly called 'Enemies of the Father: Messages from the Heart on Being a Family Man.'

Hammer released 12 albums as a rapper, signing with Suge Knight's Death Row Records, Capitol Records, Giant Records and EMI. His most recent album, called 'DanceJamtheMusic,' was released in 2009.

WireDoo, which has been in development for the last two years, is still under construction and not yet ready for the public.

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