MC Hammer to launch YouTube rival

Former rapper MC Hammer is to launch a website later this month to allow users to share and watch dance videos.

The 'U Can't Touch This' hitmaker earned an estimated £16.5 million after his success in the 1980s and early '90s, but went bankrupt in 1996.

Hammer, real name Stanley Burrell, became a TV presenter and Christian preacher after his music career broke down. He now hopes the new website DanceJam will rival successful video-sharing site YouTube and earn him money from advertisers.

The 45-year-old told the Associated Press: "There is no high-tech lingo or business strategy that you can talk that is above my head. I breathe this stuff."

But James McQuivey of Forrester Research claims Burrell could find it difficult getting people away from YouTube, which listed 1.7 million dance videos last month alone.

He said: "When people are looking for any video, whether it be about skateboarding, dancing or a science project, they don't stop to think about where's the best place to find it. They just start off by going to YouTube."