There are a lot of people who change careers throughout their lives, which can lead to interesting tales in the future.
Alonzo “Zo” Carter serves as the San Jose State Spartans’ assistant football coach at the moment.
He has trained and mentored numerous student-athletes, so his previous position in the hip-hop industry is frequently overlooked. But sometimes not!
Even though you won’t be able to recognize Zo’s face, you will be able to recognize his dance moves.
He and a few of his college friends auditioned for a music video on the spur of the moment in 1989.
The music? The still-unknown classic by MC Hammer, “Let’s Get It Started.” They were immediately hired, and they soon joined him on tour!
Zo thought he would return to college at the end of the summer to finish his degree and get back on the football team, but then MC Hammer started dominating the airwaves.
Zo had to make a big decision and ended up joining MC Hammer as a permanent backup dancer! He traveled the world as part of the rapper’s entourage for the next three years.
He danced on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” the American Movie Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, and the Grammys.
However, Zo could not shake his love of football. In the end, he left the group and went back to his high school in Oakland, California, where he started coaching football and track.
Zo is one of the most well-known and respected college football coaches today, despite the fact that he doesn’t often draw attention to his hip-hop upbringing.
But in 2017, during a training session, the PA system started playing a familiar song. Because of Zo’s impressive past, head coach Brent Brennan wanted him to demonstrate his moves.
Zo chuckled, “U Can’t Touch This” appears next to nothing. I thought, “Aw, man.” I was moved to front street by him.'”
We can see in the video that Zo immediately jumps in and starts doing the famous Hammer Dance, which he helped create all those years ago.
His players clearly can’t get enough of his impressive talent, and the moves come to him as easily as they did in the past.
He later commented, surprised by how natural the impromptu performance felt, “We choreographed that routine over 25 years ago, and it’s still strong.”
The video went viral after being shared on social media by the college. We are not surprised, at all. It’s still Zo’s!
This coach is so cool.
It’s not often that you meet someone who has met Oprah Winfrey and hung out with Tupac Shakur. However, Zo serves as a useful illustration of how unexpected career paths can be.
Consider the outcomes if he had not attended that audition! It would be truly tragic if the Hammer Dance, as we know it, did not exist.
