Songoftheday 5/6/18 - I like big butts and I can not lie you other brothers can't deny, that when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face...
from the album Mack Daddy (1992)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (five weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 24
Today's song of the day comes from Seattle-based rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot, who grew up as Anthony Ray in the northwest city in the late 70s/early 80s. In a place not really known for its hip-hop "scene", he started his own indie label Nastymix and released his first single in 1985, but it was a few years later when his first album Swass arrived that broke him out as more than a regional success. Spending 58 weeks on Billboard's albums chart, the record featured his first minor hit and Seattle geography lesson "Posse On Broadway", which climbed to #70 on the pop chart in America and nearly made the top-40 on their R&B chart at #44. Selling over a million copies, the album set him up for his second release, Seminar. While that record didn't quite sell like the hometown hit Swass did, the set still sent three singles on to the R&B chart, with "My Hooptie" again tickling the underside of the R&B top-40 at #49. That single was a sign of Mix-A-Lot's comedic flair, with his strength to combine hilarious verses with a hard-ass delivery setting himself apart from the other hip-hop novelties.
And then came Mix-A-Lot's third album Mack Daddy, switching from his own local indie label to rap giant Def American. The first release from the record, the Stevie Wonder-sampling "One Time's Got No Case", failed to make the pop and R&B charts (it did get to #10 on their rap list), it paved the way for his biggest moment. "Baby Got Back", written by Ray who produced the single with Rick Rubin, was, yes, a comic one-off about the love of ass, but boy was it a glorious one. No throwaway cheesy lines, and Mix teaches you how to commit to a theme. People now still can quote various lines from the rap classic that has not one verse that doesn't crack me the hell up. By the way the sample on the record was an underground dance track called "Technicolor" from Channel One...
"Baby Got Back" ended up spending five weeks atop Billboard's pop chart in the U.S. in July of 1992. The record also climbed to #27 on their R&B chart, while the extended remix helped it rise to #5 on their Dance Club Play list. Internationally, the single was a big hit Down Under (no pun intended), peaking at #3 in New Zealand and #8 in Australia, while being only a moderate hit in Europe, climbing to #25 in Germany, #31 in the Netherlands, and #39 in Switzerland, and missing the top-40 in the UK at #56. "Baby Got Back" ended up winning a Grammy Award for Rap Solo Performance in 1993.
Despite the massive success of "Baby Got Back", the hysterical third single from Mack Daddy, "Swap Meet Louie", failed to chart. In 1994, Mix-A-Lot returned with his fourth album, Chief Boot Knocka, but only "Ride", which tried to swerve into the "bass rap" fad, made a minor appearance on the rap chart (#47). Two years later, his final effort on Def American, Return Of The Bumpasaurus, arrived, with "Jump On It", an interpolation of the Sugar Hill Gang's "Apache", bringing the rapper back to the pop chart at #97, and hitting #89 R&B. His most recent album was the indie release Daddy's Home in 2003...
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Here's Arsenio Hall introducing America to Sir Mix A Lot...
In 2005, Jonathan Coulton, one of the first internet music "viral" sensations, released a indie-folk cover of "Baby Got Back" that was simply genius. Sadly, more kids saw the version completely pilfered by Glee of this version...
In 2014, rapper Nicki Minaj sampled the record for her single "Anaconda", which went all the way to #2 on the pop chart in America...
Country singer Joe Nichols took it in the opposite direction in 2017, and included Mix-A-Lot in his video...
Lastly, here's Sir Mix-A-Lot performing with the Seattle Symphony and it's stunning...
Up tomorrow: New York singer/songwriter curses her way into the top ten.
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