Sir Mix-a-Lot
Encyclopedia
Anthony Ray better known by his stage name Sir Mix-a-Lot, is an emcee
and producer
based in Seattle, Washington
. The founder of the Nastymix record label, he debuted in 1988 with Swass
. Sir Mix-a-Lot is best known for his 1992 album Mack Daddy
and its Grammy Award
-winning single "Baby Got Back
."
," whose title referred to a street in Seattle's Capitol Hill
district. The Godzilla remix of "Posse on Broadway" contained a sample from David Bowie
's 1975 hit "Fame
," but neither the album version nor the original seven-inch edit version (which was used for the video) used the Bowie sample. Swass
, his debut album, was released in 1988, with two other singles: "Square-Dance Rap" and a hip hop cover of the Black Sabbath
song "Iron Man
" backed by the band Metal Church
. In 1990, the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) certified Swass platinum for selling a million copies.
Sir Mix-A-Lot debuted on the Def American label, which also bought the rights of his first two albums, with Mack Daddy
in 1992. Its single "Baby Got Back
" was a number-one hit that went double platinum and won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance
. MTV
aired the video for "Baby Got Back" only during evening hours because of its sexual nature. In 1993, Sir Mix-a-Lot collaborated with Seattle-based grunge group Mudhoney
for the song "Freak Momma" on the Judgment Night
soundtrack.
Low label promotion of his 1996 album Return of the Bumpasaurus led Sir Mix-a-Lot to leave the American label. During the three year break, Sir Mix-a-Lot worked closely with another group, The Presidents of the United States of America
under the group name "Subset" with a combination of rock and rap music, but nothing was ever officially released. Sir Mix-a-Lot signed with the independent Artist Direct label for his 2003 album Daddy's Home
with "Big Johnson" as its lead single. Despite having taken several years off from recording, Sir Mix-a-Lot is still known to mix frequently.
In 2010, Sir Mix-a-Lot announced his next album, Dun 4got About Mix. The lead single "Carz" was released to YouTube on 23 Nov 2010. By June 2011, the video had accquired over a million views, although no release date for the album has been set.
. The show was one of the first dramas aired on the fledgling broadcast network, UPN
. Reminiscent of series such as The Twilight Zone
, Sir-Mix-a-Lot functioned as an omniscient narrator who introduced each episode, which would feature a new tale set in the seamy underbelly of Las Vegas
.
Mix-a-Lot is more than willing to poke fun at his best-known song, "Baby Got Back":
In 2006, Sir Mix-a-Lot appeared as himself in the second season episode of Tom Goes to the Mayor
, "My Big Cups", in which he raps the jingle for Tom's latest commercial enterprise, a store that sells big cups. He also appeared as himself in The Simpsons
episode Treehouse of Horror XVII
singing a parody called "Baby Likes Fat." He also made an appearance on the stop-motion animated sketch comedy show Robot Chicken
performing another parody, "Table Be Round" about King Arthur
and his Knights of the Round Table.
He is currently trying to make a comeback with a new label that should make its release at the end of 2011.
Sir Mix-a-Lot provides narration and commentary in Wheedle's Groove, a 2009 documentary about the Seattle 1960s and 70s funk and soul scene.
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
based in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. The founder of the Nastymix record label, he debuted in 1988 with Swass
Swass
Swass is the debut album by Sir Mix-a-Lot. It was released in 1988 on NastyMix and re-released on CD by Def American Recordings. The album featured the singles "Posse on Broadway", "Gold", "Iron Man" and "Rippn'"....
. Sir Mix-a-Lot is best known for his 1992 album Mack Daddy
Mack Daddy
Mack Daddy is the third album by Sir Mix-a-Lot, and his first album with a Parental Advisory label. It was released on February 4, 1992, on Def American Recordings...
and its Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning single "Baby Got Back
Baby Got Back
"Baby Got Back" is a 1992 Number One single by hip hop artist Sir Mix-a-Lot, from his album Mack Daddy. The song samples the 1986 electro single "Technicolor" by Channel One. The song's title originates from an urban slang term used to express a favorable opinion about a woman's buttocks...
."
Career
In 1986, Sir Mix-a-Lot and his DJ, Nasty Nes founded the Nastymix record label. His first hit, released in 1987, was the single "Posse on BroadwayPosse On Broadway
Posse on Broadway is a Hip Hop song first recorded by Sir Mix-a-Lot on his 1988 debut album Swass.The Broadway in the song is not New York City's famed thoroughfare, but the Seattle street of the same name in the Capitol Hill district .The geography of the song is quite specific, going north up...
," whose title referred to a street in Seattle's Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington
Capitol Hill is the most densely populated residential district in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the center of the city's gay and counterculture communities, and is one of the city's most prominent nightlife and entertainment districts....
district. The Godzilla remix of "Posse on Broadway" contained a sample from David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
's 1975 hit "Fame
Fame (David Bowie song)
"Fame" is a song recorded by David Bowie, initially released in 1975. It reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the week of September 20, 1975.-Song development:...
," but neither the album version nor the original seven-inch edit version (which was used for the video) used the Bowie sample. Swass
Swass
Swass is the debut album by Sir Mix-a-Lot. It was released in 1988 on NastyMix and re-released on CD by Def American Recordings. The album featured the singles "Posse on Broadway", "Gold", "Iron Man" and "Rippn'"....
, his debut album, was released in 1988, with two other singles: "Square-Dance Rap" and a hip hop cover of the Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
song "Iron Man
Iron Man (song)
"Iron Man" is a song by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath from their second studio album Paranoid released in 1970. It was later included on their initial greatest hits compilation We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll , as well as all subsequent greatest hits compilations.-Writing and...
" backed by the band Metal Church
Metal Church
Metal Church was an American heavy metal band. They originally formed in Seattle, Washington as Shrapnel in 1980. Their first album was released in 1984, and the band's most recent work, This Present Wasteland, was released in 2008....
. In 1990, the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) certified Swass platinum for selling a million copies.
Sir Mix-A-Lot debuted on the Def American label, which also bought the rights of his first two albums, with Mack Daddy
Mack Daddy
Mack Daddy is the third album by Sir Mix-a-Lot, and his first album with a Parental Advisory label. It was released on February 4, 1992, on Def American Recordings...
in 1992. Its single "Baby Got Back
Baby Got Back
"Baby Got Back" is a 1992 Number One single by hip hop artist Sir Mix-a-Lot, from his album Mack Daddy. The song samples the 1986 electro single "Technicolor" by Channel One. The song's title originates from an urban slang term used to express a favorable opinion about a woman's buttocks...
" was a number-one hit that went double platinum and won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance
Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance was awarded from 1991 to 2011, alongside the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Previously a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance....
. MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
aired the video for "Baby Got Back" only during evening hours because of its sexual nature. In 1993, Sir Mix-a-Lot collaborated with Seattle-based grunge group Mudhoney
Mudhoney
Mudhoney is an American alternative rock band. Formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1988 following the demise of Green River, Mudhoney's members are vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm, lead guitarist Steve Turner, bassist Guy Maddison, and drummer Dan Peters. Original bassist Matt Lukin left the...
for the song "Freak Momma" on the Judgment Night
Judgment Night (film)
Judgment Night is a 1993 action thriller film directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring Emilio Estévez, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jeremy Piven and Stephen Dorff as a group of friends on the run from a group of drug dealers after they witness a murder...
soundtrack.
Low label promotion of his 1996 album Return of the Bumpasaurus led Sir Mix-a-Lot to leave the American label. During the three year break, Sir Mix-a-Lot worked closely with another group, The Presidents of the United States of America
The Presidents of the United States of America (band)
The Presidents of the United States of America, commonly referred to as Pot USA or "PUSA" or The Presidents, are a twice Grammy-nominated American alternative rock band. The band formed in Seattle, USA, in 1993. The three-piece group currently comprises vocalist and "basitarist" Chris Ballew,...
under the group name "Subset" with a combination of rock and rap music, but nothing was ever officially released. Sir Mix-a-Lot signed with the independent Artist Direct label for his 2003 album Daddy's Home
Daddy's Home (Sir Mix-a-Lot album)
Daddy's Home is the sixth and final album by rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot. The album was released in 2003 for Rhyme Cartel and was his first album since 1996's Return of the Bumpasaurus.-Track listing:All tracks by Sir Mix-a-Lot#"Daddy's Home" - 4:09...
with "Big Johnson" as its lead single. Despite having taken several years off from recording, Sir Mix-a-Lot is still known to mix frequently.
In 2010, Sir Mix-a-Lot announced his next album, Dun 4got About Mix. The lead single "Carz" was released to YouTube on 23 Nov 2010. By June 2011, the video had accquired over a million views, although no release date for the album has been set.
Film and Television
In 1995, Sir Mix-a-Lot starred as the titular character of the short-lived TV series The WatcherThe Watcher (TV series)
The Watcher is an American anthology drama series that premiered on UPN in January 1995, during the network's inaugural season.-Synopsis:Set in Las Vegas, the series stars rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot as "The Watcher", an omniscient narrator who watches the activities of others via surveillance monitors in...
. The show was one of the first dramas aired on the fledgling broadcast network, UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
. Reminiscent of series such as The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
, Sir-Mix-a-Lot functioned as an omniscient narrator who introduced each episode, which would feature a new tale set in the seamy underbelly of Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
.
Mix-a-Lot is more than willing to poke fun at his best-known song, "Baby Got Back":
In 2006, Sir Mix-a-Lot appeared as himself in the second season episode of Tom Goes to the Mayor
Tom Goes to the Mayor
Tom Goes to the Mayor is an American animated television series created by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim for Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. It premiered on November 14, 2004 and ended on September 25, 2006, with a total of thirty episodes.-History:Tom Goes to the...
, "My Big Cups", in which he raps the jingle for Tom's latest commercial enterprise, a store that sells big cups. He also appeared as himself in The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode Treehouse of Horror XVII
Treehouse of Horror XVII
"Treehouse of Horror XVII" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons eighteenth season, and the seventeenth Treehouse of Horror episode. In "Married to the Blob", Homer eats green extraterrestrial goo and morphs into a rampaging blob with an insatiable appetite; in "You Gotta Know When to Golem", Bart...
singing a parody called "Baby Likes Fat." He also made an appearance on the stop-motion animated sketch comedy show Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
performing another parody, "Table Be Round" about King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
and his Knights of the Round Table.
He is currently trying to make a comeback with a new label that should make its release at the end of 2011.
Sir Mix-a-Lot provides narration and commentary in Wheedle's Groove, a 2009 documentary about the Seattle 1960s and 70s funk and soul scene.
Discography
- SwassSwassSwass is the debut album by Sir Mix-a-Lot. It was released in 1988 on NastyMix and re-released on CD by Def American Recordings. The album featured the singles "Posse on Broadway", "Gold", "Iron Man" and "Rippn'"....
(1988) - SeminarSeminar (album)-Track listing:#"Seminar" - 3:47#"Beepers" - 4:17#"National Anthem" - 4:28#"My Hooptie" - 4:46#"Gortex" - 3:46#"The Game" - 4:43#"I Got Game" - 4:56#"I'll Roll You Up" - 4:29#"Something About My Benzo" - 4:29#"My Bad Side" - 4:46...
(1989) - Mack DaddyMack DaddyMack Daddy is the third album by Sir Mix-a-Lot, and his first album with a Parental Advisory label. It was released on February 4, 1992, on Def American Recordings...
(1992) - Chief Boot KnockaChief Boot KnockaChief Boot Knocka is the fourth album by rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot. The album was released in 1994 on American Recordings. It was released as the follow-up to his successful previous album, Mack Daddy. The album reached #69 on the Billboard 200 and #28 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Charts. The album featured...
(1994) - Return of the BumpasaurusReturn of the BumpasaurusReturn of the Bumpasaurus is the fifth album by emcee Sir Mix-a-Lot. The album was released in 1996 on American Recordings, which was less successful than his previous album, Chief Boot Knocka...
(1996) - Daddy's HomeDaddy's Home (Sir Mix-a-Lot album)Daddy's Home is the sixth and final album by rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot. The album was released in 2003 for Rhyme Cartel and was his first album since 1996's Return of the Bumpasaurus.-Track listing:All tracks by Sir Mix-a-Lot#"Daddy's Home" - 4:09...
(2003)
External links
- Sir Mix-A-Lot Official site
- Official site at Artist Direct
- Sir Mix-A-Lot at MySpace
- Subset