| Sir Mix-a-Lot | |
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Sir Mix-a-Lot in December 2006 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Anthony Ray |
| Born | August 12, 1963 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Genres | Hip hop, West Coast rap, old school hip hop |
| Occupations | Rapper, songwriter, producer, performer |
| Years active | 1986–2003 |
| Labels | Nastymix/Ichiban, American Recordings, Artist Direct/BMG |
| Website | www.sirmixalot.com |
Anthony Ray (born August 12, 1963), 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."
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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 Broadway," whose title referred to a street in Seattle's Capitol Hill district.[1] 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.[1] In 1990, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified Swass platinum for selling a million copies.[2]
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[2] and won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance.[3] 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.[1]
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.[1][4] 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.
In 1995, Sir Mix-a-Lot starred as the titular character of the short-lived TV series The Watcher. 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.[5] 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.
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.[6]
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