Baby Got Back

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"Baby Got Back"
Single by Sir Mix-a-Lot
from the album Mack Daddy
B-side "Cake Boy"/"You Can't Slip"
Released May 7, 1992
Format 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl, cassette single, CD single
Recorded 1991
Genre Dirty rap, bounce
Length 4:22
Label Def American
Writer(s) Sir Mix-a-Lot
Producer(s) Rick Rubin, Sir Mix-a-Lot
Sir Mix-a-Lot singles chronology
"One Time's Got No Case"
(1991)
"Baby Got Back"
(1992)
"Swap Meet Louie"
(1992)

"Baby Got Back" is a song written and recorded by American artist Sir Mix-a-Lot, from his album Mack Daddy. The song samples the 1986 Detroit techno single "Technicolor" by Channel One.

At the time of its original release, the song caused controversy with its outspoken and blatantly sexual lyrics about women, as well as specific references to the female buttocks which some people found objectionable. The video was briefly banned by MTV.[1] "Baby Got Back" has remained popular and even anthemic[2] since it was originally featured on the album Mack Daddy in 1992.

It was the second best-selling song in the US in 1992, behind Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You", with sales of 2,392,000 physical copies that year.[3] In 2008, it was ranked number 17 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.[4]

Synopsis

The first verse begins with "I like big butts and I cannot lie", and most of the song is about the rapper's attraction to large buttocks. The second and third verse challenge mainstream norms of beauty: "I ain't talkin' 'bout Playboy/'Cause silicone parts are made for toys" and "So Cosmo says you're fat/Well I ain't down with that!". Sir Mix-a-Lot commented in a 1992 interview: "The song doesn't just say I like large butts, you know? The song is talking about women who damn near kill themselves to try to look like these beanpole models that you see in Vogue magazine." He explains that most women respond positively to the song's message, especially black women: "They all say, 'About time.'"[5]

In the prelude that opens the song there is a conversation between two (presumably) thin, white valley girls, where one girl remarks to her friend, "Oh, my God, Becky, look at her butt! It is so big [...] She's just so ... black!", to which Sir Mix-a-Lot, representing the African-American subculture's view, says: "You other brothers can't deny" and "Take the average black man and ask him...".[6] However, Sir Mix-a-Lot admits in a later verse that it is not only African-American men who are attracted to curvy women with the lyric "even white boys got to shout", an aspect which was referenced in a retrospective two decades later.[7]

The dialogue of British actress Papillon Soo Soo saying "Me so horny" is sampled from the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket to complete Sir Mix-a-Lot's lyric, "that butt you got makes..." It is one of two popular rap songs of the era (along with 2 Live Crew's "Me So Horny") in which her dialogue from the film is featured.

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "Baby Got Back" (album version) 4:25
2. "Cake Boy"   4:12
3. "You Can't Slip"   5:05
4. "Baby Got Back" (Tekno-Metal Edit) 4:20
5. "Baby Got Back" (Hard B.W.B. Hip Hop Mix) 4:35
6. "Baby Got Back" (Hurricane Mix) 5:04

Chart performance and awards

Sir Mix-a-Lot's best known song, "Baby Got Back" reached number 1 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 chart for five weeks in the summer of 1992, and won a 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. In the years following the song's release on the album Mack Daddy, it has continued to appear in many movies, television shows, and commercials, as detailed below. It was number 6 on VH1's Greatest Songs of the '90s, and number 1 on VH1's Greatest One Hit Wonders of the '90s.

Weekly charts

Chart (1992–93) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[8] 8
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[9] 89
Germany (Official German Charts)[10] 25
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[11] 31
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[12] 3
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[13] 39
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company) 56
US Billboard Hot 100[14] 1
US R&B/Hip-Hop Songs[15] 27
US Dance/Club Play Songs[16] 5

Year-end charts

Chart (1992) Position
US Billboard Hot 100[17] 2

Jonathan Coulton cover/Glee cover

Jonathan Coulton released a cover of "Baby Got Back" during his Thing a Week project in October 2005, with the song being released as part of the first Thing A Week compilation album the next year.[18]

In late January 2013, a preview of the television show Glee included a cover of "Baby Got Back" that would be part of an upcoming episode. Many, including Coulton, noted that the backing music was extremely similar to his recorded version; Coulton reported that he had not been contacted by the Fox Broadcasting Network about this song, but at the time could only suppose that the Glee version was similar to his own.[19] Coulton had tried to contact Fox for additional details prior to the episode's airing. The episode with the song, "Sadie Hawkins", aired unchanged on January 24, 2013; further analysis of the aired version showed the Glee cover appeared to use Coulton's original musical arrangement as it included Coulton's original melody and a changed line in Coulton's version ("Johnny C's in trouble" instead of the original "Mix-a-Lot's in trouble").[20] Coulton's agents were later contacted by Fox, claiming, in his words, "they're within their legal rights to do this, and that [Coulton] should be happy for the exposure", even though Coulton is not credited within the episode.[20] Coulton has been exploring legal options; while musical covers do not have copyright legal protection in the United States, Coulton may have legal rights if the Glee version is found to have used his audio track or original composition directly.[21] Coulton has since released his cover of "Baby Got Back" to iTunes, what he calls "a cover of Glee's cover of my cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot's song", with proceeds going to charity.[22] Coulton's experience has led other artists who believe that Glee used their cover arrangements as backing within the show to step forward with similar claims.[23]

Related songs and allusions

In a 2000 interview, Sir Mix-a-Lot reflected: "There's always butt songs. Hell, I got the idea sitting up here listening to old Parliament records: Motor Booty Affair. Black men like butts. That's the bottom line."[24] The song is part of a tradition of 1970s–90s African-American music celebrating the female posterior, including "Da Butt", "Rump Shaker", and "Shake Your Groove Thing".[25]

  • The song is played during the credit sequence of the video game Fat Princess while the player is attacking the staff with a scythe.[29]
  • The song featured in the 2010 Live-action/CGI-animated film Yogi Bear.
  • A portion of the song was used in the home video release for the 2001 film Shrek, during the karaoke dance party featurette, performed by Eddie Murphy as Donkey.
  • The song was occasionally used by Joe Louis Arena PA announcers in tribute to forward Tomas Holmstrom at Detroit Red Wings games during the 2010–11 NHL season, in reference to Holmstrom's preferred method of goal screening (positioning himself just outside the goal crease and using his buttocks to obscure the goaltender's view of incoming pucks).[citation needed]
  • The song's opening lyric is referenced in the video game Dragon Age II, in which companion character Isabella is offered her own pirate ship in exchange for betraying player character Hawke. In accepting the offer, she states, "I like big boats. I cannot lie."
  • The chorus of Nicki Minaj's 2014 single "Anaconda" heavily samples the song, including the beat, the lyric "My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns hun" as well as "Oh my god, look at her butt" in the beginning of the song. The song's closing line, "little in the middle but she got much back", is also sampled. Sir Mix-a-Lot stated his approval for Minaj's song, saying that he had gained "a whole new level of respect for her" and that he had become a "fan for life" of Minaj.[31]
  • In the Teen Titans Go! episode "Cool School", Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy are devastated at how "uncool" they are and are lost at what they should do. Cyborg then suggest that they go to "Cool School". Once there they take a class, where the Cool School Teacher educates them on how to be cool through the Cool School Song which is a parody of "Baby Got Back".
  • The song was used in Alvin And The Chipmunks : The Road Chip however it does not appear on the soundtrack.

See also

References

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  7. http://www.vulture.com/2013/12/sir-mix-a-lot-baby-got-back-video-oral-history.html
  8. "Australian-charts.com – Sir Mix-A-Lot – Baby Got Back". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  9. Canadian peak
  10. "Musicline.de – Sir Mix-A-Lot Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
  11. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Sir Mix-A-Lot search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
  12. "Charts.org.nz – Sir Mix-A-Lot – Baby Got Back". Top 40 Singles.
  13. "Swisscharts.com – Sir Mix-A-Lot – Baby Got Back". Swiss Singles Chart.
  14. [1]
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  16. [3]
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  28. Video on YouTube
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  32. Miriam Coleman, Rolling Stone (June 8, 2014), Sir Mix-a-Lot Takes 'Baby Got Back' Classical With Seattle Symphony

Further reading

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External links

Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
July 4, 1992 – August 1, 1992
Succeeded by
"This Used to Be My Playground" by Madonna