Sir Mix-a-Lot
was king of the callipygian lyrical references well before Lil Wayne and
Drake were telling women to pop their rotund derrieres. In 1992, he
created 'Baby Got Back,' a double platinum-selling single off his third
album, 'Mack Daddy,' and put mainstream America onto a slang term for
backsides that deserved some special attention. Almost 12 years after
the song's release, the Grammy Award-winning Seattle native is still
reaping the benefits off rhyming about female anatomy with the debut of
his 'Baby Got Back' iPhone app.
From a Mix Makeover photo lab -- users can manipulate aspects of a
picture by blowing up and stretching assets -- to the Ba Dunka Dunk club
game -- the object is to maneuver well-endowed women around obstacles
and into the right pair of hot pants -- Sir Mix-a-Lot's app boosts his
original song into a technological experience. There's a slew of other
features and the 48-year-old hip-hop veteran had a hand in creating them
all.
Read on as the wide brim hat-wearing MC spits knowledge about his app,
reveals why he has a fondness for dubstep and 2012 Grammy-nominated Best
New Artist Skrillex and explains the true story of how 'Baby Got Back'
was born.
What was the inspiration for 'Baby Got Back'?
We were watching the Super Bowl, I think it was Buffalo Bills -- one of
those super bowls where they got slaughtered. We were watching the super
bowl -- we being me and a girl I was dating back then named Amy. She
was Puerto Rican and black, nice big ol' juicy booty with a little, tiny
waist. I mean she had a body. We were watching a Budweiser commercial
with the Spuds MacKenzie girls that was real hot back then. And they had
all these real little skinny chicks. And there's nothing wrong with
skinny chicks, but I'm like, "How come they're not really showing what
men really like?" If you think I'm lying, you take a bunch of skinny
chicks, put 'em in a room, take Dolly Parton's titties and put them on
the other side of the room and watch where all the men's eyes go. So I
said, "You know what? Let's do something kinda poking fun,
tongue-in-cheek, at this stereotype that all women should look like
heroin addicts."
It started with [Amy] doing the "Oh my god Becky' thing on a DAT
recorder -- a little portable DAT machine I had just bought in New York,
which was like new s--- back then. I started writing the lyrics and
initially the song was slow. It was supposed to be somewhat offensive. I
was trying to be as political as I could then it turned into a bunch of
funny s---. And the rest is history.
What was the thought process behind the 'Baby Got Back' iPhone app?
We were working on this app two years ago. Dealing with the powers that
be at Apple, we had to kinda water some things down to make 'em work.
Initially it was something where you could get your instant
gratification -- you can come in and play a quick game -- but it was
also gonna be something you would constantly come back to 'cause we'd
have various models that would rotate in and out every month. That was
kinda the initial idea, like the instant gratification of doing
something as silly as slapping clothes onto a girl and slap clothes off a
girl. But that didn't work out too well.
Two years ago you started creating it. Was that when the idea first came to mind?
I thought of the idea before it was even doable, when apps were real
simple. Then I started talking to Sony, and Sony got involved. Then I
made sure I put up half of the money 'cause I wanted to maintain some
control. That's how we did it.
Do you feel like this app will make more people aware of the song, for instance, kids who never heard it?
I have yet to meet a kid who never heard the song. You know why? Because
kids love talking about booty, butt, farting. They don't listen to it
the way we [adults] listen to it. They think it's funny, but when they
turn 14, 15 they go, "Oh, yeah you mean butt like ass." I got lucky with
that song that it really panned out into something a lot bigger than I
ever imagined.
Overall, what do you want the user experience to be?
I want them to know you didn't just buy an app that was just something
basic to do for 15 minutes and I took your dollar. I want you to really
look at it and go, "God damn, look at all the s--- I get for 99 cents."
There's a lot of stuff in this app. I want people to really enjoy it. I
want people to understand that anything you get from Mix-a-Lot is gonna
be value-based. You're gonna get a lot of bang for your buck. From this
point forward, there will be more apps. This is just the first in a list
of many.
Besides this app, what other music projects do you have in the works?
I'm gonna do one record next year. I say it's the last album, but it may
not be. Basically it's to celebrate 'Baby Got Back,' but that does not
mean I'm gonna have 100 remixes of 'Baby Got Back.' That would really
suck.
I have a couple new acts I'm working with. I have a young lady named
Tomeka Williams. Instead of doing a music video, we're gonna do a mini
movie, like a 15-minute movie, in which three of her videos will be
within the movie and interwoven as a story. Her music is a cross between
R&B, soul and alternative. The album's called 'The Black Hood.'
So is she an artist signed to you?
Yes. Rhyme Cartel Records is my label. I've been working with her for
like three years. We've been trying to hone in on a good sound and I
think she has it. When I met her, she was 18 years old, singing in the
Baptist church. She had power for days and she only weighed 110 pounds
soaking wet. She sounded like a 300-pound fat chick with all that power.
Now she's 29 and fine as hell.
You're a veteran in the game and have watched artists come and go. Are there any hip-hop artists' careers that you respect?
Definitely. Obviously my ability to stay around has something to do with
the music but it has more to do with the things I do outside of music.
So I'm able to take my brand and leverage it against something else,
which usually parlays into more money. And it eliminates me having to
scramble to try to monetize bulls--- content and allows me to do other
things to make money. And when it comes to that kind of stuff, that's
what I respect. And obviously I have to look at
Jay-Z; he gets it. He's like
Russell Simmons with a microphone.
Diddy gets it. You can see other guys making moves --
50 Cent,
Eminem. Cats that are doing things outside of music.
What about on the music tip? Who do you listen to these days?
I really like
Killer Mike. I love everything he does. He kinda has a weird style. I listen to a little bit of
Slim Thug. You know who I'm really into now and not even hip-hop?
Skrillex.
Dubstep to me is the future of music, period. Every time I listen to
him I want to kick someone's ass. The first time I heard ['Kill
Everybody'] I was like, "This is cool." But the first time I head 'Scary
Monsters and Nice Sprites' I was like , "Oh s---!" The sounds are so
aggressive. When I saw people do mosh pits to dubstep, now, I'm like,
"That's the music I wanna produce," 'cause I love challenges. What I
like about it is it's the first type of music that truly uses
synthesizers the way they were intended to be used.
Who is still on your dream collaboration list?
Bootsy Collins,
George Clinton,
James Brown, rest in peace.
Prince,
who I'd be totally intimidated by. Gary Numan. Devo. And oddly enough
John Mayer. That song he has called 'Gravity,' that sounds like some
blues my mama used to listen to. And he brings back that swanky kind of a
southern crusaders jazz feel that I really miss in music today.
