Sir Mix-a-Lot

Sir Mix-a-Lot
Sir Mix-a-Lot in December 2006
Background information
Birth name	Anthony Ray
Born	August 12, 1963 (1963-08-12) (age 48) Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop, West Coast rap, old school hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, songwriter, producer, performer
Years active	1986–present
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."

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 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.

Film and Television

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. 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.^[5]

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]

Discography

Main article: Sir Mix-a-Lot discography

• Swass (1988)
• Seminar (1989)
• Mack Daddy (1992)
• Chief Boot Knocka (1994)
• Return of the Bumpasaurus (1996)
• Daddy's Home (2003)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Huey, Steve (2003). "Sir Mix-A-Lot - Biography". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p96. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Gold & Platinum". RIAA. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=&artist=Sir%20Mix%20a%20Lot&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2009&sort=Artist&perPage=25. Retrieved 2009-03-13. 
3. ^ "Sir Mix-A-Lot - Charts & Awards - Grammy Awards". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p96. Retrieved 2009-03-13. 
4. ^ Kaufman, Gil (2003-08-01). "Sir Mix-A-Lot Hoping Baby's Got Comeback". MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1475234/20030801/sir_mix_a_lot.jhtml. Retrieved 2009-03-13. 
5. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0817849/
6. ^ http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=41222&FID=166

External links

• Sir Mix-A-Lot Official site
• Official site at Artist Direct
• Sir Mix-a-Lot at the Internet Movie Database
• Sir Mix-A-Lot at MySpace
• Subset

Persondata
Name	Sir Mix-a-Lot
Alternative names	Ray, Anthony (birth name)
Short description	Musician
Date of birth	August 12, 1963
Place of birth	Seattle, Washington, United States
Date of death
Place of death