Baby Got Back

Last updated
"Baby Got Back"
BabyGotBack.jpg
Single by Sir Mix-a-Lot
from the album Mack Daddy
B-side "Cake Boy"/"You Can't Slip"
ReleasedMay 7, 1992 (1992-05-07)
Recorded1991
Genre
Length4:21
Label
Songwriter(s)
  • Sir Mix-a-Lot
Producer(s)
Sir Mix-a-Lot singles chronology
"One Time's Got No Case"
(1991)		"Baby Got Back"
(1992)		"Swap Meet Louie"
(1992)
Music video
"Baby Got Back" on YouTube
No.TitleLength
1."Baby Got Back" (album version)4:21
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

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [30] Gold35,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [35] Silver200,000‡
United States (RIAA) [36] 2× Platinum2,000,000^
United States (RIAA) [37]
Digital download 		Gold2,077,760 [38]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

In 2019, former governor of Alaska and Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin performed the song on Fox's The Masked Singer while dressed as a bear. [39] [40] The song was featured briefly in the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street .

Jonathan Coulton/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. [41] Coulton performs the song on acoustic guitar with a gentle and tender melody at odds with the lascivious nature of the lyrics.

Coulton's arrangement of the song was used in a 2013 episode of the musical television series Glee without Coulton's knowledge or permission. [42] Coulton publicly lambasted the show's producers, and alleged that they had even lifted elements from his recording, [43] but claimed that Fox responded that "they're within their legal rights to do this, and that [Coulton] should be happy for the exposure", though Coulton pointed out that he was not credited within the episode. [43] Coulton released his cover of "Baby Got Back" to iTunes, labelling it "a cover of Glee's cover of my cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot's song", with proceeds going to charity. [44] Coulton pursued legal charges against the show's producers, but ultimately dropped them, deciding a seeming victory in the court of public opinion was "a good enough win." The controversy was referenced in a season 5 episode of The Good Wife entitled "Goliath and David". [45]

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." [46] 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". [47]

In 2014, Trinidadian-American rapper Nicki Minaj sampled "Baby Got Back", including some of its verses, for her hit "Anaconda", from the album The Pinkprint . [48] The song has been viewed by some as a diss track, in answer to "Baby Got Back". Whereas Sir Mix-a-Lot focuses on a woman's body and the pleasure it gives him, Minaj raps from the perspective of the unnamed woman, and shows how she uses her callipygian physique to profit and empower herself. [49]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Baby Got Back Songfacts". Songfacts. Archived from the original on 19 April 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
  2. ↑ Winistorfer, Andrew (2008-09-29). "VH1's 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs". Prefixmag . Retrieved 2011-10-16.
  3. 1 2 "The 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List". Billboard . 19 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  4. ↑ "'And I Cannot Lie': The Oral History of Sir Mix-a-Lot's 'Baby Got Back' Video". 19 December 2013.
  5. ↑ "Spuds McKenzie". youtube.com. August 20, 2016. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  6. ↑ "OMG, meet the real 'Becky' from 'Baby Got Back'". usatoday.com. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  7. ↑ Keizer, Brian (September 1992). "Big Buts". Spin . 8 (6): 87–88.
  8. ↑ "Sir Mix-A-Lot's 'Baby Got Back' Was About". Billboard . 13 November 2014.
  9. ↑ Flick, Larry (February 29, 1992). "Single Reviews" (PDF). Billboard . p. 72. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
  10. ↑ Considine, J.D. (1992). "Are today's rock stars just troublemakers or voices of discontent?". The Baltimore Sun . – via Edmonton Journal . (November 11, 1992).
  11. ↑ Bernard, James (March 13, 1992). "Mack Daddy". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  12. ↑ Push (January 25, 1992). "Albums". Melody Maker . p. 28. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
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  15. ↑ The Bechdel Test, and Other Media Representation Tests, Explained Archived 2018-04-18 at the Wayback Machine , by Nick Douglas, at Lifehacker ; published October 10, 2017; retrieved April 17, 2018
  16. ↑ This Bechdel Test Simulator Shows How Easy It Is to Predict Who Makes Sexist Movies (Men) Archived 2017-10-17 at the Wayback Machine , by Kara Brown, at Jezebel ; published January 15, 2016; retrieved April 17, 2018
  17. ↑ Gomez Maureira, M.A.; Rombout, L.E. (2015). "Sonifying Gender Representation in Film". In Chorianopoulos, Konstantinos (ed.). Entertainment Computing - ICEC 2015: 14th International Conference, ICEC 2015, Trondheim, Norway, September 29 - October 2, 2015, Proceedings. Springer. p. 546. ISBN   9783319245898.
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  19. ↑ Canadian peak
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  26. ↑ "Top 60 Dance Singles" (PDF). Music Week . August 8, 1992. p. 20. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
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  28. ↑ "Sir Mix-a-Lot Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard.
  29. ↑ "Sir Mix-a-Lot Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
  30. 1 2 "1992 ARIA Singles Chart". ARIA. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  31. ↑ "End of Year Charts 1992". Recorded Music NZ . Retrieved April 4, 2020.
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  35. ↑ "British single certifications – Sir Mix-A-Lot – Baby Got Back". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  36. ↑ "American single certifications – Sir Mix-A-Lot – Baby Got Back". Recording Industry Association of America.
  37. ↑ "American single certifications – Sir Mix-A-Lot – Baby Got Back". Recording Industry Association of America.
  38. ↑ "Chart: Digital Songs" (PDF). Nielsen Soundscan. June 23, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  39. ↑ Lewis, Sophie, "Sarah Palin raps 'Baby Got Back' while dressed as a bear, shocking 'The Masked Singer' viewers", cbsnews.com , March 12, 2020. Retrieved 20-11-27.
  40. ↑ Lexington (columnist), "The end of the embarrassment", The Economist , November 26, 2020. Retrieved 20-11-27.
  41. ↑ Doctorow, Cory (2005-10-15). "Nerd folksinger covers Baby Got Back". Boing Boing . Retrieved 2013-01-27.
  42. ↑ Eakin, Marah (2013-01-18). "Jonathan Coulton says Glee ripped off his cover of "Baby Got Back"". The A.V. Club . Retrieved 2013-01-27.
  43. 1 2 Landau, Elizabeth (2013-01-26). "Singer alleges 'Glee' ripped off his cover song". CNN . Retrieved 2013-01-27.
  44. ↑ Cantalano, Michele (2013-01-27). "Jonathan Coulton vs. Glee: It's About the Ethics". Forbes . Retrieved 2013-01-27.
  45. ↑ Lorre, Rose Maura (7 January 2014). "Jonathan Coulton on Seeing His Glee Flap Play out on The Good Wife". Vulture. New York. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  46. ↑ Sir Mix-a-Lot; Caramanica, Jon (October 2000). "Still Bumpin'". Vibe . 8 (8): 82.
  47. ↑ Aubry, Erin J. (2003). "The butt: its politics, its profanity, its power". In Edut, Ophira (ed.). Body outlaws: rewriting the rules of beauty and body image (2nd ed.). Seal Press. p.  30. ISBN   1-58005-108-1.
  48. ↑ "Sir Mix-A-Lot on Nicki Minaj's 'Anaconda,' Booty Fever & New Music". Billboard. September 12, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  49. ↑ Nigel, Lezama (March 2019). "Status, Votive Luxury, and Labour: The Female Rapper's Delight". Fashion Studies. 2 (1): 1–23. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  1. ↑ The CD maxi-single credits Rubin as Executive Producer

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