"Baby Got Back" is a 1992 hip hop song written and recorded by American rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot, which appeared on 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 song's music video was briefly banned by MTV. It was the second best-selling song in the US in 1992, behind Boyz II Men's "End of the Road". In 2008, it was ranked number 17 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop. The song debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated April 11, 1992 and hit number one twelve weeks later. The single spent five weeks at the top of the chart.
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 women with large behinds. 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!" The song came from a meeting between Sir Mix-a-Lot and Amylia Dorsey who saw little representation of full figured women in media. The idea came from the 1980s Budweiser commercial featuring very thin, valley girl-esque models. They decided to dedicate a song to the very opposite, featuring curvy women of color. Mix and Dorsey sought to, "Broaden the definition of beauty." 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.'" In the song's prelude there is a conversation between two thin, white Valley girls. One girl named Linda remarks to her friend, "Oh, my, God Becky, look at her butt! It is so big. She's just so black!", at which point Sir Mix-a-Lot begins rapping of his love for big-bottomed girls. The dialogue of actress Papillon Soo Soo saying "Me so horny" is sampled from the 1987 filmFull Metal Jacket to complete Sir Mix-a-Lot's lyric, "That butt you got makes."
Track listing
Chart performance and awards
Sir Mix-a-Lot's best known song, "Baby Got Back" reached number 1 on the United StatesBillboard Hot 100 chart for five weeks in the summer of 1992, and won a 1993Grammy 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.
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 Weekcompilation album the next year. In late January 2013, a preview of the television showGlee 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. 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. Coulton's agents were later contacted by Fox, claiming, in his words, "they're within their legal rights to do this, and that should be happy for the exposure", even though Coulton is not credited within the episode. 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. 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. 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.
Related songs
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." 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". In 2014, Trinidadian-American rapper Nicki Minaj sampled the basis and some verses of "Baby Got Back" for her hit "Anaconda", from the album The Pinkprint.
