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 Rick Rubin [a]
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) [32] Gold35,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [37] Gold400,000
United States (RIAA) [38] 2× Platinum2,000,000^
United States (RIAA) [39]
Digital download
Gold2,077,760 [40]

^ 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. [41] [42]

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. [43] 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. [44] Coulton publicly lambasted the show's producers, and alleged that they had even lifted elements from his recording, [45] 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. [45] 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. [46] 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". [47]

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." [48] 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". [49]

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 . [50] 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. [51]

See also

References

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  4. 1 2 "The 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List". Billboard . 19 October 2023. Archived from the original on 25 November 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
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  17. 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
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  41. 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.
  42. Lexington (columnist), "The end of the embarrassment" Archived 2020-11-27 at the Wayback Machine , The Economist , November 26, 2020. Retrieved 20-11-27.
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  45. 1 2 Landau, Elizabeth (2013-01-26). "Singer alleges 'Glee' ripped off his cover song". CNN . Retrieved 2013-01-27.
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  47. Lorre, Rose Maura (7 January 2014). "Jonathan Coulton on Seeing His Glee Flap Play out on The Good Wife". Vulture. New York. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
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  49. 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.
  50. "Sir Mix-A-Lot on Nicki Minaj's 'Anaconda,' Booty Fever & New Music". Billboard. September 12, 2014. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  51. Nigel, Lezama (March 2019). "Status, Votive Luxury, and Labour: The Female Rapper's Delight". Fashion Studies. 2 (1): 1–23. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  1. The CD maxi-single credits Rubin as Executive Producer

Further reading