Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” is the second single from his third album, Mack Daddy. The rapper and his friend, voice actress Amylia Dorsey, were inspired to make a song celebrating curvy women after watching a Budweiser commercial with very skinny women. Sir Mix-a-Lot thought about how hard so many women worked to look like the models in that beer ad and wanted to let them know their figures did not need to change. He has also stated in other interviews how he was also tipped off by Parliament’s Motor Booty Affair and how so many Black men like women with bigger than average butts.
Sir Mix-a-Lot and Rick Rubin produced “Baby Got Back” with heavy sampling of the Detroit techno classic, “Technicolor” by Channel One. The song made Sir Mix-a-Lot famous, as it shot to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was the second best-selling song of 1992. He also won a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance. MTV could only play the video after 9 PM because they received so many complaints. Some people saw the intention to uplift women with big butts as nothing more than objectification, which caused controversy.
Sir Mix-a-Lot revealed in interviews that lots of Black women approached him with gratitude because they felt finally seen. He and Dorsey saw the future because “Baby Got Back” put the spotlight on women reminiscent of Sarah Baartman 20 years before the BBL surgery went mainstream in America. Nicki Minaj sampled “Baby Got Back” for her hit “Anaconda,” which also gave accolades to the derriere but as a tool of personal empowerment. “Baby Got Back” still entertains and has been sampled by artists across genres 33 years after its release. Sir Mix-a-Lot released his sixth album, Daddy’s Home, in 2003. He still tours regularly and did some voice acting for the adult cartoon The Family Guy in 2025.
