Baby Got Back: A lyrical discussion/dissection

Enough of that intellectual bullshit over Jarvis Cocker, let's get to the real issues:

[Girl]
Oh my god Becky look at her butt
It is so big
She looks like one of those rap guys girlfriends
Who understands those rap guys
They only talk to her because she looks like a total prostitute ok?
I mean her butt
It's just so big
I can't believe it's so round
It's just out there
I mean it's gross
Look she's just so black

[Sir Mix a Lot]
I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waste
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung
Wanna pull up front
Cuz you notice that butt was stuffed
Deep in the jeans she's wearing
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring
Oh, baby I wanna get with ya
And take your picture
My homeboys tried to warn me
But with that butt you got
Makes me so horny
Rubber smooth skin
You say you wanna get in my Benz?
Well use me, use me, cuz you ain't that average groupie

I've seen them dancin'
The hell with romancin'
She sweat, wet, got it goin' like a turbo 'Vette

I'm tired of magazines
saying flat butt's are the thing
Take the average black man and ask him that
She gotta pack much back, so...

Fellas (yeah), fellas (yeah)
Has your girlfriend got the butt (hell yeah)
Well shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake that healthy butt
Baby got back

(LA face with Oakland booty)

I like'em round and big
And when I'm throwin' a gig
I just can't help myself
I'm actin like an animal
Now here's my scandal

I wanna get you home
And ugh, double ugh, ugh
I ain't talkin' bout Playboy
Cuz silicone parts were made for toys
I wannem real thick and juicy
So find that juicy double
Mixalot's in trouble
Beggin' for a piece of that bubble
So I'm lookin' at rock videos
Watchin' these bimbos walkin' like hoes
You can have them bimbos
I'll keep my women like Flo Jo
A word to the thick soul sistas
I wanna get with ya
I won't cus or hit ya
But I gotta be straight when I say I wanna fuck
Til the break of dawn
Baby, I got it goin on
A lot of pimps won't like this song
Cuz them punks like to hit it and quit it
But I'd rather stay and play
Cuz I'm long and I'm strong
And I'm down to get the friction on

So ladies (yeah), ladies (yeah)
If you wanna role in my Mercedes (yeah)
Then turn around
Stick it out
Even white boys got to shout
Baby got back

(LA face with the Oakland booty)

Yeah baby
When it comes to females
Cosmo and got nothin to do with my selection
36-24-36
Only if she's 5'3"

So your girlfriend rolls a Honda
Playin' workout tapes by Fonda
But Fonda ain't got a motor in the back of her Honda
My anaconda don't want none unless you've got buns hon
You can do side bends or sit-ups, but please don't lose that butt
Some brothers wanna play that hard role
and tell you that the butt need to go
So they toss it and leave it
And I pull up quick to retrieve it
So Cosmo says you're fat
Well I ain't down with that
Cuz your waste is small and your curves are kickin'
And I'm thinkin' bout stickin'
To the beanpole dames in the magazines
You ain't it Miss Thang
Give me a sista I can't resist her
Red beans and rice didn't miss her
Some knucklehead tried to dis
Cuz his girls were on my list
He had game but he chose to hit 'em
And pulled up quick to get with 'em
So ladies if the butt is round
And you wanna triple X throw down
Dial 1-900-mixalot and kick them nasty thoughts
Baby got back

First of all, what magazines that you would expect Sir Mix-A-Lot's to read (even in a doctor's waiting room) would proclaim that "flat butts are the thing"?

Secondly, while Sir Mix-A-Lot may or may not have done substantial primary research amongst African-American heterosexual males in terms of their "booty preference", I find it hard to believe that every single African-American heterosexual male would prefer a partner with larger than average buttocks.

Surely this is contradicted by the lines "Some brothers wanna play that hard role / and tell you that the butt need to go"

Do you think that Becky's valley girl friend at the beginning is being held up as a representation of her class or her race???

^IMPORTANT QUESTION!

Those ass-ist motherfuckers.

I do admire the way he tries to frame his ass-love in pro-black, pro-female terms, like it's a political stand against whitey and the fashion industry.

Surely this is contradicted by the lines "Some brothers wanna play that hard role / and tell you that the butt need to go"

I expect the above scenario is highly fictionalised (it isa worst case scenario), while the original belief that all brothers prefer large buttocks is from life experience and/or pre-existing stereotypes.

Do you think that Becky's valley girl friend at the beginning is being held up as a representation of her class or her race???

Yes and Yes, in an exaggerated stereotypical way. Unfortunately, Sir Mix-A-Lot doesn't understand the pressures of being a middle-class white female.

Perhaps it is also deliberate that after she says "Who understands those rap guys," Sir Mix-A-Lot ensures he is easy to understand both in terms of his diction and elocution

Sir Mix-A-Lot makes it clear that he is a fan of doggystyle sex in this song, a style very prevalent in the rap community. A rapper by the moniker of the "Snoop Doggy Dogg" even named an entire album after it, which included a cartoon on the inside sleeve featuring an animated version of the rapper smacking a scantily dressed dog-woman on the rear, which prompts her to pass a little gas.

If I hear another bastard who can only remember up to what was used in the Shrek films I am going to murder them with their own anus. Dunno how but I'll figure it out. I mean important lyrics here ppl, don't just be disguised by how a donkey uses some of them.

the local karaoke host banned the song from karaoke night cuz she was tired of girls attempting to do the song ironically just so they could do the "omg Becky" part. besides, as she pointed out, THAT PART IS PRE-RECORDED SO YOU DON'T GET TO DO IT ANYWAY, then the song starts and they wind up like 15 measures behind, still spitting words out 30 minutes after the music ended.

If I hear another bastard who can only remember up to what was used in the Shrek films I am going to murder them with their own anus. Dunno how but I'll figure it out. I mean important lyrics here ppl, don't just be disguised by how a donkey uses some of them.

How ironic that a song about Asses is heavily referenced by a CGI Ass!

helpful notes from wikipedia's BWH entry:

A woman who is 36-24-36 at 5'2" tall looks different from a woman who is 36-24-36 at 5'8" tall. Since the latter woman's figure has greater distance between measuring points, she will likely appear thinner than her former counterpart, again, even though they share the same "measurements."

First of all, what magazines that you would expect Sir Mix-A-Lot's to read (even in a doctor's waiting room) would proclaim that "flat butts are the thing"?

Sir Mix-a-Lot is a man who walks his own path. He possesses a mind that is endlessly examining and re-examining not only the the outside world, but itself as well. I wouldn't be surprised if dude had a subscription to Woodworking Hobbyist.

This song is questionable as it implies that only black females have the type of butt he desires yet there are plenty of white women with junk in the trunk. If blindfolded and forced against his will to do an ass-feel test, would he know the difference if all the contestants were mixed race?

he uses "sista" once, in order to make the "resist her" rhyme. All other times it's ladies, and he repeatedly declares that his main and perhaps only requirement for entwining with a female is that she is callipygian.

always interpreted Sir Mix-A-Lot's narrator as being big-butted himself - but maybe that's me projecting

funny thread for the first 2 posts or so

thanks, http://aautar.digital-radiation.com/blog/uploaded_images/jay-sherman.gif

np. buy my book.

Wasn't there a Friends episode where this is the only song that will put the baby to sleep. Or something like that. Ha ha!

Just tried calling "1-900-mixalot" and I got through to a farm supplies store in Iowa.

They weren't in but I left a message asking if anyone had done this before, much like those drunk frat dudes ringing 867‒5309 back in '82.

brb, dialing 1-900-976-DOO-DOO

Not just in "Baby Got Back" but on all of Mack Daddy, Sir Mix-A-Lot shows himself to be the New Formalist of 1990-era rap, with his fidelity to meter and passion for iambs.

why was his name Mix-A-Lot, did he dj his own shit

also I presume per the Sir moniker that he was knighted?

I won't cuss or hit ya
Surprisingly pro-femme song in spite of its FUCK UR BUTT 2 DEATH theme, affirming a sensitive side to Mix-A-Lot (KBE) shown even in My Posse's on Broadway, wherein he kicks some dickhead out of his limo for trying to hit a woman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJxRRHhXeXk&feature=fvst
He lived a charmed life, even before BGB.

Youtube comment highlight...
I smoked a joint with him at gasworks park during hempfest '94. back when he was driving a broke ass looking porche 911 with cracks on the fender flares

Well, then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPcapo5ZB_o

That is a beautiful thing.

Cool, but i thought it was going to be a montage of all scenes in movies where people are actually singing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7yOB8BdpoM

Surprisingly pro-femme song in spite of its FUCK UR BUTT 2 DEATH theme

LOL

If I hear another bastard who can only remember up to what was used in the Shrek films I am going to murder them with their own anus.

This song is a source of local pride.