Anthony L. Ray (born August 12, 1963), better known by his stage name Sir Mix-a-Lot or his CBhandlePrime Minista, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his 1992 hit song "Baby Got Back", which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Early life
Anthony Ray was born on August 12, 1963, in Auburn, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, and grew up in Seattle's Central District. In Ray's youth, his mother worked as a licensed practical nurse at the King County Jail. Ray was a fan of hip hop and started rapping in the early 1980s.[3]
While living in the Bryant Manor apartments on 19th Ave and East Yesler Way, Anthony Ray started school at Roosevelt High School, near the University District, when the Seattle Public School District was in the throes of what would be a 21-year experiment to integrate the school system; Guns N' Roses member Duff McKagan and actress Rose McGowan also went there. Students were bused from their neighborhoods to schools at the other end of the city. From 1978 to 1999, when the busing program was in operation, minorities carried the burden of busing, going from the South End and the Central Area to predominantly white schools in the North End.[4]
Ray said he knew that some North End residents did not want black children bused into their neighborhoods. But for him, the experience offered respite from the projects. "I've heard things like, 'Forced integration is not good,' 'I want my kid to be able to go to school in our community; that's why we moved here' – all those things I totally understand," he said. "But from my perspective, I didn't have the luxury of living in a neighborhood where a good school was. We didn't make that kind of money. So from my perspective, it was the best thing that could have happened to me."[4] A music teacher at Eckstein Middle School introduced Ray to the possibility of a music career.
Ray was interested in electronics and CB radio from a young age. One of his early jobs was working at a pinball arcade servicing machines, and during that time he started to fix keyboards and other musical equipment. He still works with electronics as a hobby.[5]
Career
1980s
Soon after high school, he began DJing parties at local community centers.[6] By 1983, Sir Mix-A-Lot had begun playing weekends regularly at the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club in South Seattle. Soon he moved locations and started hosting his parties at the Rotary Boys and Girls Club in the Central District. It was there that he met 'Nasty' Nes Rodriguez, a local radio DJ and host of Fresh Tracks, the West Coast's first rap radio show on Seattle station KKFX (K-Fox).[7]
Sir Mix-a-Lot partnered with Nasty Nes and local businessman Ed Locke to found the Nastymix record label in 1983.[8] The first song to gain popularity outside of Seattle was "Square Dance Rap" in 1986. Mix-a-Lot had originally decided to rap the entire song slowly, then speed it up and increase its pitch in post production, Mix later told Seattle Refined in 2018 that "I didn't want to rap, that's why I use this weird Smurf voice".[9] After the song was picked up by DJs in clubs nationwide, he toured Florida, New York, and other states. While in Arizona, he noticed a street named Broadway with a restaurant named Dick's, just like Seattle. This gave him the idea to write his next hit, "Posse on Broadway".[10] The title referred to Broadway in Seattle's Capitol Hill district.[11] Released in 1987, the single made the Top 100 but quickly disappeared, although it remains popular in the Seattle area for its references to many local landmarks.
In 1993, Sir Mix-a-Lot collaborated with Seattle-based grunge band Mudhoney for the song "Freak Momma" on the Judgment Night soundtrack.[11]
In 1994, he released the album Chief Boot Knocka, which reached #69 on the Billboard 200 and #28 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Charts. The album featured the hit single "Put 'Em On The Glass". "Just Da Pimpin' in Me" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance but lost to "Let Me Ride" by Dr. Dre.
When his 1996 album Return of the Bumpasaurus was only given a low label promotion, leading to lackluster sales, Sir Mix-a-Lot left Def American. During the time off, he worked closely with the band The Presidents of the United States of America under the group name "Subset" with a combination of rock and rap music, but nothing was ever officially released.[16]
2000s
Sir Mix-a-Lot signed with the independent label Artist Direct for his 2003 album Daddy's Home with "Big Johnson" as its lead single.[11][17] The next year, he released a DVD entitled "Shhhh... Don't Tell 'Em That" to promote the album.[18]
2010s
In 2010, Sir Mix-a-Lot announced his next album, Dun 4got About Mix. The lead single "Carz" was released to YouTube on 23 Nov 2010. By June 2011, the video had had over a million views, although no release date for the album has been set as of 2023.[13] In the same year, his F.U.B.A.R. Remix for the song Conditions Of My Parole appeared on Puscifer's remix album All Re-Mixed Up.[19]
In 2013, Sir Mix-a-Lot produced the album Dream for the urban rock band Ayron Jones and The Way. He opened their album release party at Neumos on November 2. That Christmas season, he promoted the Washington State Lottery over the Christmas season, with advertisements featuring his music appearing on Spotify.[20]
On June 6, 2014, Sir Mix-a-Lot collaborated and performed with the Seattle Symphony on a new composition by Gabriel Prokofiev as part of the symphony's Sonic Evolution series of new orchestral pieces inspired by Seattle's music icons.[21][22][23]
In 2014, rapper Nicki Minaj released the single "Anaconda",[24] which prominently featured samples from "Baby Got Back". Sir Mix-a-Lot praised both the artist and the song, calling it the "new and improved version" of "Baby Got Back".[25]
In March 2016, Sir Mix-a-Lot collaborated with TNT and LK on the track and video, "Streets Don't Love Me".[26]
From 2017 to 2019, Sir Mix-a-Lot hosted a morning radio show based in Seattle on Hot 103.7 FM.
He owns multiple residences, including one in Auburn, Washington, where he has continued to maintain a strong presence performing at small festivals across the country.
Other work
In 1995, Sir Mix-A-Lot was the regular host of the short-lived UPN anthology drama series The Watcher, in which, in 2000, he was quoted in Vibe magazine as saying "in retrospect, I wish I hadn't done (the show)"[27]
In 2006, Sir Mix-a-Lot appeared on Adult Swim's Tom Goes to the Mayor and the 17th Treehouse of Horror on Fox's The Simpsons. In 2008, he appeared on Adult Swim's Robot Chicken singing a song entitled "Table Be Round". It was sung in the style of "Baby Got Back", but was about to King Arthur's creation of the Round Table. He also voiced politician Hans Blix and singer Stevie Wonder in the season 3 finale. He appeared in "The Judge" episode of Season 4 of BoJack Horseman playing himself.
Sir Mix-A-Lot provides narration and commentary in Wheedle's Groove, a 2009 documentary about the Seattle 1960s and 70s funk and soul scene.[28]
In June 2018, the DIY Network aired a special called Sir Mix-A-Lot's House Remix, which involved Sir Mix-A-Lot buying and flipping a house in Seattle.[29]
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