When you hear the name Sir Mix-A-Lot, many automatically think of “Baby Got Back,” the multi-platinum hit song from the rapper that talked about his admiration for the slightly heavier and shapely female, specifically her lower body.
While the song has made it’s way through karaoke bars all over the world and has been re-done by rock groups, the television show “Glee” and even the Philharmonic Orchestra, the original purpose behind the song is much more serious than you think. It was actually meant to be social statement to stop body-shaming of bigger, thicker women, especially women of color.
“You know, when I talk about ‘Baby Got Back’…,” explains Mix-A-Lot. “‘Baby Got Back’ was actually a serious song, but I realized that I didn’t wanna come off as, you know, as preachy. So what I did was I kind of kept it tongue-in-cheek but if you listen close enough to the song, it was a slap in the face of the establishment that was trying to define what all women should look like at that time. They wanted all women to look like heroin addicts. It wasn’t the case. And when I did that song, you had half of the women that were offended and the other half saying, ‘Thank God, about time!’”
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Mix-A-Lot goes on to say that the commentary in the beginning of the song, “Oh my gosh, Becky…” was a reflection of how many white women used to look at shapely Black women — with misguided admiration–better known as “hating.”
People actually buy butt-enhancing jeans and underwear, and many even get surgeries now in order to look like they have “back”. But back in 1992 when the song was released…
Sir Mix-A-Lot: The Real Reason Behind “Baby Got Back” was originally published on blackdoctor.org
