Sir Mix-A-Lot
| Sir Mix-a-Lot | |
|---|---|
Sir Mix-a-Lot in December 2006
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Anthony Ray |
| Born |
August 12, 1963 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | Rapper, songwriter, producer |
| Years active | 1983–2003, 2010–present |
| Labels | Nastymix/Ichiban, American Recordings, Artist Direct/BMG |
| Website | sirmixalot |
Anthony Ray (born August 12, 1963), better known by his stage name Sir Mix-a-Lot, is an American rapper and producer based in Seattle, Washington.
Anthony Ray was born on August 12, 1963 in Seattle, Washington. He was a fan of hip hop and started rapping in the early 1980s.
In 1983, Sir Mix-a-Lot and his partner, Nasty Nes, founded the Nastymix record label. Mix-a-Lot's first hit, released in 1987, was the single "Posse on Broadway," whose title referred to Broadway in Seattle's Capitol Hill district. The "Godzilla" remix of "Posse on Broadway" contained a sample from David Bowie's 1975 hit "Fame," but neither the album version nor the original seven-inch edit, which was used for the video, used the Bowie sample. The song made the Top 100 but quickly disappeared, although it remains popular in the Seattle area for its references to many local landmarks.
Swass, Mix-a-Lot's debut album, was released in 1988 with two other singles: "Square-Dance Rap" and a hip hop cover of the Black Sabbath song "Iron Man" backed by the band Metal Church. In 1990, the Recording Industry Association of America certified Swass platinum.
Seminar, released in 1989 featured "My Hooptie", "Beepers", "Gortex" and "I Got Game".
In 1991, Sir Mix-A-Lot signed to the Def American label, which also bought the rights to his first two albums, and released his third album Mack Daddy in 1992. The single "Baby Got Back" was a number-one hit that went double platinum and won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Although the song was extremely popular across all age levels, MTV aired the music video for the song only during evening hours because of what they termed "its sexual nature".
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