Baby Got Back

"Baby Got Back" is a light-hearted 1992 hip hop song by Sir Mix-a-Lot about the singer's fondness for women's derrieres and in particular his very keen reaction to large ones. The song starts with a discussion between two valley girls at a mall, with one girl remarking to the other "Oh-My-God, Becky! Look at her butt! It is so...big." At the time of its original release, the song caused something of a minor controversy with its explicit opinion on the female anatomy, although compared to many hip hop songs it is actually very mild and humorous in this respect.

Chart performance and awards

Sir Mix-a-Lot's best known song, "Baby Got Back" reached number 1 on the United States' Billboard Hot 100 chart for four weeks in the summer of 1992, and won a 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance.

Appearances in pop culture

It was subsequently featured in the movies Band Camp, Charlie's Angels, Kung Pow, Jackass, Shrek, Shark Tale and Monsters Unleashed, and continues to be a running joke. "Baby Got Back" also appears in a BuyMusic commercial, the television sitcom Friends and the animated series Futurama, where in the year 3000 it is considered by the characters to be "classical music".

Alternate versions

Sir Mix-A-Lot has recorded at least two different commercial versions of the hit song, one a Target commercial aimed towards tweens that replaces "I like big butts and I cannot lie" with "I like backpacks and I cannot lie", the other a ringtone that begins "pick up the phone and I cannot lie."

Parodies and covers

A parody of this song was also created by members of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. There have been several notable covers, including a light folk-rock version by Jonathan Coulton, and a lounge version by Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine. There was also a Hardcore version released by the band Throwdown

LL Cool J had previously recorded a song lyrically similar to this one, called "Big Ole Butt".

There is a parody of this song on the Internet entitled "I Like Small Butts" which is falsely attributed to Weird Al Yankovic. The real performer is unknown.

In the media

Played in an episode of I Love The 90s
Played in a commercial for the iPod
Played in an episode of Friends (the one with Ross's inappropriate song)
Played in the 2002 movie The Movie
Played in the 2002 movie Enter the Fist
Played in the 2004 movie Shark Tale
Played in the 2005 movie Band Camp (in a risqué dance sequence)
Played in the 2006 movie Scary Movie 4
Played in an episode of Futurama (A Fish Full of Dollars) as classical music
Played in an episode of One Tree Hill.

References/External link

Baby Got Book (12.6MB) - parody of 'Baby Got Back' by the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
Jonathan Coulton's cover of Baby Got Back
List of Songs Not by Weird Al

1992 singles | Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles | Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine songs | Sir Mix-A-Lot songs