Sir Mix-a-Lot

Central District roots

Sir Mix-a-Lot is the stage name of Anthony L. Ray, born on August 12, 1963, in Auburn, Washington, and raised in Seattle's Central District, where he lived in the Bryant Manor apartments near 19th Avenue and East Yesler Way. He became a hip hop fan in the early 1980s and started out as a DJ at community centers, playing regularly at the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club by 1983 before moving to the Rotary Boys and Girls Club in the Central District. There he met "Nasty" Nes Rodriguez and businessman Ed Locke, and the three founded the Nastymix label.

Nastymix and “Posse on Broadway”

His first record to travel beyond Seattle was “Square Dance Rap” (1986), delivered in a sped-up voice he later described as a "weird Smurf voice." His debut album, “Swass”, followed on Nastymix in 1988. Its single “Posse on Broadway”, a tour of Seattle streets and landmarks, reached No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains a local anthem. “Swass” was certified platinum by the RIAA in 1990, and the follow-up “Seminar” (1989) was certified gold Nastymix also released records by Seattle and Tacoma acts including Kid Sensation and Criminal Nation.

Def American and “Baby Got Back”

In 1991 he signed with Rick Rubin's Def American Recordings, which reissued “Swass” and released his third album, “Mack Daddy”, in February 1992 under his own Rhyme Cartel imprint. “Mack Daddy” reached No. 9 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and was certified platinum. Its single “Baby Got Back” spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1992, was certified double platinum, ranked as the second best-selling song in the United States that year and won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. “Chief Boot Knocka” (1994) reached No. 69 on the Billboard 200 and produced “Put 'Em on the Glass” and the Grammy-nominated “Just da Pimpin' in Me”.

Later career and legacy

Later albums included “Return of the Bumpasaurus” (1996) and “Daddy's Home” (2003). From 1999 to 2000 he performed with the Seattle rock band The Presidents of the United States of America under the name Subset, a project that toured but never issued an official release. He narrated the 2009 documentary “Wheedle's Groove” about Seattle's 1960s and 1970s funk and soul scene, hosted a morning show on Seattle's Hot 103.7 FM from 2017 to 2019, and has done voice work on “The Simpsons” and “BoJack Horseman”. In 2014 Nicki Minaj built “Anaconda” around a sample of “Baby Got Back”.