Like any red-blooded American my age, I spent a summer or two yucking it up at pool parties while the inescapable "Baby Got Back" played on the radio. With such a striking introductory single, we all expected a long and distinguished career from Sir Mix-a-Lot.
Alas, it wasn't to be. He was truly the 90s version of Dexy's Midnight Runners - the artist so good you can't understand why they became synonymous with "One Hit Wonder." Like Dexy's, it was not for lack of other great songs in the repertoire.
Okay, yes it was. "Cake Boy"'s paper-thin funk guitar sound is sub DJ Jazzy Jeff and the beat is too generic for 2 Live Crew. This came out the same year as The Chronic. And looking back, it sounds like it could have been the last gasp for corny commercial rap before gangsta rap turned the focus to "real" hip-hop, only to see the miscegenation of the two become the norm at present.
But here I go trying to add historical context to a song of timeless appeal. Mix-a-Lot had a word for "metrosexual" long before the term was coined. He simply called them Cake Boy. When was the last time anyone said the word "metrosexual" anyway? Probably your grandma just heard about "these metrosexuals" so maybe that was the last time. I propose that "Cake Boy" take its place when the term makes its inevitable comeback.
To his credit, Sir Mix-a-Lot always seemed to "get" the joke - he knew he wasn't a hardcore rapper, and today he seems content with his status as a one-hit novelty act. I'm sure the money helps. But a man has got to draw the line somewhere. And apparently that line is thick enough to prohibit fancy coffee drinks, jheri curls, making dinner and, uh, not wanting to tongue kiss? We have so much to learn from you, Sir.
03- Sir Mix-a-Lot - Cake Boy.mp3
UPDATE! Per Hauser's request, I'm proud to present Sir Mix-a-Lot's other hit single, a song you can hear in fine strip clubs the world over to this day, "Put 'Em On the Glass". This video is NOT WORK-SAFE. You've been warned - now show us your titties.
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4 comments:
Thinking that this was going to be a joke track just reveals my larger ignorance about the greater Sir Mix-a-Lot catalog.
This is really awesome.
really? "miscegenation?" in a post about rap music? why don't you go and call someone "niggardly" while you're at it?
i love the 'gotta have cake' on the walkman radio ha ha. Does anyone have 'put em on the glass'? Mix-a-lots other 'hot' single?
did you have a "backpack full o' juice?" because i think that's pretty important to the process.
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