SEATTLE — He rocketed to fame with a rear-end rap called Baby Got Back. Now, Sir Mix-A-Lot is a Seattle icon and recently left Hot 103.7 as the morning man after 2 years on the air.
The rapper, whose real name is Anthony Ray, said he was having more fun than ever, playing music over the airwaves. "The good thing about this - and this sounds really weird - it's not my primary source of income," said Ray. "I'm having a ball and it's genuine."
We met up with Mix at the station's new studios, then popped in on the Central District Rotary Boys and Girls Club where he spent much of his youth playing basketball and spinning records.
"This place brings back some memories," he said. "When we'd go out and play against Wallingford - we had a team here - we had the tank tops, but we had to draw our number in. You start sweating and the 41 turns into 11."
He developed his deejay skills at the club. "The whole Mix-A-Lot name came from what I did in the mix," he said. "It wasn't just scratching records. I would bring synthesizers, early drum machines, the old Roland DR-55, and remake the songs on the fly."
We capped off our neighborhood tour at Dick's Drive-In on Capitol Hill. Mix actually rapped about Dick's in his 1988 single, Posse On Broadway. And this is where Sir Mix-A-Lot perfected his technique for the proper consumption of French fries.
"If you don't do fries in tartar sauce, you ain't a Seattleite," he said, and proceeded to demonstrate. "You fold them in half, dip, wipe. That's it. Make sure you don't have to kiss anybody within the next four or five hours." (That much tartar sauce can do a number on your breath.)
Peace out to our dear friend and homie, Sir Mix-A-Lot. Thanks for the tour.
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