Anthony Ray is an American rapper and a producer known mostly by his stage name Sir Mix-a-Lot.
The song that made him famous was “Baby Got Back” which was a huge hit.
Early years
Anthony was born in Auburn, Seattle in Washington in the United States on August 12th in 1963. He also grew up there. He lived in Seattle’s Central District and went to Roosevelt High School in the ’80s.
Since he was a little child, Anthony always had a passion for music and singing and writing. Because of it, he started being a DJ at his high school parties and was known as a local DJ.
In 1983 he started being a regular DJ at the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club located in the South part of Seattle. He died there on every weekend.
After his success as a DJ, he relocated his business to the Rotary Boys and Girls Club but this time located in the Central District which was more popular.
While working there he met „Nast“, Nes Rodriguez. He is a DJ and a host of first even West Coasts radio show called „Fresh Track“. It was on the KFOX station.
When he was a child, his mother worked as a licensed nurse in the King County Jail. She was making only 6 to 7 dollars an hour there.
He and his mother lived on the 19th Ave and East Yesler Way and at that time he was going to the Roosevelt High School. He had a problem because at that time black people weren’t seen as today, and he experienced a lot of racism there. At that time there was a new experiment regarding the education led by the Seattle Public School District. The program made kids go to a school at the other end of the city. They were transported by buses. It was done from 1978 all to 1999. Because of it, he was going to schools of mostly white kids in the North End of the city.
Anthony was completely aware that the residents of these parts of the city weren’t okay with all the black students going to the schools there. Some of them moved there just for their kids to have a better education, and not for these black kids.
This was a great experience for Anthony, he wasn’t as lucky to be raised in a neighborhood where there were good schools, and this provided him the best education he could possibly get. His family didn’t have the money to afford him as good of a school as this one was.
He also loved it there because that’s when he started to think about music as a possible career for him rather than just a hobby. He went to Eckstein Middle School, and his music teacher helped him a lot in his art.
Ray is also very passionate about electronics and also CB radios. That’s why he was working in a pinball arcade servicing, so he could repair them. It was one of his earliest jobs. He still loves to work on electronics but it’s more of a hobby to him now.
Career development
In 1983 he decided to make his own record label. He made it with Nasty Nas, a rapper and Ed Locke, a businessman from the district. They called it “Nastymix records”.
Sir Mix-a lot’s first single that came to fame outside the Seattle was called “Square Dance Rap” and was made in 1986.
He made the song by rapping really slowly and changing its pitch and speed in production. He told Refined that in 2018 and state how he wanted that “Weird Smurf voice”.
Soon, this song became a hit and all of the DJ’s were starting to play it nationwide. After this happened, Anthony started touring in New York, and other states. One of them was also Florida.
His next hit was in 1987 and it was titled “Posse on Broadway”. This song made it to the Top 100 list but not for a very long time. It was very popular in Seattle, tho.
He finally released his debut album a year later and it featured singles like Square-Dance Rap” along with a cover of “Iron Man”, a song by Black Sabbath. The album was called Swiss and it was certified platinum in 1990 by the Recording Industry Association of America.
In 1989 he released Seminar with songs like “I Got Game” and “Gortex”.
Sir Mix-A-Lot signed to Def American label back in 1991. They released his third album a year later.
A single called “Baby Got Back” from it was certified double platinum and also won a Grammy Award in 1993. It was for Best Rap Solo Performance.
There were many complaints about the music video for this song and MTV decided to air it only after 9 pm.
He collaborated with Mudhoney, a grunge group from Seattle on a song “Freak Momma” that was on the Judgment Night soundtrack.
He released an album called Chief Boot Knocka in 1994 and it went to No. 69 on the Billboard 200 and was also No. 28 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Charts. A song called “Put ‘Em On The Glass” from it was a huge hit. A track called “Just Da Pimpin’ in Me” was again nominated for a Grammy but he lost because Dr. Dre got it.
In 1996 he had another album, Return of the Bumpasaurus, and it wasn’t promoted as good and because of that didn’t sell as good. After that, he left the American label.
After he left the label he started collaborating with “Subset”, trying to mix rock and rap, but nothing from them together was released.
He signed to Artist Direct label and in 2003 released another album called Daddy’s Home. The main track for the album was “Big Johnson”.
In 2006 Anthony appeared on Tom Goes to the Mayor by Adult Swim.
Two years later he again appeared on his content, this time Robot Chicken. He sang the song called “Table Be Round” and it was singing like his hit single “Baby Got Back” but was talking about King Arthur and his round table.
He also gave voices to Stevie Wonder and a politician called Hans Blix in season 3 of the show.
Sir Mix-a-Lot released another track called “Carz” on Youtube in 2010. It was supposed to be for his new album called “Dun 4got About Mix”. In 2011 this video got over a million views but there was no news on the date of release of this new album.
He also released a F.U.B.A.R. Remix of the song called Conditions Of My Parole that was on the All Re-Mixed Up album by Puscifer.
He produced an album called “Dream” for a rock band called Ayron Jones and the Way back in 2013. He also opened for the band on their album release party in November.
The same year he promoted Washington State Lottery a lot over the Christmas time.
In 2014 he also collaborated with the Seattle Symphony for a Sonic Evolution series. This was very exciting.
The same year, a famous female rapper Nicki Minaj released her single called “Anaconda” and it featured parts from Anthony’s “Baby Got Back”. He didn’t mind it tho, he praised the song a to and said that it was an improved version of his own.
He collaborated with LK and also TNT on, “Streets Don’t Love Me”.
Anthony hosts a morning show on radio.
In the fourth season of BoJack Horseman, he played himself. It was an interesting experience to be involved.
He was also a regular host fo the drama series called The Watcher in 1995. He stated that he wishes he hasn’t done it.
He also comments in a documentary called Wheedle’s Groove in 2009.
He was featured on 2018 DIY Network called Sir Mix-A-Lot’s House Remix where he flipped his house.
Personal life
He is a big fan of carpentry so he makes a lot of stuff for his home.
He doesn’t share a lot of information about his personal life and family. He is very famous and therefore he does not want the people to know a lot of things about him and his private situations. He tries to avoid this topic in interviews as well.
Quick summary
Full name: Anthony Ray
Date of birth: August 12, 1963
Birthplace: Seattle, Washington, United States
Age: 56
Profession: DJ, MC, producer
Height: 1,8 m
Weight: 85 kgs
Net Worth: $20 million