Photo Courtesy of XXL Magazine
One of them most provocative (and hysterical) singles of the 90’s has gotten an interesting remix. One would assume that if the 1992 Badonkadonk anthem “Baby Got Back” were to get a remix it would be electronic or mashed together with a modern song. This past Friday the Seattle Symphony took the road less traveled by arranging an orchestral composition of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s single. This seemingly random performance has actually been two years in the making.
Gabriel Prokofiev is the brainchild behind this unthinkable musical adaptation. A London based composer, Prokofiev described in his blog that his “aim with this new Sir-Mix-A-Lot inspired Orchestral work was to really get inside the musical mind of Sir Mix-A-Lot; to understand how his rhythms, textures, sounds and harmonies worked, and to create a contemporary orchestral composition that was true to the music of Sir-Mix-A-Lot. My aim was to make an orchestral fantasy that evolved out of the wildest musical elements of Sir Mix-A-Lot, and took all the central elements of his music into a contemporary classical orchestral setting.” The rest of the Prokofiev’s blog describes the musical genius he finds in Sir-Mix-A-Lot’s music with emphasis on the “ground-breaking range of sounds”.
When Sir Mix A Lot heard of the project, he swiftly agreed to perform the orchestra’s arrangement at a live concert. But rather than have the rapper merely perform with the orchestra, Sir-Mix-A-Lot invited any ladies in the audience to come up and dance to the tune. Pretty soon the entire the stage was jammed packed with ladies willing to shake their moneymaker in front of an internationally renowned orchestra. Feel free to check out the results for yourself.
“Baby Bot Back” was initially released in 1992 off of Sir Mix A Lot’s (real name Anthony Ray) album Mack Daddy. The song was an extremely popular single, becoming the second best selling song of the year behind Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”. To this day it still remains fixed in pop culture, being referenced in movies, books, games, and television shows. It’s been the target of many parodies, including “Baby Got Jack” by MC Sampler. Go ahead and add this orchestral iteration to the ever-growing list of inspired works.