This past weekend, I spent a couple of days catching up with some old friends I hadn't seen in about ten years. The context for the reunion was a documentary film about the history of the Northwest hip-hop scene being shot in Seattle by local production company, Coolout Productions.
In this case, though, the occasion itself wasn't quite the most important thing. About ten years had passed since our last encounter, and I figured it was long overdue that I made a little time to catch up with my friends Sir Mix-A-Lot, Kid Sensation (a.k.a. Xola Malik), Attitude Adjuster, and my former drinking pal, Maharaji. I needed to see what these cats were up to lately.
Turns out they've been up to quite a bit too, but we'll get to all that in due course. First, a little history is probably is in order.
From around the mid-eighties to early-nineties, I was deeply involved in the Northwest hip-hop scene. I wrote about it for Seattle's music paper, The Rocket, sold it at Seattle's inner-city record store, Music Menu, and played it on the radio as DJ "Shockmaster" Glen Boyd — first on my own KCMU show Shock Frequency, later teaming up with DJ Nasty Nes for KCMU's Rap Attack. How the partnership between Nasty Nes and I came about is a story in and of itself, and one I'll save for a future article in this series.
During this same time, Sir Mix-A-Lot was a local rapper who was creating quite a stir both at local house parties as well as when Nes began playing his records like "Square Dance Rap" on his own Fresh Tracks radio show on the commercial R&B station K-FOX.
When the hastily pressed recordings began to sell like hotcakes off the griddle at stores like Music Menu and Tacoma's Penny Lane, Nes and local promoter Ed Locke formed Nastymix Records to distribute them. I eventually went to work for the label as head of National Retail Promotions. There was an album, and then another, and the rest was history.
I had the great fortune to witness this phenomenon from the ground up and — as gold and platinum records followed — I eventually rode the Sir Mix-A-Lot train all the way to a gig at Rick Rubin's Def American label along with a trip to the Grammys when Mix-A-Lot won for "Baby Got Back."
![Careful What You Wish for (Featuring Sir Mix-A-Lot & Tomeka Williams) [Explicit]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61tB4gFzMSL._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
wow...glen boyd, video star!
2 - Glen Boyd
LOL...thanks Mark. I'm a man of many talents...
-Glen
3 - Mat Brewster
How did the Rockologist wind up promoting rap stars?
4 - Glen Boyd
Funny you should ask, Sir Brewster. The answer is forthcoming in the next installment of "Call Me Shockmaster." Stay tuned...
-Glen
5 - Christine
I love these guys and "Baby Got Back." Used to listen to them all the time back in the day, even have the CD.
It became popular when they played it in Charlie's Angels. Now my teenager likes it too!
Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back lyrics
6 - Glen Boyd
Thanks Christine. Actually it became popular long before that -- to the tune of 4 million sold when it came out in 1993.
What's cool is that it remains popular today, and that it couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of guys (just don't tell them I said that -- you know, "street cred" and all that...).
Thanks for commenting.
-Glen
7 - Christine
Glenn: Back in the day...I mean 17 years ago when I was 30ish. So long before? Not that it matters.
8 - zingzing
a friend of mine came over sometime in middle school and left a tape of his in my tape deck... seminar? i just remember the beginning of it. must have been in 91 or 92 or so.
9 - Glen Boyd
The Beepers video at the end of this article is from the Seminar album Zing. And I'm in the video...LOL...
Baby Got back was about 17 years ago Christine so you're correct, it was in '93 -- it's just that Charlies Angels came quite a bit later.
-Glen
10 - Greg Barbrick
Nice stuff Glen. Even though I have heard the stories a hundred times, there are good good ones. Sounds like a great reunion.
Too bad you couldn't find space in your piece to talk about the Gold Party - now that was a night to remember.
11 - Glen Boyd
The Gold Party is gonna' come a bit down the line, after I've got a few more of these "Call Me Shockmaster" thingies under my belt. But yeah, Seattle has never seen an industry party like that before or since. Definitely one for the books.
-Glen