It was an amazing time, one made all the more dizzying by my ringside seat. At the time, a rapper from Seattle making it all the way to the top of the music mountain was simply unheard of — at least not in the grunge-loving town that gave birth to Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains.
And in this particular instance, the rapper in question also happened to be a good friend of mine.
Of all the people involved though — including, most importantly Sir Mix-A-Lot himself — I've only managed to stay in touch with Nasty Nes, who I see about once a year, but otherwise maintain regular correspondence with by e-mail. So a reunion with Mix-A-Lot and the rest of his group was long overdue.
It was time for the Posse On Broadway to roll...again.
After spending Friday night in a freezing-cold studio in Seattle's Belltown district to film interviews with Nes and myself about our days at KCMU and Nastymix, we met up Saturday morning at Nes' hotel near the airport to make our way to Mix-A-Lot's place. Actually, make that his mansion.
Driving up to its iron gates and viewing it from the outside at street level, Mix-A-Lot's "crib" looks like nothing so much as the classic mansion on a hill. If it we're just a bit darker and well-worn — and if you added in a few more bare trees with those skinny branches that seem to grow out from every direction — Mix's house wouldn't look out of place in a film like House On Haunted Hill.
After making the long trek up a winding driveway leading to the inner sanctum, we made our way inside and found the interior to be no less impressive than the golf-course-perfect grounds outside. Sir Mix-A-Lot greeted us at the door and gave a quick tour, which included long spiral stairways, a kitchen the size of my entire house, an Olympic-sized indoor swimming pool, a basketball court, and space for a yet-to-be-built recording studio.
I found myself torn between thoughts of pride in how well my old friend has done for himself and wondering at exactly what point had I made my own wrong turn off of this personal road.
More than that though, I was also very curious about how Mix-A-Lot could continue to live this, quite frankly, large. After all it has been 15 years since "Baby Got Back," and the hits haven't exactly kept on coming since. As it turned out, though, I would get my answers to that and other questions soon enough.
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