The man who wrote “Baby Got Back” is most definitely a foodie.
“I love trying new stuff,” says Anthony Ray, aka Sir Mix A Lot. “[Cooking] is a craft, man, it’s an art.”
Which, of course, inspires the question: would Sir Mix A Lot ever put aside the one’s-and-two’s and microphone for a chef’s hat and measuring cup?
“Hell, no,” he laughs. “I have too many damn hobbies that are damn near careers.”
On tour, Mix says he regularly stops at Cracker Barrel but “can’t stand Denny’s.” The morning of this phone interview, he’d picked up a 6-inch flatbread turkey sandwich from Subway.
“The reason I had that was I have to shoot this TV show in a minute,” he says, “I wanted oatmeal though.”
I love baked goods. I’m serious. I will drive 40 miles for one apple fritter.
Like many touring artists, Mix knows the perils of trying to eat well on the road. Replaced are the home-cooked meals for paper-wrapped tacos and piled-high burgers. Not that he wouldn’t drive out of his way for a cookie. “See, my thing is anything baked. Cinnamon rolls, doughnuts,” he says. “I love baked goods. I’m serious. I will drive 40 miles for one apple fritter.”
“I don’t eat a lot of bread or stuff like that, but diet is not what I’m good at. I’m fat – but I am trying to be less fat. I move a lot – I’m not lazy – but damn I’m still on the road a lot. You know, on the road the food is shit that ain’t good for you.”
One of Mix’s many hobbies is collecting lavish cars. In fact, he recently bought a new Lamborghini. So, does Sir Mix A Lot ride up to drive-throughs in convertibles surprising the workers, prompting them to play “Baby Got Back” the rest of their shift?
“Usually I’m in my truck,” he chuckles. “So when people see me they go hmmm that’s not Mix, no, he wouldn’t be in that.”
Mix travels all over the country, from Seattle to Vegas to New York. And prior to a gig – he’s learned over years of experience – he gives himself up to four hours between his a meal and taking the stage.
“I don’t lip synch,” he says. “People who lip synch can get away with burping and stuff. We’re 100-percent real! So I can’t eat usually four hours before the show.”
The man whose hits are still sung in karaoke bars all over the world is so connected with the human body (his hugest hit is about butts, after all), it’s impossible to talk about his work without talking about what it did for body-positivity.
“[Baby Got Back] introduced the powers-that-be to the normal body,” Mix says. “Not to a different body shape, but to the normal body shape. And that’s why I wrote it.”
