Sir Mix-A-Lot may forever be linked to 1992 mega-hit “Baby Got Back,” but you’d be off-base in labeling him a one-hit wonder. One of hip hop’s ultimate DIY practitioners, he was a platinum-selling artist long before “Baby Got Back” introduced suburbanites everywhere to the glories of the big, bad booty. He founded his own record label, produced his own tracks, created a Seattle hip-hop scene from scratch and was among the first hip-hop acts to collaborate in the rock genre. These days, he is working on a new album due out next year and generally surveying a scene hugely influenced by the music he created two decades ago. Sir Mix will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all this week. Read our Q&A with him.
Sir Mix-A-Lot: The bosses (not the workers) of the Big Three car companies have painted themselves into a corner by creating huge, shitty SUVs with plastic interiors and an inferior ride. Then they create these feel-good commercials with old patriotic rock songs and tell you it’s tough because it made it to the top of the hill, it’s perfect because it sits at a rough-and-tumble workplace and the driver has his sleeves rolled up with a cowboy hat. Unlike these wannabe politically correct geeks, I don’t think we all are looking for tiny econo-boxes with little 100-horsepower, battery-operated motors. If that were the case, everybody would drive a Prius. I am a car nut. I believe what most people want is a well-built car that is at least on par with the other similarly priced examples out there. And yes, our flagship matters. Example: The Corvette ZR-1 is well more than $100,000. It still has the engine in the front, it’s still full of plastic (at $100K), and it still basically looks like a normal Vette. There was a time when U.S. car manufacturers created things that every 10-year-old boy dreamed about while also giving the customer what he/she needed. Check the interior fit of a Honda, Acura, Toyota or Lexus vs. a Buick, Caddy, Ford or Chrysler. I am itching to buy more American steel, but not because someone makes me feel guilty. Let it be because of the quality!
