So controversial upon initial release that the music video was banned from airing on MTV before 9 p.m., "Baby Got Back," Sir Mix-A-Lot's classic paean to big butts, is now both a pop culture punchline (it has supplied cheap laughs in films ranging from Gigli to Shark Tale) and a nostalgic favorite among those of a certain generation. But is it any good? Well, yeah, it kind of is. From the opening declaration of "I like big butts and I cannot lie"—certainly one of the most memorable first lines in all of popular music—onward, the song is a rump-shaking good time, featuring a campy, sounds effects-laden instrumental and lewd, crude, eminently repeatable rhymes. What's more, Sir Mix-A-Lot actually has something valuable to say. Even as it revels in objectification and stereotypes, "Baby" humorously challenges the media's unreasonable standards for the female body. It's no feminist revolution, but it's hard to hate a song that can appreciate a full-figured woman. B+
20 years ago this week, "Baby Got Back" was the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100.
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