Ah, Sir Mix-a-Lot. You wrote a song that has given adolescents to grind for 20 years. You’ve been banned by MTV. You coined the phrase “little in the middle but you’ve got much back.” And now, with your collaboration with the Seattle Symphony, your cult status continues to burn brightly.
It’s fun when orchestras can get in on the joke, and this series with the Seattle Symphony to marry an orchestra with unexpected musical styles leads to great results like the above video, where Sir Mix-a-Lot, backed by a bunch of women from the audience, raps about shaking that healthy butt. Hard to dislike.
Additional viewing
A couple of years back, Andrew McMahon collaborated with the Hartford Symphony to bring Jack’s Mannequin and Something Corporate songs to life in a new way with the orchestra. The results were stellar and added a new dimension to his music.
He performed mostly older songs that had time to be orchestrated, but a couple of the then-new songs made the cut, and the concert was an impressive show by both the band and the orchestra.
It was a unique experience to say the least, but a lot of fun.