Sir Mix-A-Lot’s third album, Mack Daddy (read my thoughts on the album here) will forever be remembered as the “Baby Got Back” album, as that single alone would sell over 2 million units and help propel the album to platinum status. The “Baby Got Back” album is a fair assessment, as the rest of Mack Daddy was pretty booty (no pun intended). But no matter how trash Mack Daddy was as a whole, it moved units, so there was no way in hell Def American wouldn’t give it a follow-up. Mix-A-Lot would return in the summer of 1994 with his fourth release, Chief Boot Knocka.

As usual for a Mix-A-Lot album, he would handle all microphone duties and hold down the majority of the production responsibilities as well. Upon its release, Chief Boot Knocka would receive mediocre reviews, and was a commercial failure, making it the first Sir Mix-A-Lot album to not earn at least a gold plaque.

I’ve never heard Chief Boot Knocka before today, and honestly, I’m not looking forward to this experience. Especially after enduring the underwhelming Mack Daddy album.

Sleepin’ Wit My Fonk – Chief Boot Knocka opens with a very West Coast funk instrumental that our host uses to discuss his side chick (aka his Fonk) who gets snatched from his clutches by another young player named Dexter. Not to be out done by Dexter, Mix-A-Lot retaliates by sleeping with Dexter’s main chick, which leaves Mix-A-Lot paranoid that Dexter will return the favor. I don’t know what was cheesier: Mix-A-Lot’s storyline or his instrumental. Either way, this was trash. Side note: Red Hot Chili Peppers’ guitar man Flea, is credited for playing live bass guitar on this one.

Let It Beaounce – Mix-A-Lot spends the length of this song trying to get the thick big booty ladies to shake their asses (and he hi-lariously refers to himself as “the Butt-man”). The song might work in a strip club after you’ve had two or three drinks and you’re watching a sexy stripper do tricks on the pole, but when you’re completely sober and driving in your car listening to it, the shit sounds terrible.

Ride – Our host continues his misogynistic theme from the previous track over a laughably bad instrumental.

Take My Stash – Mix-A-Lot takes a break away from his pimp/player themes and discusses the issues he ran into with the IRS for back taxes. Unfortunately, I can relate to his message and feel his pain (in a much lower tax bracket, of course), but thanks to the cheesy synth instrumental, this song was painful to listen to as well.

Brown Shuga – Now back to our regularly scheduled program. Our host dedicates this one to a hottie with a body who uses her ass…sets to get what she wants. Mix-A-Lot’s uninspired rhymes and the ear-grating instrumental make this one hard to digest.

What’s Real – Mix-A-Lot attempts to get semi-conscious with this one, as he recalls his childhood and being raised on the mean streets of Seattle by the local pimps and drug dealers while his mama was hard at work as a nurse. Mix-A-Lot’s rhymes actually sound decent on this one, and Michael Powers (per the liner note credits) add some dope guitar licks, giving the backdrop a nice funk groove.

Double Da Pleasure – Short skit to set up the next song…

Put ‘Em On The Glass – This was the lead single from Chief Boot Knocka. It kind of works as a companion piece to Mack Daddy’s ass appreciating hit “Baby Got Back”, as Mix-A-Lot shows he has love (or lust) for busty chicks too. Other than our host telling the ladies to “shake them titties” at the end of the song (which I found amusing), this was not even mildly entertaining.

Chief Boot Knocka – The title track finds Mix-A-Lot (with a co-production credit going to Strange) hooking up a backdrop that has a very stereotypical Native-American vibe (playing off the “Chief” in the song title, and he adds a Native-American-like chant to the hook with a vocal sample of someone saying “check out my tomahawk”), that he uses to brag about his sexual prowess and exploits. Racial undertones and all, I was still mildly entertained by the instrumental, but not enough to add this song to a playlist.

Don’t Call Me Da Da -Mix-A-Lot spins a light-hearted tale of a chick he’s slept with who’s now pregnant trying to pin the baby on him. The storyline is corny, but the Mix-A-Lot/Eugenius instrumental is embarrassingly bad.

Nasty Dog – More of the same: Uncreative misogyny mixed with overly synthesized production work.

Monsta’ Mack – See comments from “Nasty Dog”.

Just Da Pimpin’ In Me – Wait. I just read that this song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1994 (losing to Dr. Dre’s “Let Me Ride”). Is that a typo? How in the world does a trash filler song like this, that wasn’t even released as a single, get a Grammy nod for Best Rap Solo Performance in a year filled with classic hip-hop singles and albums? Another egregious example of why the Grammys has no credibility when it comes to hip-hop music.

I Checks My Bank – The final song on Chief Boot Knocka finds Mix-A-Lot bragging about his money over another trash synth instrumental. At the end of the song, Mix-A-Lot takes a shot at who its safe to assume is Treach and Naughty By Nature: “Ya’ll phony ass emcees…carrying chainsaws and shit…I don’t need none of that”. I’m sure that was in response to Vinnie’s shot at him on 19 Naughty III’s “It’s On” (Never call you Sir, who gives a damn if you Mix-A-Lot? East Coast gets the props, producers rock your knot, baby ain’t got back, baby got black, that’s why you see the black baby and you respect that”). Mix-A-Lot didn’t really want it with Treach, and probably couldn’t even handle Vin Rock on the mic.

On “Nasty Dog”, Mix-A-Lot says “I ain’t tryna be the best rapper, just a big macker”, and that sums up Chief Boot Knocka in a nutshell. The album is basically fourteen tracks of Sir Mix-A-Lot chasing the commercial success he found with “Baby Got Back”, and he never comes close to recapturing that crossover magic. So, the listener is left with uninspired misogynistic/pimp rhymes and a bunch of nearly unbearably cheesy synth instrumentals.

-Deedub