The lounge version has an undeniable Cheese factor.
I don’t think it’s kitsch. There’s no irony or camp or mockery involved in the enjoyment of the song. It’s still enjoyed exactly as it was originally intended. It’s funny, witty, exuberant, lively and danceable. The lyrics are silly but they were always supposed to be silly. The video has Sir Mix-a-Lot standing on a giant butt. This song NEVER took itself seriously. It was just supposed to be fun, and it still is and it has the bonus of being a body affirming song for a lot of women.
Not only is the beat and bass lines infectious, but the lyrics are clever as hell. The almost throw-away background vocal of “LA face with the Oakland Booty” (or “LA waist with the Oakland Booty”) is so brilliant, I bet if Shake was alive to today, he would put it in his next play. I mean you can really spend some time mulling over the key four words of that lyric- think of all things we associate with LA and then all of the things that we associate with Oakland- put them together in the body/personality/attitude of one big bootied black woman- and you got something to think about- something you could base a novel, movie, or master’s thesis on. Or, maybe he was just trying to be funny.
For some sick reason, I see this song as being the 90’s generation version of YMCA. Played at every wedding and watching intoxicated members of all generations dance to this song.
+1 - that’s the point - it’s not a guilty pleasure; it’s a good song that stands up…
I have to add Young MC’s “Bust a Move” to the nostalgically enjoyed comedic rap singles of enduring popularity (NECRSoEP) list. Its got a fun beat, and the rhymes are totally sweet – Young MC wins the prize for rhyming the longest words in the history of rap, as in the below example:
Girls are sadistic
materialistic
looking for man makes 'em opportunistic
The dude had phat vocab. 
I like the song because I like girls with big butts.
One of my favorite lines is also in that song. “36-24-36? Maybe if she’s five-foot-two” is a direct call back to ‘Brick House’, but one people tend to overlook.
My husband insists that “Baby Got Back” is “our song.” He also likes big butts, fortunately for me, and can neither lie about it nor go for more than a few hours without mentioning it.
I like the song myself because it’s exuberant and funny and entirely unsubtle, but not in a gross or demeaning way. How can you NOT dance to it when you hear it?
Another song that is legitimately great - Flea on bass and just catchy as hell. A solid song - no guilty pleasure here…
I loves me some Cheese.
That line never hit it with me because I’m always reminded of the sample used in the beginning of Nobody Home off The Wall (album version.)
I kind of like it. Partly that’s because one of the guys I work with, a skinny white dude in his early 30s, does an absolutely f***ing perfect karaoke version of it. Which he did at a company holiday party, remarking afterward that he’d probably be getting a visit from HR.
Maybe people like it because it’s a catchy and fun, timeless pop song like so many others that we all enjoy. Kitsch isn’t necessary.
Edit: I just realised that Diogenes has said what i wanted to say but better than I could say it!
Wow unless I am being whooshed (or are being overly sensitive) that’s about the most racist thing I have read in a long time.
Anyways, everyone knows that all chicks like “i will survive” because it makes them feel better about not being hot enough to keep a man.
I kid, I kid!
What’s racist about it?
The whole “white people can’t dance” thing. Personally, I think he’s being oversensitive.
Then turn around! Stick it out!
Even white boys got to shout
Baby got back!
For all the folks who like to hate on hip-hop artists, I think Young MC is a fine example of the smarts of some people in the rap game. Econ grad from USC. Also wrote “Funky Cold Medina” and “Wild Thing” made popular by Tone-Loc.
With regard to the OP, BGB was probably one of the first songs to promote the image of women - especially Black and full-figured women - positively. The video, while full of sexual entrendre and exploitative booty shaking, was also a celebration of bigger women. It was one-of-a-kind at the time, and I think a lot of women probably appreciated the sentiment.
And, you know, men.
Ahh, Sir Mix-A-Lot.
See? I’m more of a “Posse On Broadway” kind of girl, but I do adore “Baby Got Back.”
I was a white girl with a “butt like a sistah” for most of my life, but sadly, I know have a white girls butt, read: none. The truth is, I’ve never heard a guy say “I like a girl with no ass.”
Hopefully, my daughter will get my butt and not my husbands lack-a-butt.