Whether you’re out there shaking it on the dance floor or off to the side shaking your head (smh), there’s no denying it, the booty is back. We found you Miss New Booty and we NEVER want you to leave us ever again.
With new hit songs like “All About that Bass” by Meghan Trainor, “Booty” by Jlo and Iggy, and of course “Anaconda” by the big booty queen herself, Nicki Minaj, butts seem to be all the rave today. Women all over the nation are hiking up their shirt collars, purchasing shorts two sizes too small, and heading to the clubs to shake what their mommas gave them...without their mother’s approval of course. And yes ladies, when over half of your butt cheek on both sides is completely hanging out, I’d say your shorts are a bit too small.
There is no denying that our society is currently obsessed with butts and all of the great things they can do…. Which actually really isn’t that much. Just to prove it, here are a list of butt related songs that have come out within the past year: “Wiggle” by Jason Derulo, “Bubble Butt” by Major Lazor, “A** Drop” by Wiz Khalifa, and even Taylor Swifts “Shake it off” to a certain degree focuses on her… butt.
Accompanying this musical revolution is a phenomena that’s sweeping the nation; twerking. Whether you’re at a middle school basement dance party or a late night club in downtown Atlanta, you’re bound to see some twerking going on. Urban dictionary defines twerk as, “the rhythmic gyrating of the lower fleshy extremities in a lascivious manner with the intent to elicit sexual arousal or laughter in ones intended audience.” Sounds disgusting I know, but it looks…. Hot? Twerking is a tough thing to describe. If it’s Beyonce twerking up with her main boo Jay on stage at the VMA’s then yeah, it’s super hot...it’s Beyonce. But when Miley does it, reactions tend to veer in slightly different direction. Regardless of whether or not they’ve perfected the action, women and celebrities all over just can’t get enough of aggressively moving their lower body in sporadic directions.
This new booty revival puts an emphasis on thick girls with bigger frames who seem to be packing some junk in the trunk, but is that such a bad thing? Our society is so infatuated with this idea of the perfect body, where the women are size 0’s and on the verge of starvation. I’m sorry ladies, but a Ziploc baggie full of nuts and cranberries does not constitute a meal. We are not birds, we are people. So what if I want to eat a third slice of pizza? Or order Insomnia cookies to my dorm room at 11:30 at night? That’s not to say those are things we should make a habit out of, but we shouldn’t worry ourselves crazy that we might gain two pounds if we do decide to do it. What this group of booty poppin promoters is teaching us is that we as women should embrace our curves and thicker features, not detest them. We can’t all be Candice Swanepoel, so the sooner we accept that fact, the faster we can get out onto the dance floor and do with our big fat butts what Jason Derulo intended for us to with them, wiggle.
But what inspired our brilliant new booty revolutionaries? Well ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to take a trip back to the 90’s; the birthplace of the big booty.
The 90’s were a great time for women with big booties. High wasted thong bikinis, miniskirts and funky beats to shake it to, the 90’s provided a safe and friendly environment for women who were little in the middle but got much back. But every trend must have not only a birthplace, but also a creator. So who is responsible for creating this society infatuated with the female backside? Well, if you haven’t already guessed it, it was the man himself, the King of big booties, the messiah of junk in the trunk, Sir Mix A Lot.
By this point, if you haven’t heard of the song “Baby got Back” by Sir Mix A Lot, then I’m assuming you’re also the kind of person who hasn’t seen The Lion King or ever eaten an Oreo. In other words, you don’t exist. Baby Got Back is considered by Vh1 to be the most influential booty song of all time, and the kick start to the phenomenon.
After Sir Mix A Lot released his legendary song, the revolution had begun and there was no stopping it. Just a short year later, Soundmaster T released their booty anthem “2 Much Booty (in da pants)” proposing the theory that a women could actually have a butt so large that she can’t even fit it into a pair of pants. That same year, Wreckx-N-Effect released “Rump Shaker,” and the trend continued on throughout the decade with more booty themed songs such as Juvenille’s “Back that A** up,” “Face Down A** Up” by the Notorious 2-Live Crew, and “Big Fat Booty” by Mos Def.
The apparent infatuation with women’s butts did carry over into the next decade with hits like, “Bootylicious” by Destiny’s Child and, “Ms. New Booty” by Bubba Spraxx ft. Ying Yang twins but it wasn’t quite the song. Butts were obviously still appreciated and admired, but in the concentrated and borderline creepy way they were until the 90’s.
No, that type of obsession hasn’t reemerged until now. So, ladies and gentlemen, I am making it official and declaring that we are, thanks to Sir Mix A Lot and the butt crazed 90’s, in the midst of a bootylicious revival.
