Sir-Mix-A-Lot's "Posse On Broadway"
Original Cover of "Posse On Broadway"
Let’s take it back to 1988 when Sir-Mix-A-Lot released "Posse On Broadway.” This was his first single to hit the charts, four years before his huge pop hit “Baby Got Back.” I wanted to highlight this song because of its significance to my own upbringing and personal history. I was 5 years old when this song came out, not too long before I discovered and fell in love with hip hop music.
Although I grew up in the San Francisco, this song still resonated with me. The 808 bumped real hard in my mom’s Oldsmobile stationwagon and on our tiny portable Sony stereo boombox.
Most songs tend to lose their popularity after awhile, but Bay Area DJs seemed to always drop “Posse on Broadway” in the mix on the radio and at garage parties. The song was always an instant crowd pleaser and I used it in the mix myself as a DJ in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and now Seattle for the last two decades.
After living in Seattle for more than 3 years now, this song finally is more than just one of my favorite hip hop songs from my childhood. “Posse on Broadway” is an ode to Seattle and some of the neighborhoods that make it great, institutions that are loved in the city, as well as some places that are (or were) notorious for one reason or another. Now that I am fully oriented to Seattle, this song takes me on a journey through The Town.
