You could write a whole book on the importance of this record to Seattle music. Released seven years before “big butts,” it was the first record from local label NastyMix, started by radio DJ “NASTY” Nes and artist Sir “MIX”-A-Lot, in partnership with Ed Locke, the business guy.

NastyMix sold more than 45,000 copies of this record, kicking off an empire over local rap that lasted almost a decade, and launching Mix into the stratosphere. Also note that this record was “written, arranged, programmed, performed, produced, and engineered by Sir Mix-A-Lot.” The man did it all himself.

Here’s how influential local music magazine The Rocket reviewed the record when it was first released:

Mix-A-Lot’s vinyl debut follows almost a full year of hype, both within the mighty Rocket‘s pages and on K-FOX’s hip-hop show, Fresh Tracks with Nes Rodriguez. Whether these four songs justify the media overkill is debatable at best. But they do prove that within the synthesized confines of West Coast hip-hop, Mix-A-Lot can definitely hang.

The “Home Side” recorded entirely in the bedroom of Mix-A-Lot’s south-end apartment, includes “I Just Love My Beat,” and the surprise radio hit, “Square Dance Rap.” Where “My Beat” is standard West Coast fare, along the lines of L.A. Dream Team, “Square Dance Rap” uses electronically sped-up smurf vocals to poke some fun at country rednecks.

The studio side is notable mainly for “Let’s G (Watch Out)” where the “synthesized digital beat” is set to “Erotic City” styled “pone rock.” (This review originally appeared in The Rocket and was written by Glen Boyd.)