Where the heck is...Sir Mix-A-Lot?

No need to weep at the strains of ”Baby Got Back”: Despite reports to the contrary, its author isn’t toiling as a repairman. Actually, the 38-year-old MC employs five workers at RC Electronics, a Seattle area ham-radio-parts manufacturing biz he launched in 1994. ”It’s not gonna make anywhere near the money music is making me, but it’s something to fall back on,” says Mix-A-Lot (né Anthony Ray).

Though he hasn’t released an album since the ’96 flop ”Return of the Bumpasaurus,” Mix isn’t exactly a hip-hop charity case. He turned down a Fox TV offer to mix it up with Vanilla Ice on ”Celebrity Boxing.” And while back-end money still pours in from his big-bottomed hit (which got a nice bump in ”Charlie’s Angels”), he’s making change by performing live and producing new acts like rapper Outtasite.

The pre-J. Lo booty advocate also has a still-untitled new album in the can (heh-heh) and remains a connoisseur. ”You know who has real back?” he says. ”Shakira. That girl got an ass like a painting.”