Sir Mix-A-Lot visits Atmel HQ

The famous ’90s rapper turned music producer Sir Mix-A-Lot recently visited Atmel headquarters in San Jose to check out our newly-unveiled Tech on Tour mobile trailer.

 While there, we had the opportunity to discuss various product demos, particularly Sir Mix-A-Lot’s impression of Atmel’s smart WiFi and XSense.

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel’s XSense is a high-performance, highly flexible touch sensor which allows engineers to design devices with curved surfaces and even add functionality along product edges.

Essentially, this means manufacturers now have the capability to build light-weight, sleek, edgeless smartphones, tablets and other touch-enabled devices.

The founder of the Nastymix record label, Sir Mix-A-Lot debuted in 1988 with Swass. The rapper is perhaps best known for his 1992 album Mack Daddy and its Grammy Award-winning single “Baby Got Back.”

You can check out additional photos of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s visit below.

Sir Mix A Lot hearts Atmel swag

Last week, the Atmel social team engaged in a bit of rap battle banter with our friends from Mouser Electronics and… of all people… Sir Mix A Lot.

Chiming in with some chipper rap rhymes, SMA, Anthony Ray, proved he had mad maker skillz to go with his other more famous talents. Taking advantage of the fact that Ray was performing in San Francisco Friday night, Atmel went to see the show, and bring some hardcore hardware swag for our new favorite bit banger.

Ray has some rather forward thinking ideas of his own when it comes to tech. Talking bendable, flexible touchscreens with Atmel backstage at the show, he showed a keen interest in creating the world’s first interactive full body music armor, as well as mixing decks that could be sliced and diced without impairing functionality. Imagine Mix’s surprise when we told him XSense, Atmel’s bleeding edge touch sensor product, could be just what he was looking for!

Check out some photos of Sir Mix A Lot with his Atmel goodies below:

Sir Mix-A-Lot raps and rhymes with Atmel

Throwback Thursdays at Atmel are always quite popular, although it isn’t every day that our tech tweets attract the attention of a celebrity rapper like Sir Mix-A-Lot (a.k.a. Anthony Ray).

“We like 8-bits and we cannot lie. All you other Makers can’t deny,” we tweeted about our lineup of 8-bit microcontrollers (MCUs).

The chippy pun, made in the style and tune of the ’90s hit “Baby Got Back” (from the album Mack Daddy), prompted Sir Mix-A-Lot to tweet:

“I like my mosfets wide & juicy. That bandwidth has to double. 30mhz bubble, high frequency RF trouble.”

Sylvie Barak, a former EETimes reporter who now works in Atmel’s communications department, told AllThingsD that having Sir Mix-A-Lot join the online conversation was a big surprise.

“At first I was a little skeptical it was actually him, but a quick Internet search … revealed he’s actually quite the techie,” Barak confirmed. “His rhymes were awesome.”

Sir Mix-a-Lot is an American MC and producer based in Seattle, Washington. The founder of the Nastymix record label, he debuted in 1988 with Swass. Sir Mix-a-Lot is best known for his 1992 album Mack Daddy and its Grammy Award-winning single “Baby Got Back.”