'Ass' found in 23% of hip-hop

Sir Mix-a-Lot
Sir Mix-a-Lot

Eyes, hands and asses are some of the most sung-about body parts in music, according to an arty scientific project called Fleshmap. Visual artists Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg analysed 10,000 songs spanning eight musical genres to discover what limbs are mentioned most.

The humble eye is by far the most popular. A massive 14.2% of metal, 12.65% of country and 11.83% of rock songs contain a lyric about eyes. Hands, heads and faces also rank highly across all genres including electronica, blues, gospel and R&B.

Perhaps the most interesting genre break-down is hip-hop. The aforementioned body parts still feature highly, but it's the mighty ass that tops the chart with a whopping 23.64%.

Arguably the most well-known derrière-rap - Sir Mix-a-Lot's Baby Got Back - includes the famous line "I like big butts and I can not lie". Considering 'butt' only ranks at 2.77%, it's quite impressive that 'ass' gets all the love.

(Via: Wired)

Tom Porter worked on MusicRadar from its mid-2007 launch date to 2011, covering a range of music and music making topics, across features, gear news, reviews, interviews and more. A regular NAMM-goer back in the day, Tom now resides permanently in Los Angeles, where he's doing rather well at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).