"Mr. Big Stuff" is a song by singer Jean Knight. The song was recorded in 1970 at Malaco Studio in Jackson, Mississippi, at the same session as "Groove Me" by King Floyd. Knight's single was released by Stax Records because of the persistence of Stax publisher, Tim Whitsett, while "Groove Me" by King Floyd which Whitsett strongly urged Malaco to release, also became a hit. Both songs are defined by two bar, off-beat bass lines and tight arrangements by Wardell Quezergue.
Released on Knight's 1971 debut album of the same title, it became a huge crossover hit. The song spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Soul Singles chart and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, behind "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" by The Bee Gees. Billboard ranked it as the No. 18 song for 1971. The song went double platinum and the No. 1 Soul Single of the year.
Knight performed the song on Soul Train on December 11, 1971, during its first season. "Mr. Big Stuff" would become one of Stax Records' most popular and recognizable hits. It was also featured in the 1977 mini-series The Bronx Is Burning.
No credits are listed for the Malaco studio musicians on the record. According to Rob Bowman's liner notes from the 1999 box set The Last Soul Company: Malaco, A Thirty Year Retrospective, the musicians for this session included:
Vernie Robbins – bass
James Stroud – drums
Wardell Quezergue – organ
Jerry Puckett – guitar
Jimmy Honeycutt - saxophone
During this time at Malaco, horn lines were typically played by saxophonist Hugh Garraway and trumpeter Perry Lomax.
American all-female heavy metal band Precious Metal released a cover of the song from their self-titled 1990 album.
Martha Wash covered the song for the soundtrack of the film Disney's D2: The Mighty Ducks.
Canadian singer Sheree Jeacocke included a cover of the song on her 1995 EP Jeacocke.
R&B duo Nikki & Rich recorded a cover of the song for the 2011 film Hop.
Britta Phillips, as the character Billy, did a cover on this on the 1988 movie Satisfaction.
The 2005 movie Kinky Boots (film) featured a cover of the song by American soul singer Lyn Collins
The Poets of Rhythm recorded a version titled "Funky Booty" in 2005
On the March 29, 2014 episode, the female cast members of Saturday Night Live performed this for a sketch with guest host Louis C.K..
In 1987, rapper Heavy D recorded "Mr. Big Stuff", which also became a hit. Though his version was entirely different from the original version, Knight's hook line ("Mr. Big Stuff, who do you think you are?") was prominently featured throughout the song.
In 1994, the song was prominently interpolated into TLC's "Switch" on their CrazySexyCool album.
A sample of the composition was used for the self-titled song by Queen Latifah, Shades and Free, which was included on the soundtrack of the 1996 movie The Associate.
"Mr. Big Stuff" was sampled in 2000 by Everclear in the song "AM Radio" from their album Songs from an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How to Smile."
Girl Talk sampled a portion of this song on his track, "Let It Out" from the album All Day
Beastie Boys sampled the famous "Who do you think you are?" lyric in their song "Johnny Ryall" from Paul's Boutique.
R&B and soul artist John Legend sampled "Mr. Big Stuff" for the lead single "Who Do We Think We Are" (featuring Rick Ross) from his fourth album Love in the Future (2013).
