MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This week, we were amused by a story out of Seattle. It's a bit of a mystery story, and it all started four years ago when law student Jonathan Nichols walked out of his local Verizon store with a new phone and a new phone number - well, new to him. Nichols soon realized that the number had a past.
JONATHAN NICHOLS: I got a text message from a video link to a YouTube video of someone mixing and making beats, like on a synthesizer. And then I got a voice message from the Lamborghini dealership, and they were asking me to come in for a test drive.
MARTIN: So of course, he jumped right in that car and sped off into the sunset.
NICHOLS: (Laughter) No, I told them I'm a broke law student, and I don't think you meant to contact me.
MARTIN: But the messages kept coming.
NICHOLS: In August of 2012, my text messages just started to blow up with happy birthday messages for me or selfies of women, like turned around, like, sticking out their booty in some Daisy Dukes.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BABY GOT BACK")
AMYLIA RIVAS: Oh, my God, Becky, look at her butt. It is so big.
NICHOLS: And then finally, one of the senders said happy birthday, Sir Mix-a-Lot.
MARTIN: Sir Mix-a-Lot, the rapper behind this 1992 Grammy-winning hit.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BABY GOT BACK")
SIR MIX-A-LOT: (Singing) I like big butts and I cannot lie. You other brothers can't deny.
NICHOLS: And it just dawned on me, no freaking way. I have Sir Mix-a-Lot's phone number, and that's pretty cool.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BABY GOT BACK")
SIR MIX-A-LOT: (Singing) Dial 1-900-MIX-A-LOT and kick them nasty thoughts, baby got back.
MARTIN: Jonathan Nichols says he will keep the famous phone number. We reached Sir Mix-a-Lot on his new phone number, and he had some advice for Jonathan after hearing his story.
SIR MIX-A-LOT: Yeah, you know, and I told him - I said, you know, if he were in any way offended by those photos, all he had to do was just forward them to me and then delete them. Everything will be fine.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BABY GOT BACK")
SIR MIX-A-LOT: (Singing) Little in the middle but she got much back. Little the mill but she got much back.