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White & Nerdy

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"White & Nerdy"
Song
B-side"Don't Download This Song"

"White & Nerdy" is the second single from "Weird Al" Yankovic's album Straight Outta Lynwood, which was released on September 26, 2006. It parodies the song "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone. The song both laments and revels in nerdiness, as recited by the subject who cannot "roll with the gangstas" because he is "just too white and nerdy", and includes constant references to stereotypically nerdy things, such as collecting comic books, playing Dungeons & Dragons, and editing Wikipedia, as well as stereotypically "white" things, like drinking Earl Grey tea, watching Happy Days and playing badminton.

Chamillionaire himself put "White & Nerdy" on his official MySpace page, and commented that he enjoys the parody. [citation needed] In an interview, he also stated he was pleasantly surprised by "Weird Al"'s rapping ability, saying: "He's actually rapping pretty good on it, it's crazy ... I didn't know he could rap like that."[1]

The song became Yankovic's first career Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, its peak being #9 and beating his previous #12 peak for 1984's "Eat It". This was also his first Top 40 single since 1992's "Smells Like Nirvana".[2] It peaked on the Hot Digital Songs chart at #5. Both the song and the music video reached #1 at the U.S. and Australian iTunes Store, and peaked at #1 on VH1's top 20 video countdown. Both "White & Nerdy" and Straight Outta Lynwood were certified gold, and later platinum, by the RIAA.[3] This marks the first time any one of Yankovic's singles has been certified platinum.[4]

Track listing

CD Single

The following tracks are on the single:

  1. "White & Nerdy" – 2:50
  2. "Don't Download This Song" – 3:54

The promo single only contains "White & Nerdy".

Promo 12" Single

The following three songs were featured as triple A-sides on a 12" promotional record:

  1. "White & Nerdy" – 2:50
  2. "Confessions Part III" – 3:52
  3. "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" – 10:50

Music video

The single has an accompanying music video, which was recorded in high def. The video was unique in that Yankovic personally recruited extras to participate in its filming. A request was posted via the blog on his MySpace page, and he received interest from a number of extras who were willing to work for free.

The video was leaked onto YouTube on September 17, 2006, just one day before the video was planned to be officially released at 9 PM Pacific time at AOL.com. Due to the leak, the premiere was canceled, and AOL silently slipped the video onto their website hours before the premiere was set to take place. VH1 started airing the video in "large rotation" on September 20, 2006, and it debuted at #5 on their Top 20 countdown.[5] It is currently available to watch on Yankovic's MySpace page, as well as on several other video hosting sites and P2P theaters.

It has reached the 4th position on the Viral Video Chart (for the last 365 days) as of 10 September, 2007.[6]

References in video

  • In the video for Ridin', Chamillionaire is seen rapping in an empty street at night. On the pavement behind him, his personal logo is outlined in burning road flares. In the night scenes for Yankovic's video the same red-colored flares are in the shape of Pac-Man.
  • When Yankovic is rapping in front of Donny Osmond, the Schrödinger equation for a hydrogen atom can be seen in the background. However, it is incorrect in that ħ is replaced by a . This scene parodies shots of the original song's video, which featured Chamillionaire rapping in front of his own name, with Krayzie Bone doing some moves.
  • Al's character in the song indicates that he graduated first in his class at MIT (in reality, MIT does not actually give students a class rank).[8]
  • When Al raps "Yo, I know π to a thousand places..." a background displays the value of π to about 515 digits.
  • When Al sings that he even has his name on his underwear, someone pulls a wedgie on him, exposing the name "Alfred" on the waistband. "Alfred" is "Weird Al"'s given name.
  • The vehicle Al rides in the park is a Segway PT.
  • The scene for the line, "I ain't got a gat, but I got a soldering gun" refers to his use of a soldering iron for electronic assembly or repair, rather than a firearm.
  • While Yankovic is in the store browsing for X-Men comic books, he is wearing a shirt that reads "Carl Sagan is my homeboy".
  • The comics in his left hand are Uncanny X-Men #268 (September 1990) in front and Uncanny X-Men #201 (January 1986) behind it. The comics in his right are Uncanny X-Men #221 (September 1987) in front and Uncanny X-Men #210 (October 1986) behind it.
Al depicted expressing his opinion about Atlantic Records on Wikipedia
  • The Wikipedia article Yankovic vandalizes (by typing "YOU SUCK!" in large Impact type) is the article about Atlantic Records, referring to the company refusing permission for Yankovic to include "You're Pitiful", a parody of James Blunt's song "You're Beautiful", on Straight Outta Lynwood. This has inspired real-life vandals to attack the article on Wikipedia in a similar manner. Yankovic has said that he does not approve of the vandalism, though he admits being amused by it. "White & Nerdy" was, in fact, the first song to make a Wikipedia reference.[11]
  • The word "dog" is said at the same point in both "Ridin'" and this song; however, rather than in the original song, where it was "dawg" — slang for "friend" — Al's character is referring to his pet dog. The name of his dog, Foofie, may be a reference to UHF, where the first poodle to be thrown out the window in "Raul's Wild Kingdom" was named Foofie. Also, the words "pop pop" are said at the same time in the songs, except in the Weird Al version, the phrase refers to popping the bubbles of Bubble Wrap packaging.
  • On the trash container in the back alley is a Lambda-graffiti, which is the logo of the pc-game Half-Life. Lambda Lambda Lambda was the nerds' fraternity in the film Revenge of the Nerds.
  • Chamillionaire flashes a gang sign; Yankovic flashes the Vulcan salute sign from Star Trek.
    • In the final extreme-close-up frames of the "Ridin'" video, Chamillionaire throws up for L.A. Brims, an original constituent-element of the Bloods street gang. The rapper's left hand is turned knuckles-to-the-camera. His thumb and middle-two fingers are curled into his palm. His index and little fingers are held rigid, horizontal, and parallel to each other (differentiating the sign from Hook 'em Horns etc.)
    • As Yankovic's video fades out, Al gestures to the camera within the same extreme close-up composition, showing the Vulcan gesture of salutation (known for accompanying the phrase Live long and prosper.) Yankovic's palm is to the camera, his little and ring fingers are pressed tightly together, as are his index and middle fingers. There is the typical wide gap between the middle and ring fingers, but atypically his thumb is held in, pressed against his index finger. (The thumb is typically held as far from the other fingers as possible.)
  • There are two versions of the video; the televised version shows a closeup of Al in front of a Gap store but on the original Internet-released version Al is shown further away, with a Gap sign visible behind him. The original version of the video contains the Wikipedia logo in the scene where Yankovic is editing a Wikipedia article; on the televised version this logo has been removed. In the next scene, the words in the DVD box of Monty Python and the Holy Grail are also gone.
  • Two of the top 8 on "White & Nerdy"'s MySpace page have been removed from his friends since the video.[citation needed]
  • In the scene where Weird Al talks about how he can recite Monty Python and the Holy Grail, he is wearing a tee-shirt which has "Monty Python" written across the front.

Cameos

  • Seth Green appears in the scene with a wall of action figures in which he presents it to the viewer. Green has a huge personal collection of action figures (including Star Wars) that are stored in a large storage unit he shares with Hugh Sterbakov [2]. An episode from the second season of Green's show Robot Chicken contains a video created for another Straight Outta Lynwood song, "Weasel Stomping Day". Yankovic refers to his collection as "cherry" (as in virginal, indicating they have not been removed from their original packaging). The value of action figures decreases if they are removed from their original packaging, as the figurines in the video have been.

Extras

  • Jon Katz, Michael Bueno, Tom Schuler, Peter Withers, John Reynolds, Jennifer More, Christina Rodriguez, Benjamin Baker, Jason Van Kemseke, George Garcia, Deborah Anderson, Christina Malesci, Shawn Avery, Maxx Gillman, Mikel Browning, Diego Kontarousky, David Stephens, and Jack DeVries all volunteered to be extras in the video. This opportunity was advertised on Al's MySpace three days before the video's shooting.
  • IGN Freelance Editor and MiraCosta College Chariot Copy Editor Jack DeVries is featured twice in the video: once playing Dungeons & Dragons at the beginning and at the end playing ten-pin bowling.

Other videos

First Take dance with Donny Osmond

Also released was a video consisting of the first take of Yankovic and Donny Osmond's dance in front of a greenscreen. When Yankovic sings ROTFLOL, Osmond finger-spells the letters. [4]

Fan-made video

Yahoo! Music solicited online members to make a fans-only video for "White & Nerdy". The video was released in late 2006.[12]

Live performances

On November 2, 2006, Yankovic performed "White & Nerdy" live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. (He rode a Segway as he came on stage.) This being his first performance of the song, various background vocals from the original recording are played to allow him time to breathe during the fast-paced lyrics. Since, however, his band has provided live background vocals. On December 3, he performed the song live at the VH1 "Big In '06" Awards. Yankovic also performed the song during his 2007 tour, also using a Segway during the performance.

Chart positions

Year Chart Peak
position
2006 Billboard Hot 100 (US) 9
2006 Hot Digital Songs (US) 5
2006 Pop 100 (US) 12
2006 Official UK Singles chart 80

References

  1. ^ MTVNews.com story
  2. ^ News on Yankovic's official site The text, in case the homepage changes: BREAKING NEWS "White & Nerdy" is the Hot Shot Debut (the highest charting debut single of the week) on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It enters at #28... which already makes it Al's highest charting single in over 22 years!
  3. ^ www.weirdal.com
  4. ^ "White & Nerdy" Certified Platinum
  5. ^ The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Web Site
  6. ^ Viral Video Chart - White and nerdy
  7. ^ http://www.goldenapplecomics.com/orchard/wierdal/index.php
  8. ^ Permanent Record, Al In The Box Retrieved on October 28 2006
  9. ^ a b MySpace.com - White & Nerdy - 101 - Garçon - Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA - www.myspace.com/whiteandnerdy
  10. ^ White & Nerdy's Friends on the MySpace page.
  11. ^ Adams, Cameron. “Weird Al Yankovic.” Herald Sun, October 5, 2006.
  12. ^ Weird Al Yankovic Music Videos on Yahoo! Music

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White_%26_Nerdy&oldid=220801118"