Weird Al Yankovic thinks that Straight Outta Lynwood is the best album he’s made. Of course, he says that every time he makes a new one. Yankovic tries to raise the bar with every album that he puts out. This one makes it easy to see that his hard work has paid off.
The cover of Straight Outta Lynwood was planned long before the first single was chosen to be on the album, but the two are pure chemistry together. “White & Nerdy” is a parody of Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’,” and it is sure to become the hip-hop anthem of geeks everywhere. The protagonist wants to hang out with the gangstas, but he’s too white and nerdy to fit in, as he displays in the typical hip-hop style of pimping one’s skills and abilities.
First in my class there at MIT
Got skills, I’m a champion at D&D
MC Escher, that’s my favorite MC
Keep your 40, I’ll just have an Earl Grey tea
The lyrics are classic Weird Al, but delivered in a believable hip-hop style, and enhanced through a hilarious music video. It almost doesn’t seem like the same guy who gained national attention by performing a parody of Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” on the accordion.
Yankovic says that he’s toned down the comedic use of instruments over the years and only includes the accordion and other atypical instruments when they are appropriate in the song. For example, the Beach Boys inspired ode to a body part, “Pancreas,” includes a ukulele because Brian Wilson used the ukulele in some of his music. Not that anyone would notice its presence along with lyrics such as, “Don’t you know you got to flow, flow, flow, pancreatic, juice / Flow, flow, into the duodenum…”
