White & Nerdy

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"White & Nerdy"
"White & Nerdy" cover
Single by "Weird Al" Yankovic
Released September 12, 2006
Recorded July 22, 2006
Genre Comedy/Parody
Length 2:50
Label Volcano
Writer(s) "Weird Al" Yankovic, H. Seriki, A. Henderson
Producer(s) "Weird Al" Yankovic
Chart positions
"Weird Al" Yankovic singles chronology
"Don't Download This Song"
(2006)		 "White & Nerdy"
(2006)		 "Canadian Idiot"
(2007)

"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 can't "roll with the gangstas" because he is "just too white and nerdy", and includes constant references to stereotypically nerdy things, such as editing Wikipedia and playing Dungeons & Dragons.

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

The single was leaked onto the Internet on August 27, 2006, almost one month before the record's release date. It previously streamed on Chamillionaire's MySpace page,[2] and is currently streaming on Yankovic's own MySpace page.[3]

The song has become Yankovic's first career Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, its peak being at #9 and beating his previous #12 peak for 1984's "Eat It", as well as his first Top 40 single since 1992's "Smells Like Nirvana".[4] It peaked on the Hot Digital Songs chart at #5. Both the song and the music video reached #1 at the U.S. iTunes Store, and peaked at #1 on VH1's top 20 video countdown.

Contents

[edit] Video

The single has an accompanying music video, which was recorded in high-definition video. 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 cancelled, 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.

The video is also an MTV Hit.

A trivia quiz can be found on his song's website.[6]

The video also was number 1 for Google Video's top 100 on November 25, 2006

The video was featured on MuchMusic's hit series Video on Trial, in episode #2.8. Ironically, Weird Al appeared as a juror himself in the next episode.

The now well-known hoodie found in the video ('White & Nerdy' emblazoned in red letters) is now for sale at the Weird Al merchandise page[1] and also at concession stands in theatres during the Straight Outta Lynwood tour.

[edit] References in video

This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of the article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. Please include more appropriate citations from reliable sources.
This article has been tagged since November 2006.
  • In the video, "Weird Al" is shown wearing a total of 24 different outfits in addition to a cameo of him from the top up in the shower.
  • In the background where Yankovic is rapping on the street with the road flares, the road flares are in the shape of Pac-Man, parodying shots of the original song's video, which featured Chamillionaire rapping in front of a group of road flares forming the Chamillionaire logo.
  • Al's character in the song indicates that he graduated first in his class at MIT, a top U.S. mathematics, science, and engineering school. In reality, MIT does not actually give students a class rank, but a valedictorian is still chosen. (Al himself attended California Polytechnic State University)[8]
  • Yankovic refers to M.C. Escher as being his "favorite MC". M.C. Escher is famous for his geometrically impossible illustrations and repeating patterns, such as Relativity.
  • When Al says in the video that M.C. Escher is his favorite MC, a slang term for rapper, he is coincidentally shown wearing a DJ outfit.
  • Al is briefly shown playing badminton with other nerds. This scene is composed in slow motion with a slowly tracking camera, which may be a reference to a similar sequence in the music video of Weezer's single Say It Ain't So where the band members play hacky sack in slow motion.
  • When Al raps "Yo, I know pi to a thousand places..." a background that displays the value of pi actually shows it to about 515 digits.
  • The scene with him playing Minesweeper (a game included with the Microsoft Windows operating system dating back to version 3.1) is actually being played on a Mac OS X. The logged in user is listed as "whitenerdy". The computer screen was shot a Friday at 7:25 pm, the computer was connected to the alternate current because the battery icon was set to "Charging mode" and the computer had an active connection to a Bluetooth device, the first icon on the menu bar proves it. The reason that the Finder is the currently active application listed in the menu bar is because Minesweeper is running as a Dashboard widget.[11]
  • During the song, "Weird Al" says, "The only question I ever thought was hard was 'Do I like Kirk or do I like Picard?'", two captains from the Star Trek series by Gene Roddenberry.
  • The scene for the line "I ain't got a gat, but I got a soldering gun" refers to his use of a tool for electronic assembly or repair, rather than a firearm. It should also be noted that the tool he is holding is not actually a soldering gun, but a soldering iron. The difference is that a soldering gun heats up temporarily with a trigger, but a soldering iron stays hot while it is powered.
  • (Geography) In what city is the largest ball of twine built by one man? (Also referenced in Yankovic's song "The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota"; answer: Darwin, Minnesota)
  • (Entertainment) What's the deal with Lindsay Lohan? I mean, seriously? (A reference to Family Guy, Peter's "Grinds My Gears" segment)
  • (History) F.D.R.—was he faking it? (reference to Roosevelt's polio)
  • (Arts & Literature) On what page does Harry Potter die in the next book? (days before the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, a meme that mentioned the death of a prominent character from the book and the page on which it occurred in the U.S. publication had spread across the Internet; this question is likely based on this meme. J.K. Rowling has stated that a major character will die in the the seventh and last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, leading some fans to believe it may be Harry Potter himself, as Rowling has hinted in the past that he might only survive until the end of the series.)
  • (Science & Nature) What is the melting point of a gorilla's head?
  • (Sports & Leisure) How many Wicket Men are there on a 43-Man Squamish team? (Answer: 5)
Incorrect version as seen in the video:
\left[ - \frac{\mathbf{h}^2}{2 \mu} \nabla^2 - \frac{\mathbf{e}^2}{\mathbf{r}} \right] \psi\left(\mathbf{r}\right) = E \psi \left(\mathbf{r}\right).
Correct version:
\left[ - \frac{\hbar^2}{2 \mu} \nabla^2 - \frac{\mathbf{e}^2}{\mathbf{r}} \right] \psi\left(\mathbf{r}\right) = E \psi \left(\mathbf{r}\right).
  • 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
Al depicted expressing his opinion about Atlantic Records on Wikipedia
  • The Wikipedia article Yankovic vandalizes (by typing "YOU SUCK!" in large letters) 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.[12]
  • 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 the Pentium chip flaw known as f00f.[citation needed] It may also be a potential reference to UHF, where the first poodle to be thrown out the window in "Raul's Wild Kingdom" was named Foofie.
  • In the sequence in which Al gets "freaky" with bubble wrap, the glass-domed object on the table (right foreground) appears to be an orrery.
  • The name "Alfred" on the underwear is "Weird Al"'s given name.
  • A graffito resembling a Lambda on the side of a dumpster in the clip has been speculated to be a reference to the video game Half-Life, the lambda calculus, a mathematical model that is the basis for computer programming languages, or to the fraternity 'Lambda Lambda Lambda' from the movie Revenge of the Nerds (though the fraternity symbol would be three Lambdas in a row).
  • At the end of the video, Al appears to flash the Vulcan salute in place of a gang sign. However, his thumb is incorrectly positioned.
  • 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.

[edit] Cameos

  • Seth Green appears in the scene with a wall of action figures. 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". The term 'cherry' Yankovic uses is believed to refer to his own action figure collection (not shown) that has never (presumably) been opened, which is a joke about Green having his collection open and displayed on the bookshelf, although 'cherry' can also refer to something being cool or fresh.
  • Judy Tenuta appears as the woman who receives a power strip as a Christmas present. Tenuta is also a comedian who uses a small (concertina-sized) accordion in her act, was a regular on The Weird Al Show, and has also appeared in Yankovic's video for Headline News.

[edit] Extras

  • Jon Katz, Michael Bueno, Tom Schuler, Peter Withers, John Reynolds, Jennifer More, Christina Rodriguez, Benjamin Baker, Jason Van Kemseke, George Garcia, Deb Anderson, Christina Malesci, Shawn Avery, Max 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 3 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.

[edit] Other videos

[edit] Fan-made video

Yankovic announced on his website that he is teaming up with YAHOO! Music to make a fans-only video for White & Nerdy. The deadline for submissions to Yahoo! was October 26, 2006.[13] This video has been released.

[edit] 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.) On December 3, he performed it live at the VH1 "Big In '06" Awards. Yankovic also performs the song during his 2007 tour, also using a Segway during the performance.

[edit] References

  1. ^ MTVNews.com story
  2. ^ http://www.myspace.com/chamillionaire
  3. ^ http://www.myspace.com/weirdal
  4. ^ 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!
  5. ^ http://www.weirdal.com/home.htm
  6. ^ http://www.whiteandnerdy.com
  7. ^ http://www.goldenapplecomics.com/orchard/wierdal/index.php
  8. ^ Permanent Record, Al In The Box Retrieved on October 28, 2006
  9. ^ a b http://www.myspace.com/whiteandnerdy
  10. ^ White & Nerdy's Friends on the MySpace page.
  11. ^ The minesweeper widget for free download, from Apple.com
  12. ^ Adams, Cameron. “Weird Al Yankovic.” Herald Sun, October 5, 2006.
  13. ^ Yahoo! Music website, October 13, 2006

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


 v • d • e “Weird Al” Yankovic
Band members
"Weird Al" Yankovic • Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz • Steve Jay • Jim West • Rubén Valtierra
Discography
Studio albums: "Weird Al" Yankovic (1983) • "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D (1984) • Dare To Be Stupid (1985) • Polka Party! (1986) • Even Worse (1988) • UHF (1989) • Off The Deep End (1992) • Alapalooza (1993) • Bad Hair Day (1996) • Running With Scissors (1999) • Poodle Hat (2003) • Straight Outta Lynwood (2006)
List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic • List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic • Complete discography
Filmography
Music videos • "Al TV" • The Compleat Al • UHF • "The Weird Al Show" • "Weird Al" Yankovic Live!
Related articles
Singles • Songs • Songs Parodied • Dr. Demento • Music videos • Parody musicians • Comedy musicians
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