""Weird Al"" Yankovic has come a long way since recording ""My Bologna"" in a college restroom in 1979. Twenty-six years, 12 albums and three Grammys later, Weird Al spoke to The Daily Cardinal about his continuing reign as the King of Parody and his new album, Straight Outta Lynwood.
Lynwood is an album that is held together by a handful of brilliant parodies. Al is at his best on tracks satirizing R. Kelly and Chamillionaire. The album opens with its strongest track, ""White & Nerdy,"" a flawlessly executed play on Chamillionaire's ""Ridin'."" Weird Al has rapped before—notably on ""It's All About the Pentiums"" and ""Amish Paradise""—but the speed and rhyming on ""Nerdy"" take Al to a new level. Weird Al called the song ""the culmination of a lifetime of work"" of being both white and nerdy. He added that he was very pleased with Chamillionaire's reaction to being parodied.
""He's just been saying incredibly nice things about me in the press,"" Al said. ""Apparently I can ‘flow and spit' which I didn't know.""
The song is a classic juxtaposition of gangsta rap and unabashed nerdiness. Al delivers rhymes like ""My MySpace page is totally pimped out / Got people beggin' for my top eight spaces / Yo I know pi to a thousand places / Ain't got no grills but I still wear braces,"" with such fury that he gains both street cred and nerd cred.
A fantastic music video, featuring a manic Donny Osmond taking over back-up dancing duties performed by Krayzie Bone in ""Ridin',"" perfectly complements the song. Al explained how Osmond ended up in the video: ""Obviously if you can't get Krayzie Bone you get Donny Osmond. He gets all of Krayzie's turned down work.""
Later in the album, ""Trapped in the Drive Thru"" is Weird Al's epic (11 minute) answer to R. Kelly's epic (40 minute) ""Trapped in the Closet."" ""Drive Thru"" delivers all the charm of the original: A winding narrative, lilting vocals and a ridiculous plot.
""When I heard ‘Trapped in the Closet,' I thought it was brilliant and wonderful and ridiculous all at the same time,"" Weird Al said. ""I decided I couldn't make it any more convoluted than it already was but I thought I could make it just a little bit more stupid."" ""Drive Thru"" is silly, but Al exploits the sheer weirdness of the source material to make the parody work.
As has become tradition, Weird Al includes a polka medley on Lynwood. Featuring songs by Franz Ferdinand, the Pussycat Dolls and Snoop Dogg among others, it's listenable but not inspired.
""At this point it's sort of mandatory for me to do a polka medley,"" Al said. ""Fans would be rioting in the streets, I think, if I didn't do a polka medley.""
The final track of the album, ""Don't Download This Song"" (available for download at dontdownloadthissong.com) is a tongue-in-cheek indictment of online filesharing. The ""We Are the World""-style heartfelt plea warns music lovers, ""Don't download this song / Or you'll burn in Hell before too long.""
Weird Al will be eligible for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, and if the Hall of Fame has its head on straight it will induct Al as soon as possible. His best parodies have entered the national consciousness and throughout the years he's skillfully skewered artists across the musical spectrum.
""I'm not really holding my breath,"" Al said of the Hall of Fame. ""I think Milli Vanilli probably has a better chance of getting in.""
Let's hope not, Weird Al.
