White & Nerdy: Weird Al Parodies Chamillionaire's Ridin Dirty

Contrary to what you may have read, Weird Al's White & Nerdy is not a tribute to Eminem. It has absolutely nothing to do with Eminem. It is a parody of a rap song called Ridin' (aka Ridin' Dirty) by hip hop artist Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone from the rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. White & Nerdy plays to the exact same tune and has several similar features.

For instance, Ridin' shows Chamillionaire rapping in front of a wall that has his name on it with Krayzie Bone dancing behind him. Weird Al has some mathematical formulas on the wall behind him. Since there is always some significance to the choices Weird Al makes about what goes into his videos, I'm sure there's some significance to the formulas. Maybe I'm not nerdy enough to get it.

The White & Nerdy video is indeed hilarious. It features Donny Osmond dancing, sometimes behind and off to the side of Weird Al and sometimes next to him, in a manner that can only be described as …. White & Nerdy! Donny Osmond must have had a blast, but unlike Krayzie Bone who has a rap segment in Ridin', Donny doesn't rap.

Donny Osmond was once white America's answer to Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5, when he began his career with his brothers as The Osmond Brothers. Seth Green also makes a cameo appearance in the action figures segment of White & Nerdy.

You can see White & Nerdy on Weird Al's official MySpace page. You can also get a White & Nerdy sweatshirt there. Here's the hook in Weird Al's parody:

They see me strollin'... they laughin'
And rollin' their eyes 'cause I'm so white & nerdy
Just because I'm white & nerdy

The hook in Chamillionaire's song goes like this:

They see me rollin'
They hatin'
Patrollin'
And tryin. to catch me ridin. dirty
Tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty

Ridin' describes racial profiling by police in Houston, Tx:

City denyin' that it's racial profilin'.
Houston, TX, you can check my tags;
Pull me over, try to check my slab.
Glove compartment, gotta get my cash
'Cause the crooked cops'll try to come up fast.

You can see both Ridin' AND White & Nerdy on Chamillionaire's official MySpace page. That's right - Chamillionaire feels so honored to be parodied by Weird Al that in addition to his own hit, he put Weird Al's video on his MySpace! Chamillionaire said "He's actually rapping pretty good on it ... I didn't know he could rap like that". He indicated that he felt it was an honor to have your song parodied by Weird Al.

Ever since the Amish Paradise parody pissed off Coolio, Weird Al makes it a point to get the artist's permission to record a parody of any particular hit song. Weird Al got the impression from Coolio's label that it was okay for him to parody Gangsta's Paradise. Not that he needs permission, mind you. Under the "fair use" provision of U.S. copyright law, permission is not needed to record a parody.

Nevertheless, Weird Al has always sought to maintain good relationships in the music industry and has never intentionally stepped on anyone's toes. Coolio insists that he never gave permission for the Amish Paradise parody and was angry for a long time. He buried the hatchet with Weird Al earlier in 2006.

Weird Al does not totally shelve his parodies that artists won't agree to. He often performs parodies he has been unable to get permission to record at his live shows.

Although Paul McCartney is a fan, he refused to give Weird Al permission to record a parody of Wings' Live and Let Die. The parody's title was Chicken Pot Pie and Paul is a vegetarian. Weird Al's "concert only" songs just don't get released.

Yankovic got permission from James Blunt's in 2006 to do a parody of You're Beautiful which he called You're Pitiful. After it was recorded, Blunt's label, Atlantic Records, rescinded the permission and the song was then pulled from Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood album. Weird Al released the song as a free download on his MySpace and official website since it was not the artist who objected to the parody.

This incident is memorialized in the White & Nerdy video. Weird Al's character vandalizes the record label's Wikipedia entry with a big "YOU SUCK!" After the video was released online, Atlantic Records Wikipedia article was really vandalized by numerous imitators. Yankovic indicated that this was not his intention and he did not approve of the vandalism, but admitted to being amused by it. Wikipedia locked the page to prevent any further incidents.

Over the years, a couple of my personal favorite parodies by Weird Al have been the famous Eat It parody of Michael Jackson's song Beat It and the extremely funny Like A Surgeon parody of Madonna's Like A Virgin hit. Wikipedia has a list of most of Weird Al parodies. I don't claim to know them all but I don't see Girls Just Want to Have Lunch on there.

You've got to hand it to Weird Al. When it comes to uproarious parodies, plain and simple, he's a genius. There is never anything mean-spirited or vulgar about Weird Al's parodies. He surely earns his moniker with his 'weird' ability to take silly pokes at popular culture and gives us the chance to laugh at some of our idiosyncrasies in a harmless and very amusing way.

Other artists parodied on the Straight Outta Lynwood album include Green Day, Usher, R. Kelly and Taylor Hicks.