Artist: Weird Al
Title: Straight Outta Lynwood
Release Date: 09.26.2006
Label: Volcano Records
The CD art of Straight Outta Lynwood parodies every rap album ever made, including a gratuitous pimp shot of Weird Al and the other contributing white musicians dressed as ‘ho’s. Weird Al lifts the title from N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton, an ironic move since that CD defined the gansta rap genre in the ‘80’s.
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Only three of the songs on the CD deliver rap/r&b parody, but any Weird Al fan will be pleased with the rest of the selections. The three rap parodies are: ‘White and Nerdy’ Weird Al’s take on ‘Ridin’” by Chamillionaire, ‘Confessions Part III’ a parody of Usher’s ‘Confessions Part II’ and ‘Trapped in the Drive-Thru’ an overlong song lampooning ‘Trapped in the Closet’ by R. Kelly. ‘White and Nerdy’ alone is worth the price of the CD.
Even though Weird Al excels at spoofing other people’s music, he really does have excellent musical talent and hires equal talent to back him up. Check out the strings that play in one portion of ‘Pancreas’ and you’ll hear what I mean. The CD also includes a DVD that features a ‘making of’ as well as music videos. Six of his songs, all originals, are featured in the music videos on the DVD. The majority of the music videos are in cartoon form. Robot Chicken, a stop motion claymation series on Adult Swim, is responsible for creating the animation on the ‘Weasel Stomping Day’ music video. Other notable animators such as John Kricfalusi (creator of Ren &Stimpy) and Bill Plympton take a turn at animating Weird Al’s songs.
‘Canadian Idiot’ is close enough to the original Green Day song ‘American Idiot’ that if you blast it on your car stereo, it might be mistaken for the original. I was playing it on my way out of my neighborhood with the window down and got a shout out from a passing Green Day fan, who had no clue it was Weird Al. He also mimics Taylor Hick’s singing style fairly well in ‘Do I Creep You Out,’ Al’s version ‘Do I Make You Proud.’
I loved Weird Al’s humorous originals nearly as much as I did his rip-offs. ‘I’ll Sue Ya’ is a rock/rap song by a sue-happy individual who sings a list of all the people he’s sued including Delta Airlines “cause they sold me a ticket to new Jersey—I went there, and it sucked.” My favorite of Al’s originals, ‘Close But No Cigar’ reminded me in some ways of Cake.
Not every song will be a winner for everyone who hears it. Some of the jokes seem, well, a little less than cutting edge, like ‘Virus Alert,’ which still struck me as funny despite the fact that I felt like I’d heard most of the jokes somewhere else. You’re also bound to loathe at least one song on the album, just as you’re bound to find one you love, mostly because Weird Al hits on such a variety of styles.
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