"It's All About the Pentiums" is a song by

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

. It is a parody of " It's All About the Benjamins (Rock Remix)" by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs and focuses on the narrator's obsession with his computer's hardware. The name of the song reflects this in its title with its referral to the

Pentium Pentium is a series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel from 1993 to 2023. The Pentium (original), original Pentium was Intel's fifth generation processor, succeeding the i486; Pentium was Intel's flagship proce ...

line of Intel microprocessor chips that were popular in the late nineties. It was also one of the last songs recorded for the album ''Running With Scissors''.

Track listing

# "It's All About the Pentiums" – 3:34 # " The Saga Begins" – 5:28 # "The Saga Begins" (Music video)

Writing

Yankovic spoke to Sean Combs personally on the phone to make sure that the parody would not emulate the 1996 Coolio incident. Yankovic has admitted to writing the song a few days before the entire album had to be mastered:

"I almost always record the lead vocals first. The only exception that comes to mind is "It's All About the Pentiums." I had pitched Puff Daddy on the parody idea, and by the time I finally got his official approval, we were already in the final studio sessions for "Running With Scissors"! It was such a last minute addition to the album that I had no choice but to record all the instrument tracks and background vocals first, just to buy me some time to come up with the lyrics. We were mixing the last few songs on the album by the time I finished writing the lyrics to "Pentiums," and I wound up recording the lead vocals just a couple days before the album had to be mastered. It's a good thing I work well under pressure!"

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

is a parody of several rap videos. The video features several "as live" performance scenes. The crowd consists of office workers and features a large WELCOME TO COMDEX sign behind the band. The scene in front of the glass building and the office scenes were shot at the

Los Angeles County Department of Public Works The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (LACDPW) is responsible for the construction and operation of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County's roads, building code, building safety, Sewage collection and disposal, sewerage, an ...

Headquarters Building in Alhambra, CA. At the video's beginning, an "old school" car is seen pulling up outside the offices. Initially, the camera is angled at the car's front, yet when it switches to a side view of the car, we see it is ridiculously small. Out of it steps Yankovic, accompanied by four doves. Weird Al used the same car (a

Nash Metropolitan The Nash Metropolitan is an American automobile assembled in England and marketed from 1953 until 1962. It conforms to two classes of vehicle: economy car and subcompact car. The Metropolitan is considered a "subcompact", but this category was ...

) in his earlier production, the movie ''

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...

''. As the video is about computers, most of the scenes take place in an office. Yankovic's drummer, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, is seen in several of these bits as an office worker yelling "YEAH!" over and over.

Emo Philips Emo Philips (born Philip Soltanec, February 7, 1956) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His stand-up comedy persona makes use of paraprosdokians spoken in a wandering falsetto tone of voice. Career The character of Emo Philips appea ...

, who had worked with Yankovic on ''

'' and '' The Weird Al Show'', is seen as the object of ridicule, sitting in front of a computer in a small orange room and doing things that are mentioned in the song. He waxes his modem, "trying to make it go faster," takes out

correction fluid Correction fluid can be written on after it has dried. Correction fluid bottle Correction fluid bottle A correction fluid (or correction liquid) is an opaque, usually white fluid applied to paper to mask errors in text. Once dried, it can be ...

and dabs some on his computer screen, takes an

Etch-a-Sketch Etch A Sketch is a mechanical drawing toy invented by André Cassagnes of France and subsequently manufactured by the Ohio Art Company. It is now owned by Spin Master of Canada. An Etch A Sketch has a thick, flat gray screen in a red plastic fra ...

as if it were the monitor and shakes it to clear it, and proudly shows a picture of

Sarah Michelle Gellar Sarah Michelle Prinze ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After being spotted by a talent agent as a young child, she made her film debut at age six in the television film ''An Invasion of Privacy'' (1983). She had her first lead ...

from his printer. During one concert scene, Yankovic can be seen smashing old computer equipment with a sledgehammer, including a monitor and a laptop. John Ranlett (a

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...

look-alike) plays a role at the line "I'm down with Bill Gates, I call him 'money' for short". He answers the phone when Yankovic calls him to "make him do istech support," and responds by rolling his eyes. His mug reads "Think similar", a parody of the

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

advertising slogan " Think different". Yankovic and

Drew Carey Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actor and game show host. After serving in the United States Marine Corps, U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey gained stardom in his own Situa ...

are seen in a

fluorescent Fluorescence is one of two kinds of photoluminescence, the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation, many substances will glow (fluoresce) with color ...

-lit tunnel. This and the outfits they wear are based on the performances of

Mase Mason Durell Betha (born August 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Mase (often stylized as Ma$e), is an American rapper. Best known for his work with Sean Combs, Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs' Bad Boy Records, he signed with the label in 1996 ...

and

Sean Combs Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, Mount Ve ...

(aka. P. Diddy, or Puff Daddy) in the music video for

the Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap tradi ...

's song, "

Mo Money Mo Problems "Mo Money Mo Problems" is a song by American rapper the Notorious B.I.G., released as the second single from his second studio album, ''Life After Death'' (1997) on July 15, 1997, by Bad Boy Records and Arista Records. It features guest per ...

Personnel

According to the liner notes of

The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic ''The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic'' is a two disc compilation album by the American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic. A limited edition "3.0" version of the album has a third disc. It is published by Sony Music's Legacy Recordings L ...

: *

– lead & background vocals * Jim West – guitars *

Steve Jay Eugene Stephen Jay (born January 26, 1951) is an American bassist, best known for working with "Weird Al" Yankovic. Early life Jay was born Eugene Stephen Jay in Detroit, Michigan on January 26, 1951. He auditioned for "Weird Al" Yankovic in 1 ...

– bass guitar * Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz – drums, drum programming * Natasha Barr – female vocals

References

External links

"Weird Al's" Official PageAl's Official MySpace PageAl's Official Facebook PageOfficial music video for "It's All About the Pentiums"
{{DEFAULTSORT:It's All About The Pentiums 1999 singles 1999 songs American hip-hop songs Computer humour Music videos directed by "Weird Al" Yankovic Songs with lyrics by "Weird Al" Yankovic Volcano Entertainment singles "Weird Al" Yankovic songs Songs written by Styles P Songs written by Sean Combs Songs written by Jadakiss Songs written by the Notorious B.I.G. Songs written by Lil' Kim