Ununderstood English-language joke [closed]

In a song video made by an American acquaintance, there is a joke that I don't understand. Here is the context:

"Alfresco" and "Pentaho" are two non-competing software applications that can be used together. An Alfresco representative recently made a rap song where he talks about his "tricked out Pentaho". Is it a reference to rappers' pimped out cars? I am not sure I understand.

Solution 1:

You got the connection: it's a reference to something having all the bells and whistles. In this case, it's a fully configured instance of Pentaho.

At the risk of killing a funny reference with over-analysis, the joke is that it alludes to a common hip-hop trope of referring to haters, people who are jealous of one's success. This is evident earlier in the song you linked to, when he says:

Playing World of Warcraft while they type up their code

"But that's not good enough for 'enterprise mode'"

So they laughed and they dissed and they acted like haters

While we coded with the force like open-source Darth Vaders

"Haters hating" is a popular trope amongst nerds and geeks for ultimately unknown reasons (I say it's the repitition, but what do I know?), but it has at least some of its origins in Chamillionaire's "Ridin'". The song has the following hook:

They see me rollin' they hatin'

Trying to catch me ridin' dirty

Chamillionaire is making a reference to a somewhat American-specific racial issue of driving while black, where cops in some areas reportedly conduct racial profiling and make inordinately more traffic stops for African-Americans.

But the song has sparked several memes and image macros and perhaps most famously the nerdy parody anthem by Weird Al Yankovic, "White and Nerdy". In it, he takes "Ridin'"'s melody and replaces the lyrics with various references to geek culture.

You should see the connection between Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" and the video you linked: the joke is the juxtaposition of hip-hop culture concerned with serious racial issues with awkward white nerds who are primarily interested in geeky stuff like open-source projects.

That is to say, haters gonna hate a fully tricked out Pentaho instance.

Solution 2:

I'm guessing that Pentaho is homophonic to Pinto, as found in the name of the Ford Pinto, a model of car. You would understand the joke if you understood the reputation the Pinto once carried; no one living in the era it was sold, like my parents did, would ever describe a Pinto as "tricked out" -- a synonym for extravagantly furnished, by the way -- almost from the start it was derided for its numerous quality problems, to the point that Time Magazine rated the car one of the 50 worst cars of all time. Why? The gas tank was prone to explosions after rear-end collisions, to the point that it was the Pinto which was implicated in the first case ever to be filed against a car manufacturer for criminal homicide.

Solution 3:

I feel it is MUCH simpler than the other posts here

Penta-HO as in Tricked out HO (NSFW) - i.e. Whore, i.e. prostitute with all the trimmings See Wikipedia - Ho'