"Where It's At" is the first single from Beck's 1996 album, Odelay. Many have commented that the strength of both "Where It's At" and Odelay confirmed that Beck was not a novelty act or one-hit wonder. A looped keyboard riff and Beck's intricate lyrics dominate the song. In the first verse, Beck develops the scene: there is a party taking place "up the road from the habitations and the towns we know", where one can experience "the jigsaw jazz and the get-fresh flow". The second verse is a surreal description of those attending the party.
Beck wrote "Where It's At" in 1995. He premiered it at Lollapalooza 1995, in a version very similar to its incarnation on Odelay. He has played the song very often since 1995, although he regularly experiments with the music and lyrics.
"Where It's At" is notable for the number of odd spoken samples that Beck and the Dust Brothers incorporated into it. Many of these come from an obscure sex education album titled Sex for Teens: (Where It's At), whose subtitle Beck borrowed (see link below). Other vocal samples incorporated into "Where It's At" come from "Needle To The Groove" by old school rap group Mantronix ("we've got two turntables and a microphone..."), as well as The Frogs ("that was a good drum break"). The song also references Gary Wilson, one of Beck's influences.
"Where It's At" was the first music video to be broadcast on the television channel MTV2. The video features a parody of William Shatner's video of "Rocket Man".
