The US Consulate in Milan is OFFICIALLY the dorkiest and awesomest US consulate in the world
Life as a US diplomat in Milan sounds pretty glamorous, but did you realize it could also be dorkishly awesome?
The US Consulate in Milan has just released this rap video with the ostensible purpose of teaching you to understand and use Italian hand gestures.
It's true that Italians speak with their hands, and the video does teach some particularly valuable gestures, such as "I'm hungry," "I don't care," "so and so," and some others.
But the consular workers aren't really showcasing their Italian skills. They're showcasing themselves. Their awesome, dorky, slightly cringe-inducing, glorious selves.
The video stars this guy, who, in real life, is an intern at the consulate. In the video, he arrives in Milan speaking some Italian, but, without knowing the appropriate hand gestures, his language skills are useless.
He spends most of the video wearing sunglasses and rapping. Like this.
And this.
His flow is, come si dice, "remedial." (He shows some potential at the :28 mark, though.) And yeah, yeah, it's easy to hate on a white kid rapping while wearing a blazer, sunglasses, studio headphones and a red snapback. But DO NOT give into that hate. He's a kid, he'll improve as a rapper and a diplomat, and it's not even his material. The rhymes were written by Francesca Bettelli, a press and media specialist at the consulate. She seems pretty cool and she should definitely have a verse on this track.
The real stars are all these amazing co-workers. Sure, there are moments in the video when they seem to have no idea what they're doing. Like here, when someone obviously told them, "Yo, get in here we're making a dope video."
But for the most part, they totally kill it.
Like this woman, who plays a language instructor in the video and may or may not be a language instructor in real life.
And these three, doing a spot-on Beastie Boys impression. (Francesca Bettelli, rhyme-master and obviously incredible co-worker, at center.)
This guy, who has absolutely done this exact thing before.
This lady doesn't care. No, really, that hand gesture means, "I don't care."
This lady is doing a half-hearted "I'm hungry" gesture.
When out of nowhere, BAM!
This isn't the first time these glorious people have put their creative energies together to make a dorky and awesome video.
Last year, they made this short film about Lady Liberty visiting Milan.
Seriously, how could you NOT want to work with these people?!
Haters will definitely hate. But guess what, haters:
Never change, US Consulate in Milan. Stay beautiful.