has dropped a surprise rap song featuring veteran Vietnamese rapper Wowy to send Lunar New Year wishes to the Southeast Asian country.
The collaboration video was released on the official Facebook account of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi on Monday.
“With all his affection for Vietnam, together with enthusiastic guidance from the amazing coach Wowy, #AmbassadorKritenbrink’s Lunar New Year musical masterpiece gained the praise of one of Vietnam’s top rap artists – Binz Da Poet, who called the Ambassador’s rap, ‘Amazing, Good Job!’” the video caption whimsically teased.
The three-minute video introduces Kritenbrink as showing an interest in auditioning for the rap competition ‘Rap Viet,’ which took Vietnamese audience by storm with its first season aired last year.
The video then shows him meeting up with veteran Vietnamese rapper Wowy, who served as a coach in the competition.
Daniel Kritenbrink, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, performs a rap song next to veteran Vietnamese rapper Wowy in this video released by the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.
“I’m from Nebraska. I’m not a big city boy. Then three years ago, I moved to Hanoi,” Kritenbrink gave a nod to Binz Da Poet’s 2020 domestic hit ‘Big City Boy’ while rapping his self-introduction on the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
“Clean the house now, friends are on the way. Grab the hoa mai [apricot blossoms] and hoa dao [peach blossoms]. Get ready to party from Ha Giang to Ca Mau!” he continued to pay tribute to the time-honored tradition of Vietnamese residents during the Lunar New Year festival, due on Friday.
The U.S. envoy also named hotpot and ‘ca phe sua da’ – or Vietnamese milky coffee – as his favorites, and said that he had prepared ‘li xi,’ or red envelopes of lucky money, to gift children in the Lunar New Year.
“From my shores to your shores, our friendship endures. U.S. and Vietnam, from now to forever, we’re trusted partners, prospering together,” he reinforced as his term as the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam is coming to a close.
The video concludes with Kritenbrink’s phrasing ‘Chuc Mung Nam Moi’ (Happy New Year) as a refrain, while extending his wishes to the country and people of Vietnam.
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