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 FLOTUS
on the track: Michelle Obama makes rap video for college campaign
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[December 10, 2015]
By Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Striding out of the
White House in slow motion, sporting oversized sunglasses, Michelle
Obama lays down a rap track aimed at raising the star power of math
majors and engineering students.
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 "If you wanna fly jets, you should go to college. Reach high and
cash checks? Fill your head with knowledge," Obama rhymes as
comedian Jay Pharoah, known for his Saturday Night Live impression
of her husband President Barack Obama, makes a stack of bills rain
onto the floor of the White House.
The video is a funny and affectionate send-up of the celebrity
culture that Obama has said she wants to turn on its head to try to
get more American kids thinking about higher education.
Obama's "Better Make Room" campaign, targeting students aged 14 to
19, encourages them to go to college by giving them a brush with
fame on social media with help from celebrities like Pharoah and
basketball great LeBron James.
The campaign is part of a larger White House effort to address
slipping U.S. college graduation rates.
Obama, who grew up in a working-class family in the South Side of
Chicago, often speaks to students about how she worked hard to get
good grades and degrees from Princeton and Harvard.
"I want to honor and empower young people who are working hard in
school and pursuing their dreams - and I want to do it in a fresh
and fun way," she said in a statement.
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Obama and Pharoah had help on the video from viral video makers The
Gregory Brothers, and it was produced by IAC/InterActive's
CollegeHumor, which makes viral comedy videos.
"I think the country will join me in saying, 'Mrs. Obama, we think
you should cut an album,'" said Sam Reich, CollegeHumor's head of
video, in a statement.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
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