Loading...Let’s be honest: hip hop/rap and musical theater pretty much can’t be farther away from each other on the musical spectrum. Well that’s what we think, but Lin-Manuel Miranda decided that he thought differently. Today’s featured video is a clip from the 2009 White House Poetry Jam, in which Lin-Manuel Miranda brought the two styles together in an incredible performance of a song he created about, of all things, founding father and first secretary of the treasury Alexander Hamilton. The rap, accompanied by piano and snapping, was an idea for a theater play that Lin-Manuel was creating, music, script, and all. 7 years later, Hamilton is now a critically-acclaimed Broadway show, after successfully selling out off-Broadway.
The song, titled “Alexander Hamilton”, tells the story of the founding father, from his upbringing to his eventual death in a duel from the eyes of his killer, Aaron Burr. It really is an amazing song, combining rap, conventional musical theater musicality, and storytelling, dramatic moments, and catchy lyrics. The song was kept all the way to the final version of the musical, and is currently still being performed along with the rest of the “Alexander Hamilton Mixtape” rap songs in the play.