The Week I Review | Hamilton: An American Musical | Rap Review @TheWeekIReview | Uploaded January 2020 | Updated October 2024, 19 hours ago.
Entry 71: How could I not?
(Credits and lyrics below.)
Offer recurring support: patreon.com/theweekireview
Or just the one time: paypal.me/theweekireview
Twitter/IG: @alecjkm
Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/twir
Credits:
Beat*: Ghost Beatz AKA Pala (http://palasound.studio)
Additional vocal mixing: Aaron Belinfanti (emusicmixer.com/)
Camerawork: Matthew Schuchman and Kevin R James
Additional lighting: Danielle Lego
Patrons: My Mom, Hamry & Marco, Kat Suricata, Benjamin Schiff, Anthony Cole, @blasianfma, Magnolia Denton, and Elliot Fowler
Lyrics (also available as captions):
Now let me back up
Give background for those of y'all
Who have been living under rocks missed talks bout this phenomena
It is history rewritten with rhymes, the Times was smitten, at bars the actors spittin, our hearts, they've all been given
Sixteen Tony nominations, wow, that's a new record!
But with “just” 11 wins, The Producers remains unbested
Let's get real, though, Hamilton's still big as Broadway gets
And folks been paying through the nose for those nosebleed-type tick-ets
And while prices have dropped, the gouging's far as as hell from stopped
I got three emails detailing how I could pawn my pair off
On a cast that lacks Jonathon Groff, not bout to ask a thousand bucks
For seats that cost one-quarter that, as though that wasn’t rough enough.
Now let me take a second to talk to Lin Manuel Miranda
Can I call you Lin? It’s hard to rhyme things with Miranda
Truth is, man, when I saw In the Heights I couldn't stand ya
A talented lyricist sure but your voice ain’t the best, not my choice for the next
Success, ya made it onstage, got a good agent I guess
OH!
The reason I never saw Hamilton earlier's only in part due to financial worry or stress that I got from the lottery, honestly; I was just not in a hurry to see
The man in the OBC speaking at me.
I’d much rather watch someone up there who actually knows how to sing
Hamilton’s a show where the cast is critical
Particularly as it relates to actors’ rapping flow
Because Miranda hung a stone around the necks of anyone
Who hopes to play Hamilton, Jefferson, or Good Ol' Washington
But really everyone on stage at some point needs to try (and)
Do this thing I'm doing here, though more successfully than I (can)
But un-for-tu-nate-ly that is just not how it works in practice you see
Broadway actors are beautiful singers, but even worse rappers than me!
That's bad, like can you even imagine?
Watching folks awkwardly articulate all the lyrics, took all that I had in to keep me from laughin'
But of course I was clappin'
In the seat I felt trapped in, actin' like this leg room wasn’t a crime that even airlines were-en't backin'
At intermission I turned to my girlfriend and kinda shrugged
I was having fun but was this really the show everyone loved
Washington was King, King George was hilarious; the big four generally killed it
The rest were best when they stuck to dancing and avoided the music
But I don't like the song about taking my… shot
Antici… pation like Rocky’s Picture Show it's… not
In this syncopated code, I could see the show’s construction
For the sake of Miranda’s brand, he built a narrative obstruction
(but)
In the second act, he stepped back, dropped style dominance
To play to Broadway's strengths; I gotta say thanks, drop compliments
On top of this, the shift from outer war to inner strife's inspired
Giving us a different look at how this cut-short life transpired
This musical adaptation, celebratin the founding of this nation
And its founding fathers takes aim at political explanation
And maybe it's dangerous to ascribe significance
But we need more popular exultations of immigrants
Historians can argue the truth of its depictions
I don't go to Broadway musicals expecting non-fiction
It's-an annoyance; it's a distraction
The fact of the matter is in the breadth of its castin'
The commitment to diversity ensures it would be painful to see for the depictees, men who wrongly believed in their own supremacy
It needn’t be so concerned with the complexity of these men who have been dead for centuries
The reality is the founding fathers were bad guys – all of them
Jefferson, for sure, but also Alexander Hamilton
So make a parable of him – a prophet of profit
That people can remember as they pull a Ten from their pocket
Knowing that white face looking back is naught but a relic
Miranda's success came in building with this modern aesthetic
I had my problems with the process, sure, but when all is done and said
This show deserves its reputation...
X Point X out of Ten
#linmanuelmiranda #hamilton #rapreview
*Unfortunately licensed through Soundstripe, so I cannot put this song on any other platform. (Regrets!)
Entry 71: How could I not?
(Credits and lyrics below.)
Offer recurring support: patreon.com/theweekireview
Or just the one time: paypal.me/theweekireview
Twitter/IG: @alecjkm
Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/twir
Credits:
Beat*: Ghost Beatz AKA Pala (http://palasound.studio)
Additional vocal mixing: Aaron Belinfanti (emusicmixer.com/)
Camerawork: Matthew Schuchman and Kevin R James
Additional lighting: Danielle Lego
Patrons: My Mom, Hamry & Marco, Kat Suricata, Benjamin Schiff, Anthony Cole, @blasianfma, Magnolia Denton, and Elliot Fowler
Lyrics (also available as captions):
Now let me back up
Give background for those of y'all
Who have been living under rocks missed talks bout this phenomena
It is history rewritten with rhymes, the Times was smitten, at bars the actors spittin, our hearts, they've all been given
Sixteen Tony nominations, wow, that's a new record!
But with “just” 11 wins, The Producers remains unbested
Let's get real, though, Hamilton's still big as Broadway gets
And folks been paying through the nose for those nosebleed-type tick-ets
And while prices have dropped, the gouging's far as as hell from stopped
I got three emails detailing how I could pawn my pair off
On a cast that lacks Jonathon Groff, not bout to ask a thousand bucks
For seats that cost one-quarter that, as though that wasn’t rough enough.
Now let me take a second to talk to Lin Manuel Miranda
Can I call you Lin? It’s hard to rhyme things with Miranda
Truth is, man, when I saw In the Heights I couldn't stand ya
A talented lyricist sure but your voice ain’t the best, not my choice for the next
Success, ya made it onstage, got a good agent I guess
OH!
The reason I never saw Hamilton earlier's only in part due to financial worry or stress that I got from the lottery, honestly; I was just not in a hurry to see
The man in the OBC speaking at me.
I’d much rather watch someone up there who actually knows how to sing
Hamilton’s a show where the cast is critical
Particularly as it relates to actors’ rapping flow
Because Miranda hung a stone around the necks of anyone
Who hopes to play Hamilton, Jefferson, or Good Ol' Washington
But really everyone on stage at some point needs to try (and)
Do this thing I'm doing here, though more successfully than I (can)
But un-for-tu-nate-ly that is just not how it works in practice you see
Broadway actors are beautiful singers, but even worse rappers than me!
That's bad, like can you even imagine?
Watching folks awkwardly articulate all the lyrics, took all that I had in to keep me from laughin'
But of course I was clappin'
In the seat I felt trapped in, actin' like this leg room wasn’t a crime that even airlines were-en't backin'
At intermission I turned to my girlfriend and kinda shrugged
I was having fun but was this really the show everyone loved
Washington was King, King George was hilarious; the big four generally killed it
The rest were best when they stuck to dancing and avoided the music
But I don't like the song about taking my… shot
Antici… pation like Rocky’s Picture Show it's… not
In this syncopated code, I could see the show’s construction
For the sake of Miranda’s brand, he built a narrative obstruction
(but)
In the second act, he stepped back, dropped style dominance
To play to Broadway's strengths; I gotta say thanks, drop compliments
On top of this, the shift from outer war to inner strife's inspired
Giving us a different look at how this cut-short life transpired
This musical adaptation, celebratin the founding of this nation
And its founding fathers takes aim at political explanation
And maybe it's dangerous to ascribe significance
But we need more popular exultations of immigrants
Historians can argue the truth of its depictions
I don't go to Broadway musicals expecting non-fiction
It's-an annoyance; it's a distraction
The fact of the matter is in the breadth of its castin'
The commitment to diversity ensures it would be painful to see for the depictees, men who wrongly believed in their own supremacy
It needn’t be so concerned with the complexity of these men who have been dead for centuries
The reality is the founding fathers were bad guys – all of them
Jefferson, for sure, but also Alexander Hamilton
So make a parable of him – a prophet of profit
That people can remember as they pull a Ten from their pocket
Knowing that white face looking back is naught but a relic
Miranda's success came in building with this modern aesthetic
I had my problems with the process, sure, but when all is done and said
This show deserves its reputation...
X Point X out of Ten
#linmanuelmiranda #hamilton #rapreview
*Unfortunately licensed through Soundstripe, so I cannot put this song on any other platform. (Regrets!)
