How hip-hop helped ‘Hamilton’ cross over to contemporary pop
To deliver the evocative soundtrack for his musical about the earliest days of American history, “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda reached back to the earliest days of hip-hop.
The original Broadway cast recording, which has sold more than 2 million copies and won a Grammy for best musical theater album, may draw on influences as diverse as jazz, rock and R&B to tell the story of founding father Alexander Hamilton, but it’s the influence of old school rap that really sets it apart from other musical theater productions that have tiptoed over into contemporary pop territory.
There are several direct nods to hip-hop classics — the “Hey Ladies” shout-out to the Beastie Boys in “The Winter’s Ball”; the cribbing of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s memorable chorus from “The Message” in “Cabinet Battle No. 1”; and, of course, the countless references to the work of Notorious B.I.G.
Obsessive fans — including Miranda — have taken to the online annotation service Genius (formerly Rap Genius) that gives context, both historical and cultural, to the verses flowing through “Hamilton.”
But it doesn’t take deep digging to connect the dots. Miranda was in high school when he first saw the parallels between classic rap rivalries and the 1804 duel between Hamilton and Vice President Aaron Burr, sparking his imagination.
“It’s a hip-hop story,” he said in a 2012 interview with the New York Times. “It’s Tupac.”
The musical’s use of the language of hip-hop is one of the primary reasons for its success as one of the biggest critical and commercial hits in Broadway history. It pushes the musical tradition out of its schmaltzy Elton John-style comfort zone to create an exhilarating, cutting edge pop experience.
“The Hamilton Mixtape,” a 23-track compilation released in December, which serves as a companion to the cast recording, further makes the case for the music’s pop allure.
The album features songs from the show that have been reworked with new arrangements and new lyrics by platinum-selling artists such as Usher, Kelly Clarkson, Nas, Ben Folds, Alicia Keys, Ashanti, John Legend, Sia, Common, Wiz Khalifa, Queen Latifah, the Roots, Jill Scott and Busta Rhymes.
Produced by Miranda with Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter of the Roots, the compilation gives the songs about life in the 1700s an eerily contemporary spin.
Suddenly, the lines from “My Shot,” delivered by Busta Rhymes, seem to be speaking to the here and now: “Every city, every hood, we need to rise up / All my soldiers, what’s good? We need to rise up!”