By Olivia Ritter ’17
The year of 2016 proved to be the year of “Hamilton.” The rap/hip-hop phenomenon centered around the first Secretary of the Treasury revolutionized Broadway and music fanatics everywhere. So when creator Lin-Manuel Miranda announced the release of “The Hamilton Mixtape” on Dec. 2, the world shook once again.
Before the musical, “Hamilton” was a thought: Miranda was focused on this idea of a concept album about Alexander Hamilton. His vision was to write songs based on Hamilton’s many life achievements with the beat, similar to classic hip-hop.
“To me, Hamilton was a hip-hop artist,” Miranda said in an interview with Vanity Fair, “He used his words to get everywhere.”
The mixtape consists of songs inspired by original works from the musical, songs Miranda wrote and chose to leave out or leave unfinished, and covers of “Hamilton” songs. While Kelly Clarkson belts a powerful rendition of “It’s Quiet Uptown,” ’90s hip-hop star Nas raps a new original, “Wrote My Way Out,” to branch off of the musical’s “Hurricane.”
Though the musical’s soundtrack incorporates forms of rap and hip-hop, the mixtape encouraged current hip-hop stars to get involved. The album includes cuts by Chance the Rapper, Wiz Khalifa and Usher.
The mixtape embodies Miranda’s original idea that Alexander Hamilton lived the life of a typical hip-hop icon; the artists he looked up to and listened to growing up. Miranda saw himself in Hamilton, as well, an immigrant from the Caribbean, trying to get by in the United States. Their biggest similarity has revealed itself to be how incredibly successful they became with the force of the written word.
This mixtape is unlike anything that has ever been done in the world of Broadway. “Hamilton” is unique as is; a story about the man on the $10 bill in the form of rap rhymes. Miranda took his contemporary musical and took it a step further, introducing it to current rap.
“Hamilton” broke boundaries from the beginning. As well as incorporating the most popular type of music of today, black and Latino actors were chosen to represent our nation’s founding fathers, representing the diversity America has become since its establishment.
Lin-Manuel Miranda managed to take, once again, the magic of “Hamilton” and its power to break boundaries one step further. If you’re not a showtunes person, fine. You can still feel “Hamilton” and all of its glory in “The Hamilton Mixtape,” so don’t miss it.