Lin-Manuel Miranda joined Zane Lowe on Apple Music to run through his ‘At Home With’ playlist. The award-winning multi-hyphenate told Apple Music why ‘Hamilton’ is a love letter to hip-hop, what he loves about Chloe x Halle, why Run The Jewels 4 is the album of the year, growing up on hip-hop in New York, discovering Outkast, making the first successful hip-hop musical, being sick the night Beyoncé and Jay-Z came to see the show, and much more.
On ‘Hamilton’ Being A Love Letter To Hip-Hop...
I mean, hip hop's the language of revolution and it's our greatest American art form. To me, that was the initial impulse. It was the fact that Hamilton got everywhere on the strength of his writing. That was the whole idea, was, "Well, that's what my favorite MCs do." They write so brilliantly that they transcend their circumstances and they change the world literally through their power of their pen and their delivery and their oratory. That's the fundamental idea in it. That's why it's such a love letter to hip hop. That's why there's so many hip hop references in the show, whether it's Biggie or Mobb Deep or DMX. They're just peppered throughout and creating the precedent of clearances for a musical because we did. I went and did the work. It was like, "No, no, no. This contains..." I want the kids who just only know musical theatre when they pick up their liner notes, they see "Contains a sample from 'Ten Crack Commandments' by Notorious B.I.G.” If you like this musical, you owe it to yourself to listen to the hip hop that you maybe weren't listening to because that's the reason this exists, is my love for hip hop.
On Hamilton As The First Successful Hip-Hop Musical In The “Very White World of Theatre” & Systemic Racism…
Yeah, I think once we got passed through the reality that the pandemic was sort of slowing business as usual, and then the larger conversation is ... And I'm just speaking to my own corner of the world that is sort of theatre, and New York theatre is like, well, business is not business as usual. So, in this moment where we're talking about systemic racism, systemic inequalities, how does that affect our corner of the world? And it certainly affects theatre. The fact that Hamilton is the first successful hip-hop musical and hip-hop is 40 years old tells you everything you need to know about how late change comes to the very siloed, very white world of theatre. And so, those are the conversations we're having within the Hamilton company, and within sort of the larger world of theatre of, how do we return to a more equitable space? How do we return to a space where backstage is as diverse as our cast on stage, where our audiences are as diverse as our cast on stage? Because that's the other thing, is one of the things I'm proudest of this movie is, it gives everyone the brag of, "I saw the original cast for seven bucks.”
On Making Hamilton More Accessible…
It's the thing we struggled with the most, because if we put our tickets out for 20 bucks, resale market would sell them for whatever ungodly prices. And then I would hear from relatives saying, "You're charging $2,000?" I'm like, "No, we're not." So, we made the front two rows 10 bucks. We did free shows outside with members of our original cast, like outside our theatre twice a week. And then the two big things we did were, one, we prioritised students. So we created this program where students from Title 1 schools see the show for 10 bucks, and 250,000 students have seen Hamilton in the past five years through that program. And then we filmed this movie, because we knew this is another way to do that. And once we've played the cities and we've given as many people as we can an opportunity to see it live, which is how it was intended, we'll also give it to the world, and that's the step we're on. So I'm really proud of that.
On Adjusting To Life in Quarantine…
I think that first month, you're just readjusting to the new rules. I have a kid in kindergarten. We're figuring out what homeschooling looks like and then subsequently, what virtual learning looks like. We're figuring out what we need when we leave the house, what is truly essential and sort of the incredible work happening in New York and the essential workers in New York who are that delivery guy and our medical workers. It was really just a lot of processing what is the new normal.
On Amplifying Voices During The Current Social Climate…
I mean, honestly, I think the moment right now, I'm doing a lot of listening. I'm doing a lot of just amplifying black voices in this moment right now, amplifying a lot of young people and learning from them, and then putting money towards candidates I think embody our beliefs. And yeah, I mean just, I'm doing a lot of shut up, listening and giving money. That's really what I'm doing.
On Missing The Show When Beyoncé Was In Attendance...
I'll tell you my sad Beyonce story, which is that the night Beyoncé and Jay Z came to Hamilton I had a 104 degree fever and I could not get to the theatre to perform in the show. It was my first time being sick. It was my first time calling out. And at noon they said, "Beyonce's coming tonight.” And I was like, "Pull the IV out, I can do it.” My wife was like you, "You have to stay home.”
On Run The Jewels 4 Being The Album of the Year…
Album of the year. They've been getting better all of the Run the Jewels albums, but this one was so... I mean, the lyrics are so prescient and speak to this moment sort of so beautifully. I know El-P a little bit. They're just incredible and fearless. It's the album of the year. And then also DJ Premier, too, is so New York. The moment that beat drops, it's everything I grew up loving about hip hop in the '90s, East Coast hip hop in the ‘90s.
On What He Loves About Chloe x Halle…
The harmonies. These two were singing in the crib together and making harmonies and you can tell. I have the honour of working with Halle on the live action remake of Little Mermaid. She's going to be our Ariel. Her and her whole family are just so incredible. I think this album is just such a huge leap sonically. I'm crazy about their voices.
On Discovering Outkast…
OutKast, I wasn't ready for. I literally was like, "I need to put this down. My brain is not ready to receive it.” It felt like from the future. I got on at Aquemini. Southernplayalistic, I was like, "My brain is not ready for this." I got in on Aquemini and then went back. I was like, "Okay, now I need to go back and listen to it all. Now I am ready to receive the gift.”
