Oh hey remember that time in 1804 when Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton had an actual duel, with actual guns and Burr shot Hamilton and Hamilton did not shoot Burr, and then the next day Hamilton died?
Oh you don’t remember that time?
So maybe you need a little history refresher: What do you know?! Broadway can help you out! The (not-so) new musical “Hamilton” is your hip-hop history refresher.
Oh yeah. You read that right.
And even more, it has this amazing soundtrack. Yup. I am not even kidding. I never kid about United States history (except for that time in AP History in high school where I fell asleep and was like “HAHA this is boring as shit"). The musical got some press but the music, it's a whole other thing. It's School House Rock meets hip-hop meets breaking it down on the dance floor (or kitchen, whatever).
Anyway, "Hamilton" is “the story of America then told by America now,” meaning there are no white people in it, including Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, and a majority of the rest of the cast. Whiteness is not a requirement for this revolution, and the modern parallels to the story of Hamilton, an immigrant born into poverty, are hard to miss. Also: there are actual real life women in it. And the whole play is a rap battle.
Yeah.
Hip-hop is the music of the revolution. Cue full body chills at the use of a traditionally underserved genre of music as the sociopolitical weapon it is meant to be in a critically acclaimed musical. BLESS.
