For me, one of the great themes of Hamilton is the subtext that colonial America was in an abusive relationship with a gaslighting boyfriend. That’s not the kind of origin story we like to tell about ourselves in history class, we like to think of ourselves as manly independent minutemen, but it does track with history. All the King George III songs where he sings about how much he loves America, it’s so damn creepy.
I was very fortunate to be invited to see Hamilton in Philly for free and absolutely loved it after being pretty skeptical on the way in. Watched the stream last weekend, but reading through here makes me definitely want to rewatch again. It is so good.
The writing is genius. Some of my favorite lines are:
-The entire Burr, Sir sequence. “Are you Aaron Burr, Sir?You punched the bursar?! It was a blur, sir”
-“You disgust me!” “So, you discussed me?”
Favorite song is King George both times, but there are so many good ones to choose from.
And if you haven’t seen this before, it’s pretty cool. An algorithm that breaks down the complex rhyme schemes in the show as well as other famous rappers/music.
How much am I missing by not being knowledgeable about the 90s hip hop that so clearly influenced Hamilton? I wouldn’t be able to pick out the music of Big Pun, Rakim, or Nas.
I don’t think you need to be familiar with those songs. If you happen to notice something, it’s a nice little Easter Egg (just like catching the nods to Shakespeare or The West Wing or any of the other pop culture stuff he drops), but it’s not like you have to be able to quote The 10 Crack Commandment from memory in order to enjoy the show or understand what is going on.
ETA: To me, the biggest advantage that comes from having grown up listening to lots of hip hop is that I didn’t have trouble following the pace of the lyrics.
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Like, you’ve missed a whole lot of absolutely incredible music if you slept on 90’s hip-hop, so I weep for you, but I don’t think it will impact your enjoyment of Hamilton. There are a LOT of fanservice references to 90’s (and 80’s?) hip-hop, but really the whole concept of fanservice is basically kind of dumb and gimmicky. The show stands on its own merits; guys like me will nod knowingly at the Grandmaster Flash references, but we are dorks and our opinions are not important.
Edit: as BGN says, you’re just missing the Easter Eggs. You can enjoy Hamilton completely without knowing anything about hip-hop.
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Here is Jonathan Groff performing You’ll Be Back in a relaxed enviroment.
Yeah like every exaggerated bit about King George was intentional
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Hamilton throws so much text at you so quickly, it’s kind of crazy. There’s no other musical that does this afaict. If you grew up listening to 90’s hip-hop, it’s easy to keep pace, but I really don’t know what Gen-Z and their descendants will make of it. I think it’s a legitimate complaint that Hamilton never gives you a moment to breathe and take it all in.
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Holy shit, listening to it here, its a fabulous “wronged lover/breakup” song.
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Two things, while looking for the King George songs on Spotify.
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The character makes a huge impact with less than 7 minutes of screen time in a 2:30 show. Thats pretty incredible.
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Weird Al released one of his famous polka songs for the soundtrack. Unsurprisingly, its incredible.
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Or even better, its set to the actual visuals
I’m watching through this now. “Right hand man back” is perfect.
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I lobbied to get it on Friday night then missed it, lame
The Sound Of Music and Mary Poppins?
jfc there’s really no accounting for taste.
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haha, I had no idea they did this back in 2015 to promote the opening on Broadway…
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Brilliant. Even better than the original 
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The impressions aren’t all great, but the premise is just spectacular!
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holy shit they did the entire act…lmao
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