1. Background of:

2. Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton
Inspired by Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.
Began writing music for the musical in 2008.
Performed a rap about Hamilton at the White House in 2009.

3. Hamilton Mixtape premiered off-Broadway in January, 2015.
Miranda spent a year writing/revising “My Shot” in order to accurately reflect Hamilton’s intelligence.
Hamilton Mixtape premiered off-Broadway in January, 2015.
That same year, Chernow and Miranda received the History Makers Award for their work in creating Hamilton.
Image is from Hamilton’s win for Best Musical at the Tony’s.

4. After selling out their off-Broadway engagement, officially opened on Broadway in August 2015.
Over 700 people entered a lottery for tickets on opening night.
Due to the growing number of people congesting the streets in an effort to win tickets, the lottery was moved online.
In its first online lottery, more than 50,000 people entered, causing the site to crash.

5. Costume and set design are meant to reflect the period.
“The set ...is a wooden scaffold against exposed brick; the warm lighting suggests candlelight"

6. Characters of Hamilton are played by Latinos, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans in order to foster a positive view on immigrants.
Allows audiences to literally view America as a nation of immigrants, thereby showing how irrelevant the Founding Fathers' whiteness is to their claim on the country.
Downsides to portrayal – obscures actual people of color that played a role in founding the country. Musical also makes Hamilton and other characters seem more progressive about slavery and civil rights than actually were.

7. Hamilton’s America
Aired October 21, 2016 as part of PBS’ Arts Fall Festival.
At :20:00, skip to :30:20. Then at :40:00, skip to :48:00 and watch until 49:24. Skip and watch 58:29 to 1:04:00

8. Hamilton Mixtape Originally what Miranda envisioned for Hamilton.
Includes covers and interpolations of the musical’s songs.
Some of the artists include Busta Rhymes, Queen Latifah, Common, and Chance the Rapper.

9. “Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)”
K’naan: Somali Canadian rapper – immigrated to the U.S. when he was 13 years old to escape escalating violence in Somalia.
Residente: Puerto Rican rapper – has won 24 Latin Grammy awards.
Riz MC: British rapper – parents immigrated from Pakistan
Snow Tha Product: American rapper – parents immigrated from Mexico
K’naan: family later settled in Toronto; self-taught himself hip-hop and rap diction while still learning English.
Residente: Won the most gold-plated gramophones of any Latin American Artists
Riz MC: appeared in Rogue One as Bodhi Rook, a defected imperial pilot.
Snow Tha Product: began performing at 6 years old and decided to pursue music at 19.