The Songs That Inspired Hamilton, The First Cool Musical
Today, Miranda shares a playlist of the songs that inspired him as he worked on Hamilton. There’s opera and Mary J. Blige; 2Pac, Eminem, and The Decemberists—a constellation of contemporary references that, run though Miranda’s brain, resulted in songs that make the play feel familiar and lovable, that recognize a generation of music fans the theater hasn’t paid enough attention to, until now.
“The songs in this Spotify playlist, despite straddling several genres of music, share elements I love: a focus on storytelling, dazzling verbal wordplay, unreliable or hilarious narrators,” Miranda told The FADER via email. “What I love about musical theater AND hip-hop is that everything is fair game: sampling other genres, a fluidity in service of the moment. I had a lot of fun selecting these songs, all of which were bouncing around my brain during the creation of Hamilton. Enjoy.”
check out the linked article for the spotify playlist (& under the read-more for a text track list)!
- Lin-Manuel Miranda - Intro
- Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Pt. II
- Beyoncé - Countdown
- Busta Rhymes - Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check
- Jeremy Jordan (The Last Five Years, movie soundtrack) - Nobody Needs to Know
- Eminem ft. Natt Dogg - ‘Till I Collapse
- The Decembrists - Red Right Ankle
- Kendrick Lamar - Alright
- Alicia Keys - Wreckless Love
- Eminem - Lose Yourself
- Common - Be (intro)
- Big Punisher ft. Black Thought - Super Lyrical
- Kanye West ft. Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Bon Iver - Monster
- Black Sheep - The Choice Is Yours
- Talib Kweli - Get By
- The Notorious B.I.G. - Ten Crack Commandments
- The Notorious B.I.G. - Going Back To Cali
- 2Pac - Brenda’s Got A Baby
- Colm Wilkinson, Phillip Quast (Les Misérables, Tenth Anniversary Cast) - The Confrontation
- Dessa - Dixon’s Girl
- Paulo Szot, Matthew Morrison (South Pacific, Revival Cast) - You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught
- DMX - Party Up
- Mary J. Blidge - I’m Goin’ Down
- Murray Head (Jesus Chris Superstar, original cast) - Heaven On Their Minds
- Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message
- The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (The Pirates of Penzance) - I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General