Hamilton's America Page #4

---

because he never would have

produced the amount that he did.

-Yeah.

Oh, my goodness.

All right.

Can I touch the desk?

-No.

-No.

Okay.

I won't. That's cool.

This just makes me feel like

I have to go home and write.

[ Both laugh ]

I started writing

that first song

that's just about his childhood.

I wanted to sort of

encapsulate that

in two hip-hop verses.

-The strongest candidate

is the candidate

who wins the most elections.

Barack Obama

has won 29 contests.

Hillary Clinton

has won 13 contests.

-And I worked on it for about

a year at "In the Heights,"

while I'm still doing

eight shows a week.

-Lin didn't say,

"I was writing a show."

Lin said, "I'm writing a song."

So, he said,

"I read this book,

and I think

there's something there.

I think I might do

a series of songs."

And I said, "Great. Go. Write."

[ Applause ]

-I'd only written this one song

when the White House

called and said,

"We're doing an evening

of spoken word,

but if you have anything

on the American experience,

that would be great."

I said, "I got a hot 16

about Hamilton."

[ Piano plays up-tempo music ]

How does a bastard, orphan,

son of a whore and a Scotsman

Dropped in the middle

of a forgotten spot

In the Caribbean

by providence

Impoverished, in squalor

Grow up to be

a hero and a scholar?

-The first day Lin

brought the opening number

of the show to me,

I'm like, "It's about history,

but it's rap?

Uh, okay.

Is it serious?

Sure. Whatever."

I remember, it wasn't

till I actually heard it

all the way through,

I'm like, "Wow, this is real."

- There would've been

nothin' left to do

For someone less astute

He would've been

dead or destitute

Without

a cent of restitution

Started workin', clerkin'

for his late mother's landlord

Tradin' sugar cane and rum

and other things

he can't afford

Scammin' for...

When they posted videos

of the evening,

my performance went viral,

and we were sort of

off to the races after that.

We realized,

"There's a show here."

I'm the damn genius

that shot him

[ Final chord plays ]

[ Cheers and applause ]

So, I started writing songs

at the amazing pace

of a song a year.

After two years of working,

I had two songs to show for it.

-"So, you've written two songs

in two and a half years.

We're gonna be very old

by the time

this is actually

gonna be complete,

so why don't we expedite it

a little bit?"

-And so, you know,

I'm writing as fast as I can.

But that's how it gets done.

You know, you set these

deadlines, and you meet them.

-I have more than once

compared Lin to Shakespeare,

and I do it

without blushing or apologizing.

Lin, in "Hamilton,"

is doing exactly

Rate this script:4.6 / 5 votes