The Hamilton Mixtape (2016)
In case you haven't talked to me in the past year, I love Hamilton. This Broadway musical makes me completely and entirely helpless whenever I hear it. It ranks among the best pieces of music I've ever heard in my entire life besides just being my favorite musical ever written.
One of the things that the musical's creator Lin-Manuel Miranda teased during the musical's development and performances was The Hamilton Mixtape, a compilation of multiple artists from the realm of popular music covering and reimagining various songs from the show. It was finally officially announced a month or so ago and released on December 2.
To be honest, the fact that Hamilton itself is so untouchable in my mind made me really nervous for the mixtape. I don't think I've ever been more helplessly obsessed with any piece of music ever, and to see other people do these songs that mean so much to me and restyle them made me really apprehensive. I've memorized every single second of that original cast recording: every little vocal riff from Philippa Soo, every lyric, every time the rhythm section is so tight it's overwhelming, and every transition between songs. I knew I was going to have a tough time accepting any changes made as good.
But a strange thing happened to me while I was listening to The Hamilton Mixtape: I stopped comparing it to the cast recording. Granted, I was definitely comparing individual songs to the cast recording (and, not going to lie, seeing if I could come up with a celebrity cast from the Mixtape's artist roster), but I stopped comparing the Mixtape to it as a work of music. It is so drastically different that after a few songs it is incredibly easy to see them as two incredibly distinct works that happen to have the same inspiration and authorship.
Take the opener "My Shot": the original is a defiant piece about Hamilton's unwillingness to let any chance he has at advancing himself and his causes pass him by, while the "Rise Up Remix" as done by The Roots, Joell Ortiz, and Busta Rhymes is an anthem for the black community about how they are worth more than society tells them. It deals with some really heavy material compared to the original version, but it does it so well and seamlessly that it works. A similar tactic is employed in "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)," which takes inspiration from a line in "Yorktown" and discusses the current climate in the United States about immigration, often echoing a refrain of "look how far we've come." A slightly different twist on this formula is seen in the excellent "Say Yes to This," which takes the Hamilton song "Say No to This" and puts it into the perspective of another character.
Another way that the Mixtape's songs come about are through numbers cut from Hamilton. A few of these cut songs leaked earlier this year in rough recordings from the show's pre-Broadway days, but they finally get the full treatment on the Mixtape. Some of them are just demos from Miranda himself, such as "Valley Forge" and "Cabinet Battle 3"; however, a few of them actually get sung by those on the artist roster. One incredibly good example of this is in Dessa's version of "Congratulations," a cut sung by Angelica between "Reynolds Pamphlet" and "Burn." It is a fantastic way of bringing the song into a more contemporary and urban vibe in comparison to the rough cut that fans have unearthed, and giving this song an official release is a really nice treat for the superfans of Hamilton.
The final way the Mixtape creates some of its numbers are simple covers of songs from the cast recording by famous recording artists. This is the most mixed bag of the bunch, as some of them are absolutely incredible while others just do not measure up at all. Some of the better ones include "Satisfied" as done by Sia, Miguel, and Queen Latifah; both versions of "Dear Theodosia," the first by Regina Spektor and Ben Folds, the second by Chance the Rapper and Francis and the Lights; Jimmy Fallon's "You'll Be Back"; and Andra Day's "Burn" (my personal favorite of the bunch). However, some like Alicia Keys's "That Would Be Enough" and John Legend's "History Has Its Eyes on You" don't really add a whole lot to the Mixtape and seem like filler to add star power.
Overall, I think The Hamilton Mixtape is a very nice companion piece to the cast recording, but it needs to be understood in the correct light. While it does contain some covers of the musical's original songs by major artists, this is not a cover album. It has a lot more to offer than that. Fans of the show will appreciate this for some of its reimagined tracks and those cut from the Broadway incarnation of the show, while those who are turned off by the passion of those fans might find this as a more accessible way to experience Hamilton. I see it as a really cool thing to listen to alongside the original cast recording, even though it is nowhere near its utter perfection, because it brings the musical's story into an incredibly modern context. That's something that cannot be done with Broadway very often, so to see it in action actually greatly enhances the power of the musical itself.
My rating: 4/5
My favorite tracks: "Burn" by Andra Day, "You'll Be Back" by Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, "Helpless" by Ashanti, "Satisfied" by Sia, "Congratulations" by Dessa
But a strange thing happened to me while I was listening to The Hamilton Mixtape: I stopped comparing it to the cast recording. Granted, I was definitely comparing individual songs to the cast recording (and, not going to lie, seeing if I could come up with a celebrity cast from the Mixtape's artist roster), but I stopped comparing the Mixtape to it as a work of music. It is so drastically different that after a few songs it is incredibly easy to see them as two incredibly distinct works that happen to have the same inspiration and authorship.
Take the opener "My Shot": the original is a defiant piece about Hamilton's unwillingness to let any chance he has at advancing himself and his causes pass him by, while the "Rise Up Remix" as done by The Roots, Joell Ortiz, and Busta Rhymes is an anthem for the black community about how they are worth more than society tells them. It deals with some really heavy material compared to the original version, but it does it so well and seamlessly that it works. A similar tactic is employed in "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)," which takes inspiration from a line in "Yorktown" and discusses the current climate in the United States about immigration, often echoing a refrain of "look how far we've come." A slightly different twist on this formula is seen in the excellent "Say Yes to This," which takes the Hamilton song "Say No to This" and puts it into the perspective of another character.
Another way that the Mixtape's songs come about are through numbers cut from Hamilton. A few of these cut songs leaked earlier this year in rough recordings from the show's pre-Broadway days, but they finally get the full treatment on the Mixtape. Some of them are just demos from Miranda himself, such as "Valley Forge" and "Cabinet Battle 3"; however, a few of them actually get sung by those on the artist roster. One incredibly good example of this is in Dessa's version of "Congratulations," a cut sung by Angelica between "Reynolds Pamphlet" and "Burn." It is a fantastic way of bringing the song into a more contemporary and urban vibe in comparison to the rough cut that fans have unearthed, and giving this song an official release is a really nice treat for the superfans of Hamilton.
The final way the Mixtape creates some of its numbers are simple covers of songs from the cast recording by famous recording artists. This is the most mixed bag of the bunch, as some of them are absolutely incredible while others just do not measure up at all. Some of the better ones include "Satisfied" as done by Sia, Miguel, and Queen Latifah; both versions of "Dear Theodosia," the first by Regina Spektor and Ben Folds, the second by Chance the Rapper and Francis and the Lights; Jimmy Fallon's "You'll Be Back"; and Andra Day's "Burn" (my personal favorite of the bunch). However, some like Alicia Keys's "That Would Be Enough" and John Legend's "History Has Its Eyes on You" don't really add a whole lot to the Mixtape and seem like filler to add star power.
Overall, I think The Hamilton Mixtape is a very nice companion piece to the cast recording, but it needs to be understood in the correct light. While it does contain some covers of the musical's original songs by major artists, this is not a cover album. It has a lot more to offer than that. Fans of the show will appreciate this for some of its reimagined tracks and those cut from the Broadway incarnation of the show, while those who are turned off by the passion of those fans might find this as a more accessible way to experience Hamilton. I see it as a really cool thing to listen to alongside the original cast recording, even though it is nowhere near its utter perfection, because it brings the musical's story into an incredibly modern context. That's something that cannot be done with Broadway very often, so to see it in action actually greatly enhances the power of the musical itself.
My rating: 4/5
My favorite tracks: "Burn" by Andra Day, "You'll Be Back" by Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, "Helpless" by Ashanti, "Satisfied" by Sia, "Congratulations" by Dessa
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