What I'm Consuming: Hamilton
My friend Branden Harvey has a podcast called Sounds Good, where he explores the lives, stories and adventures of the happiest people on the Internet. After being introduced to Sounds Good a few months ago, it has quickly become one of my favorite podcasts.
Branden has a great way of connecting with his guests and asking them questions that matter. One of my favorite questions he asks his guests at the end of every episode is, "What are you consuming right now that you love?"
As a weekly feature on the blog, I will be answering this question and hopefully I can provide you with some things you can start consuming and fall in love with, too. Heads up – they're not always going to be poetry related, but I believe our creative outputs are products of what we consume.
Right now, I'm consuming the Hamilton Soundtrack non-stop (no pun intended... okay, maybe just a little). I'm seriously obsessed with it. For those of you don't know about Hamilton, it's a Broadway hip-hop musical about the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, written by the genius Lin-Manuel Miranda.
I love Hamilton because Miranda calls it a "love letter" to the hip-hop community. Hip-Hop was my introduction to poetry. I remember the first time I heard The Eminem Show in 2nd grade and bought my first Kanye album, Graduation. I remember filling composition notebooks with my own lyrics and recording them on Audacity in my bedroom loud enough for my webcam mic to pick up the sound, but quiet enough where I wouldn't wake my mom. On the Hamilton Soundtrack, It's fun to see an ode to Jay Z's "On To The Next One" on "Right Hand Man," as well as Kanye-like confidence on "My Shot."
Also, Hamilton is made up of predominantly minority cast members. During a PBS NewsHour interview, about the ethnic diversity in Hamilton, Miranda says, "Let’s not pretend this is a textbook. Let’s make the founders of our country look like what our country looks like now." As a black man in America, a country where I'm often underrepresented and misrepresented, Hamilton is a light in that conversation and a story I can truly see myself in.
While I love the entire story captured in this soundtrack, here are a few songs I've had on repeat:
I want to know what you're consuming right now that you love. Tweet your answer here!
Much love.