‘Hamilton’ fans, get ready to flip for Lin Manuel-Miranda’s late-night freestyling
Anyone who has seen Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit hip-hop Broadway musical Hamilton knows Miranda is a man of MANY talents: after all, he not only wrote the show’s music and lyrics, but stars as the title character. Well, last night Miranda stopped by The Tonight Show to prove his prowess at freestyle rapping, as well. And he nailed it.
Host Jimmy Fallon introduced a new game “Wheel of Freestyle,” and required Lin-Manuel Miranda to face-off against the Roots‘ Black Thought using a trio of randomly assigned words. Most people, when given less than ten seconds to come up with rhymes involving the terms “Rainbow, Pancake, Slam Dunk” or “Dinosaur, Pumpkin Pie, Darth Vader” would panic and run off the stage. Instead, Miranda created amazingly meaningful and creative connections. You have to see it (or at least hear it) to believe it. With talent like this, it’s no wonder Hamilton and its star is taking Broadway by storm!
Fallon then revealed that he has a bit of Miranda’s talent with him 24/7: he won a charity auction in which the Hamilton star freestyle-raps his outgoing voicemail message. After playing the message for the audience, the two go on to discuss the viral popularity of the Hamilton soundtrack, which the Roots (early supporters of the show) executive produced. Fallon’s awe of Miranda is tangible, and after showering praise on the show, comments “I’m so proud of you and I don’t even know you.” We sense a budding bro-mance between these two talented men!
Related reading:
The young poet behind Broadway’s raddest, history-making show (Image via ABC)
