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Alexander Hamilton Embodies Hip-Hop
“Alexander Hamilton embodies hip-hop”: The Words That Sparked a Revolution
Lindsey Garrant
ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on Alexander Hamilton, one of the most influential founding fathers, and how
he embodies the music genre hip hop. He embodied hip hop through the way he wrote his way
out of an unfortunate situation, his rivalry with Aaron Burr, and how political writing was
utilized to influence the public. The examples of hip hop culture used in this article are the Tupac
Shakur and Biggie Smalls rivalry, rapper Nas, the “Ten Crack Commandments” by Biggie
Smalls, and “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy. Research was conducted using the New York
Times and Rolling Stone to develop ideals about influential hip hop music. Alexander Hamilton:
A Biography by Ron Chernow that was used as the inspiration for Hamilton the Musical was
used to gain insight into Hamilton’s childhood.
Alexander Hamilton was a man whose true
life was stranger than fiction. As one of the
founding fathers of America, he is forever
immortalized in history books. Now, he is
immortalized in another way—by being the
subject of one of the most successful
Broadway musicals of the 21st century.
When Lin-Manuel Miranda performed the
first song of Hamilton the Musical at the
White House, he prefaced his performance
by saying that he was working on a hip-hop
concept album about, “somebody who I
think embodies hip hop: Treasury Secretary
Alexander Hamilton.” He was met with
laughter but when he finished performing
the entire crowd awarded Miranda a
standing ovation. Although the audience
members didn’t know it at the time, they
were witnessing another kind of history.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking
musical is revolutionary in that it took two
things, a founding father and hip hop, that
seem to have absolutely nothing in common
and combined them seamlessly. Alexander
Hamilton embodies hip hop in that he used
his writings to make a difference and lived
in a rushed, hurried time period that mirrors
the culture of old school rap.
Hamilton was born into a situation that
many others would have accepted as fate.
Instead of accepting it, he used his
exceptional writing talents to write his way
out of the impoverished place he called
home and into America. He was born in the
West Indies, in a “brutal world of overnight
fortunes in which slavery proved
indispensable” (Chernow 8). Nevis was
filled with criminals and the general filth of
society. It was a place that truly represented
the gross underbelly of British colonization.
Alexander Hamilton learned to write in an
informal way as a clerk at Beekman and
Cruger, an export-import business. He
learned the ins and outs of business and
politics at this job. Even as a 14-year-old,
Hamilton had unparalleled ambitions to be a
hero and a martyr. He wrote and published a
few poems at the insistence of his first
mentor, clergyman Hugh Knox (Chernow).
Hamilton’s big break came in the form of a
hurricane. On the night of August 31, 1772,
a hurricane destroyed St. Croix (Chernow).
Hamilton wrote a letter to his father,
detailing the extent of the hurricane’s
damage. Knox read the letter and was
inspired to convince Hamilton to publish it
in the Royal Danish American Gazette. He
was only 17 at this time, and readers were
amazed at his eloquence and ability to
articulate his thoughts. The published letter
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Garrant: The Words That Sparked a Revolution
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Alexander Hamilton Embodies Hip-Hop
brought him so much attention that the
governor of St. Croix even asked about
Hamilton. This hurricane letter was his way
out. A subscription fund was started by local
businessmen to send Alexander Hamilton to
North America to receive a formal
education. In October 1772, Hamilton left to
go to America and thus began his rise to the
top (Chernow). He wrote his way out of St.
Croix, where he would have been doomed to
a life without intellectual stimulation and
without the war Hamilton craved so deeply.
St. Croix was similar to a modern ghetto in
that it was a place where people who were
born there typically didn’t have any other
option except to stay. They didn’t usually
leave to go onto bigger and better things.
Many hip hop artists were also born into
rough conditions. Like Hamilton, they
refused to accept their fate, being “scrappy
and hungry,” as Miranda wrote, for success.
Nas was a rapper who reached fame in the
late 1990s and early 2000s. He was born in a
massive Queens housing project but was
never content to stay there. When he was
young he drew comics and wrote short
stories about his life in the projects. Where
Hamilton’s mentor spearheaded the quest to
raise money for Hamilton, Nas had a similar
mentor in MC Merch (Rolling Stone). He
selected Nas’s rap song “Halftime” to be
included on the soundtrack of the
independent film Zebrahead. This was Nas’s
big break, and he soon engaged in an
upwards spiral towards fame. He released
groundbreaking albums like Illmatic and I
Am… which reached commercial and critical
success.
Nas is a perfect example of a hip-hop artist
whose life and qualities mirror Alexander
Hamilton’s. Lin-Manuel Miranda
recognized this and asked Nas to sing on
The Hamilton Mixtape. This is an album of
songs from Hamilton, remixed and reworked
by popular artists. In the musical, the song
“Hurricane” is sung by the character
Alexander Hamilton. He is reflecting about
how a hurricane destroyed his home and he
wrote his way out, and “wrote his way to
revolution” (Miranda). It’s more than fitting
that Nas reworks “Hurricane” on the
Hamilton Mixtape. His reworking of
Hurricane is called “Wrote My Way Out,”
and in Nas’s verse he compares himself to
the founding father. He raps,
I picked up the pen like Hamilton
Street analyst, now I write words that try
to channel 'em
No political power, just lyrical power
Sittin' on a crate on a corner, sippin' for
hours
Schemin' on a come up, from evenin' to
sun up. (Miranda).
Alexander Hamilton and Nas may have been
from exponentially different time periods,
but what they share is their ability to use
their unparalleled talents to make their own
fate. They both wrote the futures that they
imagined for themselves, and through luck
and sheer will, they achieved success.
A large part of the hip hop narrative is
rivalries. Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G.,
Jay Z and Kanye West, DMX and Ja Rule
are a few of the infamous feuds in hip hop
history. Many hip hop rivalries were
lighthearted territorial disputes that rarely, if
ever, resulted in violence. The East
Coast/West Coast rivalry, represented by
Tupac and Biggie, was different. Tupac
worked on the West Coast while Biggie
worked on the East Coast. Tupac was more
of an artist, weaving lyrical poems into his
raps. His mother was a Black Panther, so
revolution was a part of his genetics
(Reeves). Biggie’s rap leaned more towards
gangster rap, as Biggie was a crack dealer in
his early life. Both Biggie and Tupac wanted
to break hip hop out of the underground
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Alexander Hamilton Embodies Hip-Hop
world it resided in and into the mainstream.
In November of 1994, Tupac was shot five
times in a recording studio in Manhattan. He
survived the shooting but suspected Biggie
of arranging the shooting (Lynskey). This
resulted in an escalation of the West
Coast/East Coast rivalry. Biggie and Tupac
publicly insulted and threatened each other
with violence.
Tupac and Biggie were the 20th century
versions of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron
Burr, respectably. Tupac was similar to
Hamilton in that he did not possess the
quality of simply knowing when enough was
enough. Rolling Stone Magazine said about
Tupac, “his life was a tapestry of often
contradictory images” (Reeves). Tupac
rapped about the violence of thug life while
also rapping about his innermost feelings.
The scrappiness and intensity of both Tupac
and Hamilton led to both their success and
ultimately, their untimely demise (Mead).
Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr
engaged in a rivalry that lasted much of
Hamilton’s adult life. In the early days of
their rivalry, they were always opposites, but
their differences were good-natured. They
ate dinner at each other’s homes and Burr’s
wife visited Eliza (Chernow). Burr and
Hamilton in their early adult lives most
likely would not have dueled, but their
rivalry did not remain as civil. They were
different in every sense of the word. Both
were orphans, but Burr was raised with
pedigree and status, while Hamilton had to
write his way out of the cruel and godless St.
Croix. Burr had impeccable self-control,
whereas Hamilton was very reactive. The
culmination of the rivalry occurred when
Burr ran for the governorship of New York
state. Hamilton remarked that Burr was a
traitor, and this was printed in a newspaper
(Chernow). The editor of the newspaper
pitted the two men against each other, which
aggravated Burr more and more. The
absolute cause of the duel is unknown, but
what is clear is that Burr challenged
Hamilton to a duel, and the rest is history.
The Burr/Hamilton duel sent shockwaves
through the colonies. Dueling was a savage
act, but people adhered to unspoken rules.
Much like dueling, rap culture has its own
set of unspoken rules. Biggie wrote “Ten
Crack Commandments”, about the rules of
dealing crack. He raps,
I've been in this game for years, it made
me a animal
There's rules to this shit, I wrote me a
manual
A step-by-step booklet for you to get
Your game on track, not your wig
pushed back. (The Notorious B.I.G.)
Biggie sees himself as the God of the drug
trade, knowing and seeing all. Where Biggie
raps about illegal activities of current day,
Miranda wrote “Ten Duel Commandments”
about the illegal activities of the 1700s.
Dealing crack and dueling with handguns
may not seem like the same thing, but each
possesses a unique code of honor. Dueling is
fast-paced, instinctive, and purposeful, just
like hip hop. Hamilton and Laurens rap,
Number one!
The challenge: demand satisfaction
If they apologize, no need for further
action
Number two!
If they don’t, grab a friend, that’s your
second
Your lieutenant when there’s reckoning
to be reckoned. (Lin-Manuel Miranda)
Rap culture abides by a code of honor, as
exhibited by Biggie Small’s “Ten Crack
Commandments,” that is similar to the
dueling code of honor that was so prevalent
in Hamilton’s life. Charles Kubrin claims
that the “street code,” a set of rules and
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Garrant: The Words That Sparked a Revolution
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Alexander Hamilton Embodies Hip-Hop
rituals that inner city youths abide by, is a
product of rap music (Kubrin). Social
identity and respect are the most vital parts
of this code, and these two factors
essentially rank members (Kubrin). This
street code connects with hip hop, just as the
dueling code of honor connects with
Hamilton and his culture.
Rap artists don’t just rap about drugs, girls,
and violence. Rap artists write politically
about things that matter, about systemic
injustices that they face every single day. A
perfect example of this is the 1989 song
“Fight the Power” by Public Enemy. The
song was revolutionary. Public Enemy sang
about the adversity they dealt with and how
they always felt like the system was rigged
against them. The lyrics state, “Our freedom
of speech is freedom or death/We got to
fight the powers that be” (Grow). “Fight the
Power” is widely renowned as one of the top
rap songs that actually truly meant
something. In order to make a stand, you
must stand for something. In regard to hip
hop, this typically means protesting against
institutions. Hamilton “took intense pride in
standing against the crowd” (Chernow).
“Fight the Power” is reminiscent of the
anger found in pre-Revolutionary War
colonists who stated their grievances about
the British government. A New York Times
article stated, “Hip-hop was the perfect
musical style for describing the American
Revolution, because it is ‘the language of
youth and energy and of rebellion’”
(Paulson). Rap is this generation’s version
of political writing, and Lin-Manuel
Miranda saw this.
Alexander Hamilton was no stranger to
political writing. Much of the musical
revolves around the fact that Hamilton is
non-stop, writing like he’s running out of
time. Hamilton was a chief contributor of
the Federalist Papers, a series of essays that
expanded on and explained the Constitution.
There were 85 essays in the Federalist
Papers and Hamilton wrote 51 of them. He
wrote passionately, defending the
Constitution (Chernow). The Federalist
Papers were an integral part of the
ratification of the Constitution and is one of
Hamilton’s most important lasting legacies.
Most of Hamilton’s most important works
were written in the middle of a controversy,
much like rap music that reflects the time
it’s written in.
Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s
founding fathers, had a larger-than-life
personality and a life story that almost
seems too far-fetched to be true. He
embodied the musical genre of hip hop
through the way he lived his life fast, driven,
and harsh. He wrote political writings that
took a stand and used words to influence
others. Hamilton was a master of political
writing, as exhibited by the Federalist
Papers. He was Aaron Burr’s rival, which
led to his demise. He wrote his way out of a
situation that less talented people would
have been doomed to stay in, much like rap
artists who “started from the bottom” but
used music to make their own destiny. Lin-
Manuel Miranda may have been met with
laughter when he first made his bold
statement, but now it is simply a fact that
Alexander Hamilton truly embodies the
music, rhythm, and culture of hip hop.
References
Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. Random House Large Print Publishing, 2016.
Grow, Kory. “Lights, Camera, Revolution: How Public Enemy Made 'Fight the Power'.” Rolling Stone, Rolling
Stone, 30 June 2014, www.rollingstone.com/music/news/riot-on-the-set-how-public-enemy-crafted-the-anthem-
fight-the-power-20140630.
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The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research, Vol. 19 [2018], Art. 3
https://fisherpub.sjf.edu/ur/vol19/iss1/3
Alexander Hamilton Embodies Hip-Hop
Kubrin, Charis E. “Gangstas, Thugs, and Hustlas: Identity and the Code of the Street in Rap Music.” Social
Problems, vol. 52, no. 3, 2005, pp. 360–378., doi:10.1525/sp.2005.52.3.360.
“Lin-Manuel Miranda Performs at the White House Poetry Jam: (8 of 8).” YouTube, YouTube, 2 Nov. 2009,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNFf7nMIGnE.
“Lin-Manuel Miranda (Ft. Anthony Ramos, Jon Rua, Leslie Odom Jr., Lin-Manuel Miranda & Original
Broadway Cast of Hamilton) – Ten Duel Commandments.” Genius, 25 Sept. 2015, genius.com/Lin-manuel-
miranda-ten-duel-commandments-lyrics.
“Lin-Manuel Miranda (Ft. Lin-Manuel Miranda) – Hurricane.” Genius, 25 Sept. 2015, genius.com/Lin-manuel-
miranda-hurricane-lyrics.
Lynskey, Dorian. “Tupac and Biggie Die as a Result of East/West Coast Beef.” The Guardian, Guardian News and
Media, 12 June 2011, www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/13/tupac-biggie-deaths.
“Nas Biography.” Rolling Stone, www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/nas/biography.
“Nas, Dave East, Lin-Manuel Miranda & Aloe Blacc – Wrote My Way Out.” Genius, 17 Nov. 2016,
genius.com/Nas-dave-east-lin-manuel-miranda-and-aloe-blacc-wrote-my-way-out-lyrics.
“The Notorious B.I.G. – Ten Crack Commandments.” Genius, 25 Mar. 1997, genius.com/The-notorious-big-ten-
crack-commandments-lyrics.
Paulson, Michael. “Lin-Manuel Miranda, Creator and Star of ‘Hamilton,’ Grew Up on Hip-Hop and Show Tunes.”
The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Aug. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/theater/lin-manuel-
miranda-creator-and-star-of-hamilton-grew-up-on-hip-hop-and-show-tunes.html?_r=1.
Reeves, Mosi. “8 Ways Tupac Shakur Changed the World.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 13 Sept. 2016,
www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/8-ways-tupac-shakur-changed-the-world-w439346.
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