Lin-Manuel Miranda: "I stayed up late to tape John Leguizamo's Spic-O-Rama / Now I write plays, I literally came to bring the drama"ĭiggs, Questlove, Miranda, Black Thought, and Goldsberry. They all bring their own personal experiences to their freestyles, calling back to their upbringings and inspirations as their stars rise with Hamilton. Related Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, explainedīut seeing them rap in their own words, outside the context of their historical characters (Alexander Hamilton, Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson, and Angelica Schuyler Church, respectively) is thrilling. Miranda and Diggs even go head to head in a pair of Cabinet debates that double as rap battles. Miranda, Diggs, and Goldsberry all rap in Hamilton. Broadway stars, however, are new to the Cypher stage. Nicki Minaj has popped up several times, including in an awesome all-female Cypher featuring Eve, Tiffany Foxx, Iggy Azalea, and Lil' Kim. This year's also included an all-beatboxing one, and past years have featured Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Macklemore, Mos Def, and Eminem.
The Cypher is a Hip-Hop Awards tradition, inviting hip-hop luminaries past and present to collaborate in a series of small-group freestyles. Songwriter and star Lin-Manuel Miranda dropped by BET's Hip-Hop Awards on October 13 with co-stars Daveed Diggs and Renée Elise Goldsberry to participate in the Cypher, a semi-freestyled rap circle hosted by Black Thought of the Roots.
This week's motivational music is here, and, as is fitting for the back half of 2015, it comes to you courtesy of Broadway's electric new musical Hamilton.