See three 'Hamilton' cast members kill it in rap freestyle (original) (raw)

'Hamilton' cast perform BET rap cypher

During Tuesday night’s BET Hip Hop Awards, three of the brightest stars of Broadway’s hottest musical, the hip hop-influenced Hamilton, got their own cypher. Creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda, who plays Alexander Hamilton, Daveed Diggs, who plays Thomas Jefferson, and Renée Elise Goldsberry, who plays Angelica Schuyler, show off their fierce rap skills alongside Hamilton collaborators Black Thought and Questlove from The Roots.

Miranda rhymed about growing up Puerto Rican in Washington Heights, and his rise to fame: “Now I write plays / I literally came to bring the drama.” But he won’t stop ’til he reaches the top, promising, “I’m gunning for Pulitzer Prizes.”

Goldsberry introduces herself as a mother of two before name-checking a roster of inspiring women, from queen Nefertiti to Queen Latifah. Diggs raps about his Oakland roots, and how Hamilton has opened the door for him: “Playing these dead presidents / I’m getting my reparations.”

Check out the phenomenal video below: