#1
Posted: 8/6/15 at 8:51pm
Maybe a dumb question, but I'm curious.
Is it possible to like Hamilton if you hate rap?
#2
Posted: 8/6/15 at 8:54pm
Yes.
"Pardon my prior Mcfee slip. I know how to spell her name. I just don't know how to type it." -Talulah
#4
Posted: 8/6/15 at 8:58pm
I own a decidedly sparse amount of rap that I rarely play, and I loved Hamilton Off-Broadway.
Similarly, you can love Phantom of the Opera, if you hate opera.
Love Chorus Line, American in Paris, and On The Town, if you hate ballet.
And on and on...
The only thing it makes you do is pay attention, because it is DENSE. And you never get a chance to really absorb it because it never lets up.
Updated On: 8/6/15 at 08:58 PM
#6
Posted: 8/6/15 at 9:16pm
I hate rap, loved Hamilton.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#7
Posted: 8/6/15 at 9:21pm
its sort of rap light IMHO.
#8
Posted: 8/6/15 at 9:48pm
There are many musical genres in the show. There is a big rap influence but it's so much more than that one style.
"Two drifters off to see the world. There's such a lot of world to see. . ."
#9
Posted: 8/6/15 at 10:11pm
Can you say what it is about "rap" that you hate? It is really not possible to answer your question as is, because your impression of what you are calling rap not even be in the show at all and that may be driving your statement that you hate it. As others have explained the show is certainly not all rap, but if you hate all urban music, or like only Rodgers and Hammerstein (or Irving Berlin, or British invasion musicals, then maybe you will fall in the category of people here who can't abide Hamilton. But you have already heard from many people who say they don't like rap (or not very much) but love Hamilton. At this point there is at least 10 minutes of excerpts from the show online. Watching them may help you more than we will.
#10
Posted: 8/6/15 at 10:16pm
I hate rap and hip hop. This is some of the smartest songwriting I've ever seen. It's brilliant. Absolutely, you can still like the show.
"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman
#12
Posted: 8/6/15 at 10:35pm
"Similarly, you can love Phantom of the Opera, if you hate opera."
That's a different matter entirely, given that the score of Phantom isn't opera.
#13
Posted: 8/6/15 at 10:49pm
My dad hates rap. As we left the show he said "do you think I'd sound too enthusiastic if I posted [on facebook] that this is the greatest musical I've ever seen?"
So in other words, yes. Now it's not for everyone and I know some people don't like it, but it really is not a ton of rap.
Although I feel these videos do not come close to portraying how great the show is, these four snips show the variety of music in the show. Still missing my favorites though, and I don't feel they do justice to the performances, but it's at least a taste.
http://newyorktheater.me/2015/08/06/hamilton-on-broadway-review-photos-videos/
#14
Posted: 8/6/15 at 10:51pm
HogansHero, it's hard for me to articulate what I hate about rap. Everything about it just sounds ugly. But I love Miranda as a lyricist, so I certainly haven't ruled out seeing Hamilton.
#15
Posted: 8/6/15 at 11:12pm
I can articulate exactly why I hate rap.
I don't consider yelling into a mic while walking back and forth across a stage throwing your arms up in the air music.
And from what words I can make out, it sounds all angry.
Not for me.
<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES
#16
Posted: 8/6/15 at 11:23pm
I would caution anyone against painting all of rap being any one particular thing, just as I would caution anyone from suggesting all country or classical sounds the same. After all, the range between Hank Williams and Garth Brooks or Bach and Stravinsky is as massive as the range between Kendrick Lamar and Iggy Azalea.
Rap is a musical form, and whether you like it or not likely depends on what you've heard done with rap. What Lin does with rap you may like a lot more than any rap you've heard, since he was raised equally on rap and music you're likely to love as a BWW board member.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
#17
Posted: 8/6/15 at 11:24pm
I don't really like rap but I can certainly appreciate that it takes a talent (that I myself do not possess) but my boyfriend loves it so I've had to grow used to it. I love In the Heights, so I hope to love Hamilton as soon as I can.
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
#18
Posted: 8/7/15 at 2:59am
"The only thing it makes you do is pay attention, because it is DENSE. And you never get a chance to really absorb it because it never lets up."
How would you compare it to say... Sondheim patter or just In the Heights? Is the flow faster or is there just a lot of information being conveyed?
#19
Posted: 8/7/15 at 3:09am
"How would you compare it to say... Sondheim patter or just In the Heights? Is the flow faster or is there just a lot of information being conveyed?"
Hamilton is very fast-paced (definitely more fast-paced than ITH), and though there are definitely quieter, slower moments, there is a lot of info packed into it. Something I've noticed though is that LMM is careful to highlight the important info. He finds appropriate times for super fast word-packing verse, and also knows when to slow it down let the audience follow carefully, even within the rapping sections. In the really fast sections (like in My Shot, or in Lafayette's rap), I'd say he's going for more of an effect, kind of like how we aren't necessarily supposed to absorb every word in "Not Getting Married" from Company, but rather to feel her manic energy.
#20
Posted: 8/7/15 at 3:20am
I think it would be sad if someone decided not to see Hamilton based of a dislike of rap. Of course, the point is moot, because it will be years before you can get a ticket…
Behind the fake tinsel of Broadway is real tinsel.
#21
Posted: 8/7/15 at 4:55am
No, there are tickets available.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
#22
Posted: 8/7/15 at 5:02am
It's selling g extremely well, but you can get tickets. Maybe not for every date, at every price range or location, but tix are available.
Was just on the site:PLENTY of tickets in the spring/late winter.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Updated On: 8/7/15 at 05:02 AM
#23
Posted: 8/7/15 at 7:49am
I'm the the UK, I saw the show last week when I was in NY and came back raving about it to my mum. She's 65 and I suppose kind of cool, she likes Dylan and Cohen etc, and I used the fatal words 'hip-hop' and 'rap' when telling her about Hamilton and she sort of grumbled. But I showed her that 10 minutes of footage BWW has here and she was all "Oh this isn't rap, rap, not really, I was thinking it was something much more different, this looks amazing." Lyrically it's very dense and moves at a pace, but I don't think that should be off-putting. So I think that hip-hop, rap label might, in some circles, be putting people off but not to an extent it's damaging to the show.
Updated On: 8/7/15 at 07:49 AM
#24
Posted: 8/7/15 at 7:52am
What drives me away from rap (I own and listen to none) is generally the content of the lyrics themselves. But the content of Hamilton is smart, literate, rhetorically interesting, and dense. It's a cascade of words that you want to parse and analyze.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#25
Posted: 8/7/15 at 8:04am
Also not a fan of rap.
But a big fan of both In the Heights and Venice (at least the CR of Venice) for example.
This isn't "Holler If You Hear Me" rap.
I don't know if that makes sense, but I truly believe that if you like musical theater this will appeal to you.
....but the world goes 'round
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