Finally: The Case Against Hamilton

Reason Magazine ^ | January 14, 2017 | Nicolas Pell

[OddLane]

I don't think there's a slight bit of hyperbole or exaggeration involved when I say that Hamilton, the awful musical that millionaire New Yorkers are required by law to throw away thousands watching, represents everything that was wrong with America in 2016. Allow me to make the case.

First, there's the music. I'm admittedly not much of a hip-hop aficionado, but I know shit from Shinola. From my perspective the art form has more or less been going downhill since Strictly Business (the EPMD record, not the Tommy Davidson vehicle), but there have been some highlights worth mentioning, mostly thanks to Ice Cube and an army of Wu bangers.

The point I'm trying to make is that, even to untrained ears such as mine, Hamilton is particularly bad. On first take, I thought it sounded a bit like a University of Iowa freshman—the kind who only listens to "real hip-hop"—attempting his first mixtape. One of my Twitter followers corrected me, however. It's closer to a Braintree elementary school making a rap song for parents' night. The latter description hints not merely at the simple, formulaic quality of the material, but also the cloying, bourgeois quality of it all. From the reference to "ten-dollar Founding Father without a father" to "when the British taxed our tea we got frisky," the whole affair sounds more like something made by precocious children than a professional composer...

[Theo]

That’s fine. I appreciate your candor.

I do enjoy Shakespeare’s historical plays, and don’t get caught up about the details of their historical authenticity. I also enjoy Hamilton, and appreciate that it has inspired me to research the man and his contemporaries, and has inspired my 11 year old homeschooled daughter to read The Federalist Papers.

[rlmorel]

I don’t have a problem at all with that approach...that sounds like the right one.

When I was young, I saw the musical “1776”, and that inspired me to find out more about that era than I knew, so I can relate to that. (Good job with the Federalist Papers by the way)

[pissant]

I, for one, consider Hamilton (the man, not the play) to be quite brilliant.