Lin-Manuel Miranda Freestyles With President Obama

The White House today hosted the cast of Hamilton, with President Obama delivering opening remarks to a performance of musical selections from the musical. The President said that he wanted to broadcast the show to make it viewable by all. “We wanted to share this incredible musical with folks who might otherwise not get the experience,” President Obama said, in reference to ticket prices that 63% of Americans can’t afford without a massive lifestyle change. He continued by saying that he wanted the musical to inspire youngsters to aspire to one day achieve like Alexander Hamilton, who was murdered after rising to the nation's highest-attainable CPA job. "We hope that the remarkable life of Alexander Hamilton will show our young people the possibilities within themselves," President Obama said.

But the festivities didn’t stop there. Lin-Manuel Miranda stopped by the Rose Garden for perhaps its first-ever freestyle rap. President Obama held up cards prompting Miranda to include terms like “Constitution,” “POTUS,” and “Obamacare.” Miranda does about as well as one might expect, and way better than we would do if the President were holding up civics terms and commanding us to make rhymes about them.

P.S. You are failing as a hip-hop producer if you don’t include President Obama saying, “Drop the beat” in at least one of your new songs.