Lin-Manuel Miranda releases first music video from 'Hamilton Mixtape'

The video landed a day before Trump's travel ban took effect.

June 29, 2017 at 5:36PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
FILE - In this Nov. 12, 2016 file photo, Lin-Manuel Miranda arrives at the 2016 Governors Awards in Los Angeles. Miranda was nominated for an Oscar for best original song for "How Far I'll Go," from the film "Moana" on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, for the film. The 89th Academy Awards will take place on Feb. 26. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
(Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Above: Lin-Manuel Miranda just released the first music video from his "Hamilton Mixtape" album. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

On Wednesday, a day before Donald Trump's travel ban was due to take effect, "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda released the first music video from his buzzy multi-artist "Hamilton Mixtape" album. The video is quickly becoming a viral sensation.

The music video for "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)" features an international cast of word-slingers rhyming about the work ethic, the pride and the persecution of a class of people who are abused, unappreciated and yet essential to making the country work.

The song's roster of rappers includes Snow Tha Product (California-born Chicana wordsmith Claudia Alexandra Feliciano), Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan, Puerto Rican rhyme master Residente, and Riz MC, the hip-hop alter-ego of British-Pakistani rapper and actor Riz Ahmed (HBO's "The Night Of" and "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story").

"It's really astonishing that in a country founded by immigrants, 'immigrant' has somehow become a bad word," a broadcaster says at the beginning of the shadowy video.

The video keeps "Hamilton" in the news, even as it whets the appetite of Twin Cities audiences, where the show will land in the 2018-19 season. No dates have been announced.

about the writer

about the writer

Rohan Preston

Critic / Reporter

Rohan Preston covers theater for the Minnesota Star Tribune.

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