The Hamilton Mixtape is a 2016 mixtape album featuring assorted songs from the 2015 Broadway musicalHamilton performed by various artists, as well as some deleted songs from the musical. It was widely well-received by fans and critics alike.
Background
In 2009, Lin-Manuel Miranda began a project titled The Hamilton Mixtape that would eventually transform into the 2015 Broadway musical Hamilton. During the development of the musical production, Miranda frequently communicated that a "mixtape" of select songs from the show's score was being recorded. On November 3, 2016, Miranda announced on Twitter that the mixtape was complete and would be released on December 2, 2016. Preorders for the album began on November 4, 2016, and two songs were officially released: Kelly Clarkson's "It's Quiet Uptown" and The Roots' "My Shot." "The following Friday, at midnight in all time zones, "Satisfied" and "Immigrants " were released, followed by "Wait For It" and "Wrote My Way Out" the Friday after. In addition to its digital, compact disc and vinyl record releases, a 12-song cassette tape version of the album was also made available on February 10, 2017, featuring the original explicit versions of the songs.
Commercial performance
The Hamilton Mixtape debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 187,000 album-equivalent units, of which 169,000 were pure album sales. It marks the largest sales in a week for a compilation album since Cruel Summer by GOOD Music in 2012, and is the first compilation album to reach number one since Now 50 in 2014. According to Nielsen Music, the cassette version of the album sold just under 3,000 units in the year of 2017, in conjunction with the increase of overall cassette sales increasing by 35 percent the same year.
Track listing
Hamildrops
In a tweet posted about a month before the Mixtape's release, Lin-Manuel Miranda implied that the album released on December 2 would only be the first volume, hinting at a Vol 2 to be released later. However, about a year later, Miranda admitted he was having trouble compiling a second album that satisfied him as much as the first mixtape, and cancelled the second volume, announcing that instead he would be releasing 13 tracks, once a month, over the following year. He referred to these releases as "Hamildrops."
Ben Franklin's Song
On December 14, 2017, the same day as announcing the Hamildrops, Miranda announced that the first release would be "Ben Franklin's Song" by The Decemberists. The song's lyrics are taken from lyrics to an unused Hamilton song that Miranda had written with the band in mind. The finished track had lyrics written by Miranda and music written by Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy. The song was released the following day, and was received warmly by fans and historians alike. "Ben Franklin's Song" peaked at number 15 on the US Hot Rock Songs chart.
The Hamilton Polka
On March 2, 2018, a polka medley of songs from the musical recorded and arranged by "Weird Al" Yankovic was released. "The Hamilton Polka" peaked at number 1 on the US Comedy Digital Track Sales.
Found/Tonight
On March 19, 2018, Miranda released a mashup of the songs "Story of Tonight" from Hamilton and "You Will Be Found" from the musical Dear Evan Hansen, sung as a duet with Ben Platt. A portion of the proceeds are being donated in support of the March for Our Lives initiative. The following weekend, Miranda and Platt performed the song together along with frequent Miranda collaborator Alex Lacamoire at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C. on March 24. "Found/Tonight" peaked at number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
First Burn
On April 30, 2018, Miranda released a preliminary version of the song "Burn" performed by five singers who were currently playing or had previously played the role of Eliza; Arianna Afsar, Julia Harriman, Lexi Lawson, Rachelle Ann Go and Shoba Narayan. "First Burn" peaked at number 22 on the US Digital Song Sales chart.
Other Hamildrops
On January 26, 2018, Miranda released a remix of "Wrote My Way Out" from Hamilton by Royce da 5'9", Joyner Lucas, & Black Thought featuring Aloe Blacc. A few days earlier, on the 19th, he released a music video on YouTube for the original version from the Mixtape. On May 31, 2018, a cover of "Helpless" performed by The Regrettes was released. On June 18, 2018, Miranda released "Boom Goes the Cannon...," a song written and performed by rap duo Mobb Deep. The release of this song was nearly a year after Mobb Deep member Prodigy passed away, with Miranda tweeting "Rest in peace, Prodigy. Thank you Havoc." July's Hamildrops were delayed to the last week of August. The first one was "Rise Up Wise Up Eyes Up," a Hamliton-inspired piece by Ibeyi. The second was a YouTube music video of Andra Day's cover of Burn from the original soundtrack. On September 20, 2018, Miranda released "A Forgotten Spot " featuring Puerto Rican singers Zion & Lennox, De La Ghetto, Ivy Queen, PJ Sin Suela and Lucecita Benitez. The song peaked at number 13 on the US Latin Digital Song Sales chart. On October 30, 2018, a cover of a deleted reprise of "Dear Theodosia" performed by Sara Bareilles was released. "Cheering For Me Now", a new original song with music by Broadway composer John Kander and performed by Miranda, was released with an accompanying video on November 20, 2018. On December 21, 2018, "One Last Time " was released as the final Hamildrop. It is a remix of "One Last Time" featuring vocals from Original Broadway Cast Member Christopher Jackson, BeBe Winans, and 44th President of the United StatesBarack Obama. The remix peaked at number 38 on the Digital Song Sales chart and number 22 on the Hot R&B Songs chart.
