Sure, Alexander Hamilton had to stand up to the likes of Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson, but when Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda was in high school, his main adversary was the renowned political rapper and activist Immortal Technique. “He was our school bully,†Miranda told Marc Maron on Monday’s WTF podcast. “He terrorized kids, he threw them in the garbage. I got thrown in the garbage by him.†Still, that didn’t stop the young rapper, then known by his birth name, Felipe Andres Coronel, from coming onto Miranda’s turf: the stage. “He got a part senior year [in the school play] and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m in a fucking play with the dude that scares the shit out of all my friends,†Miranda said.
Though Technique did not follow Miranda to Broadway, the Tony-winning star was still able to beam his proud papa face over the airwaves, saying, “He’s one of the most political, ideological [rappers], he really made an incredible life for himself as a rapper.†Adding, “He was a really angry kid and it’s been wonderful to watch him grow up and find a political outlet for that anger.†Is it just us, or is anyone else hoping that the two reunite for a musical about their real experiences as two kids from Harlem and Washington Heights attending a highly competitive gifted-and-talented school in the Upper East Side doing plays and being dunked in garbage cans? Hear the episode here; Immortal comes up around the 39-minutes mark.