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[car horns honking faintly]
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[distant sirens]
CHRIS: [beatboxing]
ANTHONY: Whatever you want to say, Meredith.
We'll sing about it.
Wow, Meredith's pretty lucky.
BILL: Absolutely.
Mm.
♪ Tiny little purple coat ♪
♪ Meredith checking what we wrote ♪
♪ But not really, we're singing it on the spot ♪
♪ Oh, no, she got afraid ♪
♪ It's okay, Chris, sing something that you made ♪
‐ ♪ We'll sing a lullaby or two ♪
♪ Want to sing to you ♪
♪ Hope you're not shy, just sitting around ♪
♪ Waiting on five nice guys ♪
‐ Who's that guy?
[mellow music]
ANTHONY: Taking it to the streets.
Don't do it.
BILL: Frogger, Frogger, Frogger!
‐ What?
ANTHONY: All right, let's bring it in, then.
Mic check on three, mic check on three, ready?
One, two, three.
ALL: Mic check!
LIN‐MANUEL: ♪ This is mic two, this is‐‐this is mic two ♪
♪ What, this is mic two, this is microphone two ♪
♪ This is mic two, and let's get this turning... ♪
♪ I'm too pretty, whoo! ♪
Well, I think the story we're telling is that, like,
things aren't linear. I don't know.
I mean...
Real life's not a linear narrative.
It's not this and this and this, like, ascent.
It's all these side journeys, and people move away,
and they come back, and life gets complicated.
And you...
you keep going.
There's no end point.
What's that quote? It's Orson Welles's quote
that was, "If you want to tell a story with a happy ending,
it depends on where you end the story."
[mellow music]
♪ ♪
LIN‐MANUEL: How are you?
WOMAN: Nice to meet you. LIN‐MANUEL: Nice to meet you.
MAN: Onto the stage? MAN: I would prefer
not to be last 'cause I have to get‐‐
[overlapping chatter]
LIN‐MANUEL: Good morning, good night.
I can't be your clown.
[laughter]
ANTHONY: Great. Cody, you ready?
CODY: Yep, take it away.
ANTHONY: Shall we move into pet peeves?
Great.
And our freestyling‐‐ how many‐‐let's go from this.
Thank you so very much. Freestyle Love Supreme.
How many of you seen us before?
[mock cheering]
Yes. CROWD MEMBER: Single.
ANTHONY: Well, for those of you just joining us,
our freestyling is slightly different.
It's not the skiing or the dancing or the swimming.
Our freestyling starts with a beat.
‐ [blows]
CROWD MEMBER: What? That's cool.
‐ [beatboxing]
THOMAS: Great. Let's hold there.
So, Shock, when they're ready for us,
just back up to, like, just finishing the rewind,
and then smashing the record. We can go from there, okay?
CHRIS: So it's rewind through‐‐ this is all rewind.
‐ Yep, start with the rewind cue.
Yep. Great, great, great. Let them work.
One sec.
CHRIS: [beatboxing]
MAN: Oh, that switch.
‐ [beatboxing]
[laughter]
Yeah, okay.
‐ Great, and continuing on, continuing on.
I think we decided to get back together
because it's probably the purest expression of joy
that any of us have ever felt in doing a show.
‐ Shall we put Lin‐Man Wiz Gal into it?
MAN: Okay. ANTHONY: Great.
THOMAS: We hadn't done a run in New York really since 2004.
We'd been doing one‐offs and consistent shows
for the last 13, 14 years.
And the last couple years have been tougher
to wrangle everybody, and it just felt like
there's an opportunity for us to get together
for one more ride.
ANTHONY: We are Freestyle Love Supreme,
but we don't love everything.
Sometimes we downright just don't like stuff.
So what are some things that you don't like?
CROWD MEMBER: Cold. ANTHONY: Cold!
Yes. BILL: Camouflage.
ANTHONY: Camouflage!
LIN‐MANUEL: I'm gonna take camouflage.
ANTHONY: Camouflage.
So over here, U. T. K., we have‐‐
'cause you're gonna be going first, yep.
Over here, we have U. T. K.
‐ Crowds. ‐ Crowds.
In the middle, we have taxes.
And over here, we have‐‐
‐ Camouflage! Who needs it?
[laughter]
ANTHONY: These are a few of your pet peeves.
THOMAS: There's an energy around the show that's unlike
any of the other things that we've done.
And you see a lot of elements of this energetic field
in our other work.
But I feel like it was cultivated and shaped here,
so the chance to get back together as grown‐ups,
this thing that we started as
these younger versions of ourselves...
LIN‐MANUEL: ♪ You can run that shit if you want to ♪
♪ I'll be in Sodi's restaurant, too ♪
♪ With my picture all up in the frame ♪
♪ 'Cause yes, I want the fortune ♪
♪ And yes, I want the fame ♪
THOMAS: It felt like there is a window because
apparently, you can be 40 and rapping.
Here we are, most of us on this side of 40,
or just on the other side of 40.
And it isn't something you can do always,
but it did feel like it's something we could do now.
‐ ♪ Oh I'm sorry, was your name Rambo? ♪
♪ Were you in the Army? ♪
♪ Why the fuck you wearing camo? ♪
♪ I can't believe you wear it as a choice ♪
♪ I wear it on my underwear ♪
♪ Now listen to my voice ♪
Whoo! UTKARSH: ♪ Oh, my God ♪
♪ That's his balls ♪
♪ Wish I could camouflage myself, all of y'all ♪
‐ ♪ I can see his middle parts ♪
♪ His balls have gone missing ♪
♪ And let me just fill out all the forms that I'm missing ♪
‐ ♪ Ah, fill the forms out, there eat some mutton ♪
♪ It's the second time I used my underwear as a button ♪
[applause] [indistinct chatter]
That's twice the subject has been on my underwear
in FLS history.
BILL: I'll take camouflage.
That's just the craziest thing ever.
Oh!
You're welcome.
THOMAS: Um, this is the squad tonight.
Lin is gonna jump in for Day in the Life.
Just at the end, so we're not gonna tease that he's here.
‐ When Lin does stuff, the audience is gonna, like,
applaud for a long time,
so musically and whatever, let's leave room for it,
and be prepared for it.
THOMAS: You know, the one thing about the show
that I found to be true over the years,
you know, whether we're doing the show
for 50 people ten years ago
or whether we're doing the show now,
which is that the way that you all listen to each other
and engage with each other up there
is the real magic trick.
Everyone thinks it's the other stuff and the rhyming,
but that's actually what it is.
You know, the show has a very simple premise,
which is we are going to entertain
the hell out of you for 78 minutes,
and then, like, two minutes are not gonna be great.
[laughter]
Something is happening that should be acknowledged.
We're all together doing this thing again.
It's‐‐I mean, it shouldn't be. It is.
Just, like, you guys, instead of playing ping‐pong,
the beat is‐‐is Shockwave.
CHRIS: So it's a mind ball?
THOMAS: So there's no ball, okay?
But you're sort of doing freestyle
and going back and forth
and it looks like you're playing.
‐ And I‐‐I'll keep doing this.
THOMAS: But all we're gonna see‐‐
‐ Yes. THOMAS: Yes, exactly, Sherm.
‐ ♪ All day, back and forth ♪
♪ From south to north ♪
♪ Pow to north ♪
♪ All day ♪
ANTHONY: We had no idea what we were getting into.
I don't think any of us would've said,
"Oh, yeah, this is the beginning
of this crazy journey,"
where a lot of the people in Freestyle Love Supreme
are shaping what the American theater looks like now.
Oh, look at Lin's boxers. That's not what I expected.
[laughter]
THOMAS: You know, there's a reason why "love"
is in the middle of the title of the show.
And it's in the middle of what makes the show...
everything that it is.
‐ ♪ Excuse me, what did you get in your groceries? ♪
♪ Anything interesting, you could maybe talk to me ♪
♪ Okay, oh, we freestyle ♪
♪ You got the orange juice ♪
♪ Most pulp, so nice ♪
♪ Your word is pretzel ♪
CHRIS: [beatboxing]
‐ ♪ I'm from Philadelph ♪
♪ We call it soft, pretzel ♪
♪ Damn, don't you understand ♪
♪ I need to give you a headbutt‐zel ♪
‐ ♪ They give you words, then you play a little while ♪
♪ Flip a word or syllable around ♪
♪ That is freestyle ♪
‐ ♪ We taking up too much of the sidewalk streets ♪
♪ Sorry, Miss ♪
♪ Damn‐‐ ♪ LIN‐MANUEL: ♪ Eek ♪
ANTHONY: The origin story of Freestyle Love Supreme,
I went to Wesleyan with Tommy Kail.
He was one of my co‐conspirators
in making things.
THOMAS: I was this kid who used to play sports,
and Anthony was someone who also played sports,
who had this performing instinct.
And Anthony was someone who, my junior year of college,
really pulled me into the theater.
ANTHONY: And in college, I did an improv show.
And this was the first time that Tommy
really became a part
of the theater community at Wesleyan.
Prior to that, he was very into American history,
and he was, like, a sports dude.
And he loved hip‐hop,
so we were always, like, at every house party
rapping together.
‐ I think it was that next year, '99,
Anthony and I drove to go help a friend out with his
senior film in Iowa, and it was supposed to be,
like, a 10‐ or 12‐hour drive.
We were gonna drive from Brooklyn.
Then we ran into a hail storm.
And the only way we could stay awake
was to put on the B‐side
of Daft Punk's "Around the World."
ANTHONY: That beat is so pulsing
that you can't take time to think.
‐ And Anthony and I freestyled for four straight hours.
That, in some way, was a seed for Freestyle Love Supreme.
[Daft Punk's "Around the World"]
♪ ♪
When we got to New York
and started this little theater company
and decided to work on In the Heights,
Anthony would grab Lin at every break
and just start freestyling.
And I'd be sort of wrangling them back.
I was like, "Okay, let's go.
We gotta get back into the thing."
And this is 2002, 2003,
and they kept on doing it and they kept on doing it.
And they had an idea to maybe make a show out of it.
‐ Some people decided that
we seemed like we knew what we were doing,
and so they gave us the keys to the Drama Book Shop.
Allen Hubby, who was the owner
of the Drama Book Shop at the time, said,
"Hey, would you create theater here?"
We were so young and dumb.
We were like, "Of course.
We know how to create theater."
‐ We spent a lot of time in that basement,
and Anthony was kind of running the Arthur Seelen Theater.
That was sort of the job.
‐ We just started making stuff in...
a small room, much like this, that was painted black
where nobody was paying attention to us.
And that was our lab.
We did know, though, that we could, like,
paint walls and buy curtains and I did some electrical work
down in the basement of the Drama Book Shop,
which was totally illegal.
BILL: It was, like, a disaster in the early days.
It was, like, I played the saxophone during it,
and, like, that was kind of a disaster.
I didn't really know how to play the piano.
I still don't really know how to play the piano,
and so, like, I don't know.
Just seemed like a bunch of friends
who have been really lucky and really talented
and really motivated.
‐ We have all had our little
bumps and bruises along the way,
but those things are not anything
that would even threaten the course of the group.
‐ It's the joy of falling on your face,
the power of being
unres‐‐unfettered with your friends
and with people you care about.
‐ None of us know what's happening,
so it's‐‐we're experiencing it with the audience.
It's a different kind of communion
than you normally get in theater.
‐ I feel like if I'm creating a moment,
I want to be able to pull from stuff I felt when I was 16,
from when I was five, from when I was ten.
You gotta be able to pull from all of it
and stay in touch with all of it.
Now, what I need from you all tonight
is a verb, an action word.
To cry, to scream, to laugh, to love.
Give me verbs, as many as you can shout.
ANTHONY: We were doing shows in New York,
and this producer came and saw us.
And he said, "This would be fantastic
at the Fringe Festival."
‐ Yes.
What does NED stand for, again?
‐ A NED is like a little smart aleck kid that‐‐
‐ But it stands for Non‐educated‐‐
‐ Not Educated‐‐ ‐ Deviant, or something?
ANTHONY: Edinburgh Fringe Festival
is the longest‐running theater festival in the world.
It was a huge opportunity for us.
‐ We could really, like, trace the trail to our house.
[laughter]
This is the longest stoplight in all of Scotland,
and it terrifies me to cross it.
BILL: Lin, go! ‐ No, it's not green yet.
BILL: Lin, go.
‐ I will not cross until it's green,
and they all cross ahead and it's fine
and I just stand here like an idiot.
I think about that summer
when you had cameras on us in 2005.
And it was a great summer.
Everything was happening, and nothing was happening.
CHRIS: [beatboxing] BILL: Okay, hallaracket.
Someone who is a hallaracket
is wild, rowdy, and irresponsible.
Go. ‐ Oh.
♪ I'm a hallaracket ♪
♪ I make hella racket ♪
♪ I don't know what to say ♪
♪ I take it and pack it up like lunch ♪
♪ And then I bunch and I munch and I funch ♪
♪ Like a fucking Captain Crunch ♪
‐ Nickitoms are straps or strings
secured around trouser legs below the knee.
‐ ♪ Nickitoms are straps for legs ♪
♪ Nickitoms, I'm making millions ♪
♪ With my resilience ♪
♪ So trust me there'll be billions ♪
♪ Like we were back at Wesleyan ♪
♪ And rapping about equestrians and lesbians ♪
♪ With my nickitoms keep my knackers on right ♪
♪ Wear my long pants, then I do it all night ♪
‐ All night.
[laughter]
I got to say something.
CHRISTOPHER: There was always a sense that
what we were trying to put together
was something that we could make accessible to...
the masses.
♪ Freestyle in the evening time ♪
[laughter]
♪ Freestyle Love Supreme ♪
ALL: ♪ Freestyle Love Supreme ♪
CHRISTOPHER: ♪ Your word is Scottish ♪
‐ ♪ The word is Scottish ♪
♪ I'm feeling kind of maybe lukewarm, hottish ♪
♪ This is Freestyle Love Supreme ♪
♪ We make up rap songs while you eat your ice creams ♪
♪ Yes, wolf it down, I like Newcastle Crown ♪
♪ He's got the little bits of beer in it ♪
♪ But less than one percent alcohol ♪
♪ So all please check out our show ♪
♪ 6:50, it's nifty if you're tipsy ♪
♪ Don't you know ♪
‐ We're Freestyle Love Supreme. Please, come see our show.
[applause]
[mellow music]
‐ We're gonna go get a deep‐fried Mars bar,
which is the height of Scottish cuisine.
That washed down with some fish and chips.
Fish and chips. MAN: If they have it.
‐ And vinegar. MAN: Where?
‐ Deep‐fried Mars bars, they only have them here.
We went to Edinburgh the summer of 2005.
I remember a lot about being there.
I remember watching the show find an audience.
I remember the first show having X amount of people,
the next show having X plus something,
and then it was 2X.
‐ We had a show that worked,
like Freestyle worked.
We thought we'd have audiences as soon as we got out there,
and that wasn't true.
We had to work very hard for them,
but our show worked.
And it's essentially the show we're still doing.
♪ ♪
[gentle piano music]
♪ ♪
Shit.
Did you zoom in that I was listening
to "Wanted Dead or alive" by Bon Jovi?
Which is the perfect soundtrack for where we are right now.
ANTHONY: A little more of the beatbox
in the front monitors.
Do you guys need it more? And also the piano monitor.
‐ Yeah, I think, Bill, you can take‐‐
you can still take the time you do,
but it's just that Shockwave kind of has the last word.
CHRISTOPHER: Tommy's the architect.
Tommy Kail is somebody who can make sense out of chaos,
which is, at any given time,
the best way to describe Freestyle Love Supreme.
‐ Without him, this group wouldn't be what it is,
and we wouldn't have gotten here this far.
LIN‐MANUEL: ♪ So don't think, push me to the brink ♪
♪ So I get another drink, and I go into the brink ♪
♪ Of disaster, I asked you ♪
♪ I passed it, I'm master ♪
♪ Of the universe, oh, no the universe... ♪
THOMAS: [exhales]
We didn't necessarily know what we were
aiming at long‐term,
other than can we make this one thing better?
‐ [laughs] [mutters]
Oh, Christ.
I hope that's a fish‐eye lens
and my face looks like fucking Marky Wahlberg.
[mellow music]
♪ ♪
THOMAS: It just doesn't feel that long ago.
♪ ♪
STAGE HAND: We're code blue.
MAN: I couldn't care less about them.
MAN: Bro‐‐
MAN: And who is that man‐‐ oh, Lord.
[overlapping chatter]
‐ We call that a deep dive.
♪ ♪
MAN: 'Cause I've gotta go in there before you.
♪ ♪
UTKARSH: Can somebody get a tallboy for Bill?
‐ [laughs]
Bill's fine, thank you very much.
UTKARSH: Tall Pabst Blue Ribbon.
‐ The Pabst Blue. ANTHONY: You see this?
‐ Yeah, look, we're the real thing.
‐ It's officially a show.
BILL: We have an assistant director.
[laughs]
ANTHONY: Uh, associate.
BILL: Oh, I'm sorry.
My bad, we have an associate director.
MAN: And there are some posters that the rest of the guys
have gotten to, but you haven't,
so I'll put those on top for you.
LIN‐MANUEL: Okay.
MAN: This is not something you normally do.
‐ Never signed anything.
SINGER: [vocalizing]
‐ Oh, wait. I'm on these.
MAN: Oh, you are on those? LIN‐MANUEL: Yep.
Now this one's been signed twice.
MAN: Okay, great.
Let me count out what you need. MAN: Ooh, a rookie mistake.
‐ Should've been signed twice.
I was working on this other project,
In the Heights,
which is a musical I wrote in college.
And Tommy and some of‐‐
his friends had seen it.
Tommy had only heard the soundtrack,
and so the first time I met Tommy
was at a fundraiser for their production company.
And Tommy introduced himself.
He was like, "Hi, I'm Tommy Kail.
"Oh, you wrote In the Heights?
"It's great. Listen, I really think
"the third number in your show should go first
'cause it really sets up the world."
Barely met him, and he's already got ideas
for how to do it, and so I was very taken aback
the first time I met Tommy Kail.
But then I realized that
it's not coming from any kind of bad place.
It's that Tommy has so many ideas
that they just‐‐ they're just‐‐
they just come out.
First time we sat down and talked about the show,
we realized we were on the same page.
My first job was at the Mickey D's up the street.
[mellow music]
♪ ♪
‐ What I love is the people that, like, look
and then they see how unfamous we are
and they're just so disappointed.
‐ Yeah, they're like...
‐ They peek around. They're, like, ugh.
‐ Oh, for fuck's sake. ‐ I think he's Jewish.
[laughter]
Looks like a Latin guy and a Jew.
‐ [laughs]
That's the guy from American Idol.
‐ That's the guy from American Idol
and a Mexican Bud Bundy.
‐ A Mexican Bud Bundy!
‐ Does anybody ever say you look like anybody?
‐ It's always, like, their brother
or their friend or their cousin.
TOMMY: There's a good chance no one will ever know who you are.
LIN‐MANUEL: Right.
TOMMY: We just walk by and so we're not, like,
staring at ourselves.
And by ourselves, I mean you.
LIN‐MANUEL: Yeah, I don't know.
I don't have a problem with it.
TOMMY: It's gonna be a full month before we move in here.
LIN‐MANUEL: Yeah.
I am a dork
when it comes to rhyme.
I mean, ever since I was a little kid,
like, I've been putting words together.
I never‐‐ really actively freestyled
until pretty late in life,
but I remember singing the theme song
for the "Darkwing Duck" cartoon.
And there's a little line in it that goes,
♪ When there's trouble, you call DW ♪
SINGER: ♪ When there's trouble, you call DW ♪
LIN‐MANUEL: And being like, "That's amazing.
"How do you think of, 'When there's trouble,
you call DW'?"
And thinking, "What if they made up the whole show
just to make those two couplets rhyme?"
'Cause that's something I would do.
I would build a whole show just to make the couplet
"when there's trouble, you call DW" make sense.
[mellow music]
♪ ♪
TOMMY: The first freestyle was here.
It was on the day after the blackout.
And they were supposed to do it downtown.
LIN‐MANUEL: We were supposed to do it at the PIT Theater,
but the power hadn't come back on there yet,
so we got our audience, put a sign up,
and brought them all here.
TOMMY: It was very "Cradle Will Rock."
LIN‐MANUEL: Yeah, it was very "Cradle Will Rock."
We're bringing the rap!
TOMMY: And there were 14 people.
LIN‐MANUEL: Nah, 16. TOMMY: Damn it.
LIN‐MANUEL: [laughs]
TOMMY: And we walked into this room in July of 2001.
But we thought, "Let's make a place where our friends
can come and, like, spend time."
LIN‐MANUEL: Right. TOMMY: And was really
the only person who did it to that amount.
‐ I did. I took them up on that.
I might sure they were as good as their word.
It was like, "Lin, honestly, come whenever you want."
And he did.
[bittersweet music]
♪ ♪
LIN‐MANUEL: I was wary coming out of college.
I didn't know these guys very well,
but as soon as Tommy and I met
and I realized we agreed on what needed to happen,
I felt very lucky, and then we kind of just got to work.
‐ I think that what this room reminds me of,
and one of the reasons I'm probably as proud
of this room as I am of anything
that I've ever done, is that in theater,
you make something and it goes away.
But that's the booth that we built.
LIN‐MANUEL: Yeah. The faders.
‐ These are the walls that we painted.
Like, these are the curtains that we hung,
and you don't get do to that.
You put something up, and it goes away.
This was a launching pad. LIN‐MANUEL: Yeah.
TOMMY: You know, this was...
it was a birthing place.
‐ Our nexus is a basement in a book shop
where we used to play the piano and make up raps.
And here we are, 15 fucking years later.
I have this problem that I don't believe things
until they actually happen.
I didn't believe we were in Scotland
until, you know, yesterday, and to me...
that's what makes me stay on my toes.
'Cause you literally‐‐we never know what's gonna happen.
LIN‐MANUEL: Bill is‐‐Bill's the man.
Bill's Samwise the Brave.
I met him junior year of college,
and I‐‐he was musical directing someone else's show,
and I stole him.
I saw how good he was, and I said,
"You're working on my show."
BILL: Lin came up to me. He said, "I don't know you,
"and you don't know me, but we're gonna work together
for a really long time," and I thought,
"Great, that's very optimistic of you, Yoda, sir."
Hey, photo guy.
Truth to him, we became really close friends.
We worked on his stuff in college.
We lived together for way too long after college.
We're very close still to this day.
He was there at the birth of my children.
I was there at the birth of his children.
It's me.
LIN‐MANUEL: It's literally you with a wig on.
[laughter]
ARTHUR: Why isn't she wearing a Rangers jersey?
BILL: She's just grumpy.
ARTHUR: I want to see her at a hockey game.
LIN‐MANUEL: She's like, "We having White Russians?"
‐ What's with White Russians?
LIN‐MANUEL: 'Cause your first freestyle show,
you drank three White Russians with your dad,
and then played saxophone for an hour.
BILL: You made that up. [laughter]
ANTHONY: He had a bottle of vodka as a set piece.
BILL: I had a bottle of vodka with Russians.
‐ But consider this, isn't that better?
‐ [laughs]
‐ We're all out there making each other laugh
and enjoying each other and having good times,
so it just feels like,
best way to hang out with your friends,
why not, like, do it in front of 100 people
and make everybody laugh?
[indistinct chatter]
[gentle music]
♪ ♪
ANTHONY: Freestyle Love Supreme
has been around now for, like, 16 years,
which is insane.
It doesn't seem like a possibility
that this fun idea to play with dear friends
would continue to be
this long‐lasting show.
LIN‐MANUEL: ♪ My name is Parallelogram ♪
♪ Combined with an elogram ♪
♪ Yeah, I'm the writer of Hamilton ♪
♪ What is up, my son? ♪
♪ My father, my brother, what happening, my mother ♪
‐ Polyglot. ‐ ♪ All right ♪
♪ I'm just feeling like it's punishment ♪
♪ Because I got so much polyglot in this ♪
♪ I'm gluttonous, yes ♪
♪ I'm putting this cake in mouth ♪
♪ It's funfetti, everyone, shout ♪
At its core, it's a group of friends
expressing themselves and in some small way,
saying, "I can't wait to hear what you're gonna say next."
What we do is totally joy,
and it's also special.
ALL: ♪ And that's okay, kid ♪
♪ And that‐‐and that‐‐ and that‐‐and that‐‐
♪ And that‐‐ and that's okay, kid ♪
UTKARSH: Yep. CHRIS: [imitates explosion]
ANTHONY: "That's okay, kid" on three.
LIN‐MANUEL: One, two, three.
ALL: That's okay, kid. [laughter]
BILL: Let's pick a random word.
CHRISTOPHER: Yeah, love.
And this afternoon, that's a good one.
Ready? One, two, three. ALL: Love!
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
One, two, repeat. One, two, one, two, one, two.
One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two,
one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one.
MAN: Thank you, Cleveland.
‐ [groans] ASSISTANT: Stand by, guys.
Stand by.
[cheers and applause]
EMCEE: All right, guess we better...
We better start the show, then.
ALL: I got your back, I got your back.
I got your back, I got your back.
I got your back.
♪ ♪
ANTHONY: Let's bring it in.
Let's do a mic check on three.
UTKARSH: Oh, yeah. ANTHONY: Mic check on three.
Everybody in. One, two, three.
ALL: Mic check.
MAN: This is my own. This is my own.
CHRISTOPHER: ♪ Hello, this is my seat ♪
♪ Oh, oh ♪
[cheers and applause]
CHRIS: [beatboxing]
‐ Microphone team check. Microphone. Microphone.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
‐ Ladies and gentlemen.
[rolls tongue]
Yes.
And those who identify outside and in‐between on the spectrum.
LIN‐MANUEL: Mic check was a fully practical,
"We can't hear each other."
And if we can't hear each other, we can't do this
because it's so dependent on, "Oh, that's the idea let's go."
And so it was all about getting our monitor right,
and hearing everybody in the monitor.
‐ We are Freestyle Love Supreme.
ALL: ♪ 'Preme, 'preme, 'preme ♪
‐ And we are in the middle of a mic check.
ALL: Check, check, check...
‐ And we're gonna need your help to complete our mic check.
‐ Cool.
‐ Because our show is totally made up.
‐ Nuh‐uh! ‐ Yeah.
ANTHONY: This is an improv show.
It's one of the unique art forms
that can be both cathartic for the audience
and for the performers at the same time.
You see because everything we do in this show
is completely and 100% new every night.
‐ Hoy estamos inventando.
‐ It's spontaneous.
‐ That's right.
This is all happening right now.
CHRISTOPHER: Nobody knows what to expect.
We have the structure of our games,
We know who's leading, we know who's supporting,
We know who's playing, but that's it.
‐ Every sound you're about to hear...
‐ [beatboxing]
[mimics bird call]
‐ Every key that is about to be struck...
[keyboard plays]
Ooh!
Every word that is about to be spoken...
‐ Hi, Mom. [laughter, cheers]
You look good.
LIN‐MANUEL: No matter how many times you've done this,
the way your stomach feels before you go on stage
before a freestyle show is exactly the same.
The worst part of this month
was that we only had one bathroom backstage.
Our stomach doesn't know that we're good at this.
It goes, "What the fuck you guys doing?
There's no script!"
You know, your reptile brain understands
that we're going into
an adrenalized, unsafe situation
even if you can't‐‐ you can't tell it‐‐
you can't tell your stomach,
"Hey, we've done this a million times.
Something will happen and it'll be fine."
‐ It's happening for the first and last time right now.
‐ Now, now, now, now.
‐ So, why don't we get a word from you guys,
and we're gonna use that word
to complete our mic check, okay?
ANTHONY: We kept getting these invitations.
We did the Aspen Comedy Festival.
We got invited up to Montreal,
but we needed someone to replace Lin and Chris Jackson
because they were in In the Heights
and it was opening at 37 Arts.
Turn, stumble, P.
[indistinct yelling] What is it?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Swelling. ‐ Swelling?
Is that what I heard? Swelling?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes! ‐ Swelling. Great.
Ladies and gentlemen, the word is swelling.
ANTHONY: So, we had sort of our first round of auditions,
and we'd gotten a recommendation that this guy,
U.T.K., is a great rapper.
He was an amazing battle rapper.
‐ I was doing improv comedy, and then I was doing music,
and there was a huge separation between the two, right?
So, you can either rap or you can be funny,
and you can't do both.
And then I walk into this room,
and you know, whatever Freestyle Love Supreme
was doing at that time fit me like a well‐worn hoodie.
‐ Like the very first second that Utkarsh started rapping,
we were like, "Oh, this is the guy."
♪ Next we got a whole freestyle team ♪
♪ U. T. K., tell 'em what I mean ♪
‐ ♪ Ladies and gentlemen, Caucasian and melanin ♪
♪ Now I'm up on stage ♪
♪ And yo, I'm coming from Maryland ♪
♪ Got the beat and the microphone ♪
♪ To keep them all swelling ♪
♪ What the hell is going on, man? ♪
♪ I'm rocking this song ♪
♪ And right now, what you see is the freestyle flow ♪
♪ I know this dude right here up in a music video ♪
♪ Yeah, I see ya, I need to drop it free bro ♪
♪ You better be spending this right on a Wednesday night ♪
♪ But if you didn't, all right ♪
♪ Now I gotta story to tell ♪
♪ I'm about to introduce Mr. Lin‐Manuel ♪
LIN‐MANUEL: ♪ Excuse me, excuse me ♪
♪ I'm sorry, I've got to come on stage ♪
♪ Before my head is swelling ♪
♪ I like my melon, and yo, I keep from yelling ♪
UTKARSH: It was extremely comfortable
to play those games with those people,
and to bring sort of the Indian South Asian experience
to that group, and to have it be embraced was awesome.
♪ Listen to me here on microphone three ♪
♪ Some of you might recognize me ♪
♪ Know from the Team Supreme ♪
♪ And let me rock right now while we chase the dream ♪
♪ We got the keys and the flow and the beat, you know? ♪
♪ We do it all day long, kick it with my bros ♪
♪ My name is U. T. K and I'm fly, you see ♪
♪ But recognize with ease and I'ma rock this beat ♪
‐ U. T. K, his verbal dexterity
was always at the highest level.
He was the person that‐‐ from when I met him
when he was 21 or 22 years old,
I knew something was going on that I had not seen.
[piano plays]
[laughter]
‐ Yeah!
♪ ♪
‐ ♪ Oh, hey ♪
♪ My name is Maddie ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ And your girl is a baddy ♪
♪ Yeah, my name is Maddie ♪
♪ Yes, and I am oh so frugal ♪
♪ I save my money and I save of all of my rubles ♪
♪ Okay, I'm here ♪
♪ That's right, and I'll be freaky ♪
♪ And I'm getting ready for me and my lady's girls' ♪
BOTH: ♪ Weekend ♪ ‐ ♪ We're gonna have fun ♪
♪ Gonna practice all our twerking ♪
♪ Gonna eat lots of dessert ♪
♪ And it's gonna be so dang absurd ♪
♪ And we are going... ♪
Tommy broke it down to me when I started rapping
'cause my background was to talk about how good I was.
"Look how great I am. Look how cool I am."
And Tommy said to me, he was like,
"That's great, you have the skill set.
That's not what we do here."
He said, "It's infinitely more interesting
"if you can rap about the Incredible Hulk
"or a box of Wheat Thins
"or your parents with the same amount of dexterity
as you rap about yourself."
BOTH: ♪ What y'all know about milking a cow? ♪
♪ Milking a cow, milking a cow ♪
♪ I'm about to tell y'all about a little dream of mine ♪
♪ I just wanna milk a big, bad, beautiful bovine ♪
♪ Trying to farm and get my hands on the udders ♪
♪ 'Cause I got to make sure that she's a bad old mother ♪
♪ Can't be a man cow, that's called a bull ♪
♪ 'Cause when you pull something else comes out ♪
♪ That's not cool ♪
♪ But anyway, I get it going on the teets ♪
♪ And I give a squeeze and it tastes so, so sweet, yeah ♪
‐ U. T. K. is, I would say,
the best nuts‐to‐bolts rapper in the group.
‐ Chris Jackson had a friend named James Monroe Iglehart
that he had just gotten done doing a show with,
and they used to, like, freestyle rap backstage.
‐ Don't get me wrong. It was not given to me.
I had to audition. So, walked in, did my thing.
‐ Tommy closed the door to the audition room
and then we turned it into a rehearsal,
and we started rehearsing.
‐ ♪ Clap your hands, snap your fingers ♪
♪ Move your hands to this ♪
♪ I will show you how I do it as I jettison ♪
♪ I love the little place and I put it in my rhyme ♪
♪ I can pick a rhyme from you and I then blow your mind ♪
‐ He's too good for half of this shit that we do.
James sings and it's like, "You broke the game."
‐ ♪ So, from the time I'm in the bathroom ♪
♪ And put the water on my elbows ♪
♪ Walk out to school ♪
♪ We're ready to see all the other bros ♪
♪ And the sun hits, bam, ash ♪
♪ Right all over my body ♪
♪ And those boys will have a wonderful time ♪
♪ Tapping on me was like an ashy party ♪
‐ Going forward, like,
if we had stopped at our initial group,
we'd never have met Daveed, U. T. K., or Jelly Donut.
‐ ♪ So I'll just take a squeegee ♪
♪ We'll make you come, yeah, 'cause I'm the boss ♪
♪ It's gonna get poetic, like we Robert Frost ♪
UTKARSH: The other night, Jelly was on stage,
and my head goes, "We have to introduce Jelly Donut.
How are we gonna do that?"
You have "Go Buck," and then my brain goes‐
[gasps] "Donut rhymes with go Buck!"
♪ Mic one and mic two showed up ♪
♪ We need mic three, he about to throw up ♪
♪ That's right, and go nuts, that's right and go Buck ♪
♪ Everybody give it up for Jelly Donut ♪
‐ ♪ Oh, my God, thank you for your incredible words ♪
♪ I will chew them up and regurgitate them ♪
♪ Like you the baby birds, open your mouth ♪
I came in a little‐‐ a little bit later than‐‐
yeah, I think Utkarsh and James
came around the same time.
But I've had such a good experience with these guys.
It's sick, right?
It really is becoming a little bit, you know,
more of who I am.
‐ Because we... ‐ We...
ALL: We. Are. Freestyle. Supreme.
[cheers and applause]
‐ Now ladies and gentlemen,
we're gonna take you back to the beginning.
We're going to the foundations of freestyle.
You see, first, there was the beat.
‐ [beatboxing]
[cheers]
♪ ♪
THOMAS: Chris Sullivan, AKA Shockwave,
He's someone whose ability to express and tell story
without using words is on full display here.
He's someone who is the actual musical heartbeat.
‐ [beatboxing]
CHRIS: I'm not just the beatboxer.
I am the percussionist.
You know, the drummer that let's them shine.
[beatboxing]
‐ Uh‐huh! Uh‐huh! Uh‐huh! Yeah, uh‐huh!
ANTHONY: To go up there and be able to have a human being
be able to do that for an entire show,
A, is a feat of athleticism and vocal capabilities,
but also sheer giving.
[excited chatter]
[cheers and applause]
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Oh, my God!
‐ Yeah, and you used our words.
ANTHONY: Oh yeah? Which ones? ‐ Unicorn and flabbergast.
‐ Oh, you got two in?
Does anyone else know that?
‐ I think each guy loves freestyle.
I think each guy lives freestyle.
But Shock is the foundation of freestyle.
‐ [beatboxing]
‐ Oh!
[cheers and applause]
‐ And next, we add in an emcee.
‐ ♪ Oh, is everybody here? ♪
♪ Because if everybody's here... ♪
[loud cheers]
LIN‐MANUEL: [rapping indistinctly]
[stammering]
[wild cheers and applause]
‐ Lin‐Manuel is the verbal gymnast.
He is our poet.
He's unstoppable.
Now on your way in this evening as you were standing in line,
I think one of our wonderful stage managers
walked along and said, "Give us a word."
Now we took those words and put them in that bucket over there.
See, ladies and gentlemen,
the emcee is gonna use your words over a beat.
‐ Foundations of freestyle is in its rawest form
what freestyling is.
CHRISTOPHER: From the moment that we've gotten here,
we have asked you as an audience member
to actively participate.
When you write the word down and you fold it
and you put it in the bucket, you're making an offering.
And we're collecting it, accepting it,
and this is what we want to do with it.
Jazz!
‐ ♪ Yeah, this is like that free Jazz ♪
♪ Like that Coltrane ♪
♪ Like that Love Supreme, this is a fucking dream ♪
♪ I can't believe this is the fucking team ♪
♪ I can't believe I'm‐‐ ♪ ‐ Last word is harmony!
‐ ♪ Oh, the word is harmony ♪
♪ Because there is dissonance ♪
♪ 'Cause lots of us are really quite different ♪
♪ But oh, my gosh, I think even when I am bored ♪
♪ We'll make a lot of noise ♪
♪ Until we make a perfect fucking chord ♪
‐ Oh!
[cheers and applause]
‐ There's this great footage
of Questlove and Black Thought.
And Questlove's just, like, tree.
He's like, "Tree, as I flow free to the ba‐ba‐ba‐ba‐ba."
‐ ♪ Peach, peach ♪
♪ Yo, I am the kid that got the speech ♪
♪ That you can't impeach ♪
♪ Because I am not a leech, I won't lie ♪
‐ War! ♪ War, yes, yes, y'all ♪
♪ Everybody's got a car, yo, you's gots to kick the ball ♪
‐ Feet. ‐ ♪ Oh, feet ♪
♪ So I will not accept defeat ♪
♪ The only triumph I'll just keep on doing it ♪
♪ Like Triumph the Comic Insult Dog ♪
♪ High on the hog ♪
♪ We cannot kick us off our lawn with tables ♪
♪ We got our lightsabers ♪
♪ So fuck you and your Padawan ♪
♪ We keep going on till the break of dawn ♪
♪ Yeah, rocking all night long ♪
[cheers and applause]
[keyboard plays]
‐ Uh, ladies and gentlemen, that is Lin‐Man‐very‐uel.
‐ How'd you get into doing this style?
‐ Just jumped in, you know, like him.
Anthony was one of the producers.
Tommy was the director.
‐ So do you, like, write the show, like...
‐ No, when they first asked me, I thought it was...
[chuckles] I thought they were crazy.
I was like, "I write music. I don't‐‐I don't freestyle."
‐ You never freestyled... ‐ But it's scary, yeah.
‐ You're a hip‐hopper or you're a singer?
‐ Yeah, I mean, I love hip‐hop, but I just‐you know?
I wasn't‐I wasn't used to, like, trying to‐‐trying to...
‐ See, I write music and I tried to freestyle it, but...
‐ If you think about it, you can't do it.
You just have to try and go. Yeah.
Sometimes you‐‐sometimes you‐‐you jump and you land,
and sometimes you fall.
‐ Yeah, sometimes you fall, mate.
‐ But it's worth it though. Yeah.
‐ It's a good show, man. ‐ Thanks.
Yeah, I'm glad you guys enjoyed it.
I've always been taught that the stage is sacred.
No matter what stage you're on,
no matter where you doing it.
That's the sacred part.
That's the part that...
if you're true to what you're doing, it doesn't matter.
You know I'm saying?
Like it‐‐it‐‐people are‐‐
you want people to feel what you're doing.
You wanna be able to say, "This is my guts.
"These are‐‐you know, this is my heart and my guts
and my soul."
And for whatever reason, you know,
the universe has spun around,
and here you are and here I am,
and I've got a story to tell.
[vocalizing]
♪ ♪
Can you bring me just a little bit more in the monitors?
THOMAS: Chris Jackson is the person
that when he opens his mouth
you're gonna get this honesty.
He's gonna take you back somewhere
and he's gonna share.
He's so incredibly open.
‐ C‐Jack brings a soul presence to our group.
He's also the oldest person in our group
who brings some sort of maturity.
‐ I don't know if he'll tell you this,
but he was very hesitant initially to do freestyle.
It was something he was not familiar with.
He's‐‐he worked in studios a long time,
and so smart and so, like, bright.
Like he's just got it.
‐ ♪ Got back together ♪
♪ 'Cause money always makes things a little bit better ♪
♪ But I'm not mad and I'm not sad ♪
You're not doing anything else but performing.
And ever since I was a kid, man,
that's all I've ever wanted to do.
I've never wanted to do anything else.
And freestyle, even more, because it's me.
It's‐‐it's what's coming out of my brain.
It's what's on my mind
that I'm able to share, and that's pure.
That's the‐‐I think in this business, man,
it's the only pure thing left.
MAN: ♪ All right, it's C‐Jack ♪
♪ And your turn is next, I will slow it down ♪
♪ So you won't get too stressed ♪
‐ ♪ I'm not stressed, I'm looking at you vexed ♪
♪ 'Cause you said denouement, that shit is so complex ♪
♪ I haven't even got my mind around it ♪
♪ Even as I vex this vector ♪
♪ I find my words are coming from the floor ♪
♪ Like the drum, like the African kid ♪
♪ I have to be half of me ♪
♪ Oh, I'm representing those spectacularly ♪
‐ ♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Freestyle Love Supreme, here we go ♪
♪ Want to thank you all for coming out to the show ♪
♪ Hope that you had a real good, good time ♪
♪ Take a second now, relax and rewind ♪
LIN‐MANUEL: My happy place is watching Chris
'cause he can really kind of let it rip.
Both the lyrical content,
and let his voice sort of fly in this very real way.
‐ ♪ Well, in this country that we live ♪
♪ We all come from some other kind of place ♪
♪ No, no ♪
♪ And our history's replete with ♪
♪ The streets filled with anger and tears ♪
♪ And hopeful years that we'll make it someday ♪
♪ 241, going on 242 ♪
♪ And we know we still got a lot of work to do ♪
‐ Also, he was the first of us to have kids.
He was the first of us to get married.
and so he's had those responsibilities
for a long time.
He's always been, like, the dad.
[indistinct yelling]
‐ He's five. He's a five‐year‐old.
And that's why I love him so much.
But he's a five‐year‐old.
It feels like we've been a theater troupe for 15 years.
It's like breathing, it's just part of what we do.
It's part of our relationships.
It's part of our experiences.
‐ Oh, I hope I get to be in the show tonight.
MAN: Clean the floor, yeah. You get to go to the ball.
UTKARSH: Keep cleaning the floor, Lin‐derella.
No, is it Lin‐derella?
‐ Lin‐derella!
‐ Animals dress me for the show!
Okay, I'm ready.
‐ Man, you just don't‐‐
people don't have an opportunity to be around
and love people,
you know, guys that you absolutely love,
who are not related to you, you know what I mean?
Like it's just uncommon.
I think if more people had this kind of experience,
truly the world would be happier place.
♪ ♪
BOTH: Rejoicing reunion!
LIN‐MANUEL: That was an original musical
we wrote in the 6th grade.
‐ I basically wrote a rap. A nerd rap that went, uh...
♪ Computers, they are a pastime ♪
BOTH: ♪ Calculators, we used it last time ♪
♪ To find the square root of a rhyme ♪
♪ That was where we find the time ♪
[both talking over each other]
♪ Someone paid us just in time ♪
‐ Yeah, that was the one about the cool kids.
It was all about the clicks. ‐ Cool kids and‐‐yeah.
‐ ♪ 'Cause we are cool ♪
♪ We get good grades ♪
I've known Arthur since third grade.
We went to the same elementary school.
And the first time I met him,
I knew because there was this rumor that this kid could spell
supercalifragilistic expialidocious.
I went over to my said, "I hear you can spell
supercalifragilistic expialidocious."
And he said, "Backwards or forwards?"
[piano plays]
♪ ♪
THOMAS: Arthur the Geniuses is the mystery element
of Freestyle Love Supreme.
He's sitting there creating these beautiful sounds
with this fingers,
and then he just blows your mind and opens his mouth,
and then goes back without even acknowledging the crowd.
Just sort of floats on and floats off.
He's the ethereal one.
‐ I think it might be a good time for us right now
to unplug then and re‐plug.
‐ Sí, es una buena hora para desenchufar y enchufar.
‐ We're gonna get another word from you.
‐ Vamos a conseguir otra palabra de ustedes.
‐ How about we get something you couldn't live without?
‐ ¿Por qué no conseguimos algo que sin ella no podrías sobrevivir?
‐ Something you couldn't live without.
‐ Algo que necesitas.
‐ Instant noodles. Good for you.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Nail clippers!
‐ Nail clippers.
What else? Keep 'em coming.
‐ Mascara.
‐ Baskara? ‐ Mascara.
ARTHUR: It's funny because True was originally created
'cause I've been playing piano in the show,
and they were like, "This is stupid."
Like, "Arthur, you need to be singing."
♪ Mascara ♪
‐ Ladies and gentlemen, the word is mascara.
‐ The things that I learned in the first couple years
of the group, like, really, like, created
an understanding of, like, performing
and even, like, interacting with other people.
♪ Some people can't even stand ♪
♪ To look at themselves in the mirror ♪
♪ If it's still too early in the morning ♪
♪ And they haven't put on their mascara ♪
♪ Mascara ♪
ANTHONY: True is a moment where we pull
an important word from the audience,
and that word is then seen through the lens
of each emcee who's involved in the song,
and something that personally happened to them.
♪ When I hear the word mascara ♪
♪ Sometimes I know I think about it ♪
♪ And I'm mad scared too ♪
♪ Oh, I was a little brother to a big sister ♪
♪ Who clearly didn't have enough to do ♪
♪ So, she was always experimenting on me ♪
♪ Let me have the kind of childhood I wanted ♪
♪ But, oh, I didn't want it ♪
♪ No, I didn't want it ♪
♪ But that morning, my mom, well, she was gone and... ♪
‐ How much it's about all of us, like,
digging into ourselves
and, like, just finding the joy
in the things we know how to do,
and turning them into a show.
♪ I'm getting up in the morning ♪
♪ And I need to go somewhere ♪
♪ And relax my day brain ♪
♪ Just waking up ♪
♪ So the things I say don't make so much sense ♪
♪ But I know I gotta get out of the house ♪
♪ Get on the A train ♪
♪ A train ♪
‐ This shit is a hit.
[laughter] ‐ ♪ A train ♪
♪ A train ♪
‐ True came about because it just like there's
a lot of skill that's being demonstrated,
but who are we and how can we make that part of the show?
'Cause if you can have a comedy show that makes you cry,
now we're talking about something.
[laughter]
‐ All right, I think we've got it.
‐ Dime. ‐ Yeah.
The word is vibrator.
[cheers and laughter]
‐ ♪ Like my grandmom who's speaking through my soul ♪
♪ And I would let that let me walk ♪
♪ Through a lot of different doors ♪
♪ Don't you know ♪
♪ And one day I'd sit up with my best friends ♪
♪ And vibrator ♪
♪ Yes, I would ♪
♪ Vi ♪
UTKARSH: Anthony does this thing,
and he's taught me how to do it now,
to take the word and flip it.
♪ But here's the thing ♪
♪ At that time, 2005 ♪
♪ I had never ever seen him perform live ♪
♪ And then I went to Ars Nova ♪
♪ This is actually a space ♪
♪ Owned by the same theater company ♪
♪ And I placed myself like in the back row ♪
♪ 'Cause I was real cool then ♪
♪ Smoking and drinking and thinking ♪
♪ I was the sickest, my friends ♪
♪ But then, they came out on stage ♪
♪ Holy shit, the audience was amazed ♪
♪ If I had a vibe rater ♪
♪ That vibe would be higher than anything ♪
♪ It would be hotter than the equator ♪
♪ If that vibe rater really existed ♪
♪ That vibe would be tippy top ♪
♪ It got my whole mind twisted ♪
♪ So we can say ♪
♪ I love you every single day ♪
♪ The band is back to‐fucking‐gether ♪
♪ And we're here and we can play, yeah ♪
‐ Do you get any levels of stress when you go out there?
‐ I did today.
I had a slow show in the beginning.
It was like, no, the words aren't coming out,
and it's the first time that happened in this run.
‐ It's almost like speaking another language, right?
Like if you do it enough where you're immersed in it
and you, like, start dreaming in it‐‐
and I've already started.
I don't know if you have.
But when we get into a run of this,
usually by the second or third week,
I have dreams that are all in freestyle.
‐ I just‐‐the thought of‐‐
the thought of having to go out there...
'cause the thought of going out there and improvising is, like,
appealing but stressful.
But the idea of going out there and having to do it
and make it rhyme just seems mental.
It's like such a perverse bar to have set for yourselves.
‐ In terms of the lessons that freestyle teaches you,
there's plenty in here for any artist, right?
Collaboration, listening,
fearlessness, even when you're terrified.
Just sticking to it,
and you're gonna get better at it
just by getting up on stage.
There's no substitute for getting up on stage
and doing this.
We were having tennis balls thrown at us
at those late night shows in Edinburgh.
And then you just keep rapping
and you fucking throw the tennis ball back.
ANTHONY: This is our first bad press, um, here in Edinburgh.
‐ Yeah? ‐ Yeah.
‐ Luckily, it's really bad, and...
‐ Really? ‐ Is it really?
‐ Yeah, it really is. It really is.
THOMAS: I remembered you arrived the day
that a bunch of reviews came out.
And you said, "Tommy, I don't wanna do anything
"that's gonna feel like I'm intruding or invading.
This is going to be verité. I'm a fly on the wall."
Is there any world where you would read these
in front of the guys and I could roll on it.
No, it's‐‐ I would never do that.
I'm just‐‐I'm not even here.
What if you leave them on the coffee table
and the guys discover them and you have to talk about it?
‐ "Do you hoop and holler when a man in a baseball cap
"asks, 'Can you dig it?'
"Do you scream like a banshee
"when someone asks you to say, 'Yo'?
"If you're so enthralled to American hip‐hop culture,
"you might just enjoy Freestyle Love Supreme,
"an all‐male hip‐hop improvised comedy group
"from New York who make it their business
to get funky with words."
MAN: Believe it. MAN: Funky!
[overlapping chatter]
‐ We're just getting funky with words.
ANTHONY: "It's worth remembering that great rap,
"like a great symphony or opera, doesn't come easy.
"And so improvised rap is generally a matter
"of the most simple and obvious choices,
making it instantly disposable."
[laughter, cheers]
‐ That's our first bad review.
ANTHONY: ♪ Easily forgettable ♪
[rhythmically clapping]
♪ Easily forgettable ♪
‐ What? What'd you say?
ANTHONY: ♪ Easily forgettable ♪
[somber music]
♪ Easily forgettable ♪
[voices talking indistinctly]
♪ ♪
[indistinct chatter]
‐ Oh, my God. Speaking of fatty tuna.
Fucking Anthony with his [indistinct] just walked in.
Anthony throws his heart into everything he does,
and it's incredible.
I mean, his enthusiasm is just infectious
and empowers a group, I think.
‐ Because we are Freestyle Love Supreme,
ladies and gentlemen,
and my name is Two‐Touch.
I will be your host for this evening.
Thank you very much.
‐ I'd say Two‐Touch is like the daredevil
of Freestyle Love Supreme
because he's out in front.
He has to read the crowd.
He has to read us.
He's that middle man, you know?
The kid's got such a wealth of knowledge
that he‐‐he readily taps into.
‐ I don't know why, but they're just‐‐
I just remember things about certain countries,
like geography and bridges and rivers
and mountain ranges,
and it's weird.
I just noticed your button right now.
‐ Yeah.
‐ I know, but I love it.
Proud immigrant. Human. From Canada.
Where in Canada?
‐ London, Ontario. ‐ London, Ontario.
That is a tragic sight
of a giant elephant dying in the late 1800s.
That was the main attraction to Barnum and Bailey
that created the story of Dumbo.
‐ I didn't know that. ‐ London, Ontario.
That's the only reason why I know London, Ontario.
It's because of this major train accident
that happened‐‐ that killed‐‐
Jumbo was the name of the dog, or the elephant.
‐ Oh, that's sad.
‐ I know why you left now.
‐ 'Cause of Jumbo. ‐ Tragic.
THOMAS: Two‐Touch is the heart and soul.
Quite simply he is‐‐ he's the engine.
He's‐‐he's the guts and the blood
of Freestyle Love Supreme.
LIN‐MANUEL: Anthony launches into the first thing
that comes out of his mouth, and he finds that
and that connects to this, and that connects to this.
And it's really‐‐it's‐‐ it's really‐‐
we're going like this, but we meet sort of in the middle.
‐ So who would like to come up here
and share their day with us? Now‐‐
AUDIENCE MEMBER: It's my 40th birthday!
[cheers, laughter]
‐ Thank you so much! That's awesome!
Who would like to come up here
and share their day with us?
[laughter]
ANTHONY: I love it so much.
Day in the Life,
it's one of the things that I have the most fun doing,
which is bringing up a stranger and sitting them down
and helping them, A, to feel safe and comfortable
and like they're a star,
and then also find ways to sort of weave our show,
and the ethos of our show,
in throughout their lens of the day.
THOMAS: Anthony is as facile and nimble a brain and a host
as you could ever hope to imagine.
Watching him do the interview,
watching him take words from an audience,
decide where we're gonna go, navigate the group,
lead from up there.
He's so much the on‐field captain.
‐ As you make your way up here‐‐
Oh, yes, smart. Good‐‐good.
‐ Whoa, whoa, whoa! ‐ Unseen.
‐ We all saw that coming.
‐ Standard operating procedure.
UTKARSH: He chose walking up the stairs
as the time to take his sweater off.
‐ Oh, my God.
[laughter]
You're not‐‐ ‐ Not great at walking.
No worries. I'm gonna ask you to sit down.
So, let's do that.
THOMAS: The way that he kneels down
next to an audience member when he does that interview,
and he's perched there with his arm around them
and it's just like, you are so taken care of.
‐ Just to walk us through your day.
So, do you have breakfast together at some point?
‐ That's right. ‐ What'd you have?
‐ Banana smoothies.
‐ Awesome.
And that's‐‐ do you use a Vitamix?
I use a Vitamix?
‐ We can't afford that, but, like, a Ninja.
[laughter]
‐ Check your privilege, Anthony!
‐ Check your privilege.
ANTHONY: Oh, my God.
I am so white right now.
I have a Vitamix.
I totally have a Vitamix. Wakanda forever.
Okay.
[laughter]
I'm a terrible person. I'm a part of the problem.
‐ I want it. It's on my Christmas list.
‐ I know what I'm getting you. I know what I'm getting you.
Okay, so you guys use a Ninja.
You make subpar banana smoothies.
Whatever. And then is there...
‐ I think that there's something
so pleasing about that for an audience
just to give over.
"Okay, they got me."
And I think that's what he does in that moment
that is transcendent.
‐ Now, I didn't bring it up here
because I wanted to look better,
but I have a cane so I walk on a cane.
‐ Oh, a cane doesn't make you look any less appealing
than you are.
You're an amazing human being. ‐ Thank you.
Okay, but anyway, at that point...
UTKARSH: You hear the word love,
but then to see it put into practice by the guys on stage.
Anthony, specifically,
with the way that he carries the tone as the host,
and you know, that comes from Tommy in the way
that him and Lin and Anthony put the show together.
Like, it's like truly about, like, embracing
and celebrating the human experience.
‐ Well, then I thought I'd stay up
and do a crossword puzzle.
‐ Yup.
So what crossword puzzle did you do?
‐ The Sunday Times, of course.
‐ Of course!
Because‐‐it is Thursday, thank you.
Good call. Good catch. Good catch.
So, talk to me about the Thursday crossword puzzle.
Is it that you were starting it on Thursday
out of just some old habit
or is it because you've been working on it since Sunday?
‐ I've been working on it for months now.
[laughter]
‐ Okay, is that what you wanted to hear?
Is that why you were‐‐ you feel better now?
Nancy, can we hang out after this?
LIN‐MANUEL: I come home and my wife asks me
what happened at the freestyle show the night before.
On Hamilton, she didn't do that.
The show was the show.
But I would tell her
"You've got to hear this Day in the Life we got.
"Nancy Hillman. And Anthony said,
"'How long you been working on the New York times crossword?'
'For months,'" you know, and Vanessa dies laughing.
♪ ♪
She first saw me in a Freestyle Love Supreme show.
I mean, she knew of me in high school.
I was a theater nerd, and she was being cool.
Hi, I'm Lin‐Manuel Miranda,
and this is my final competition piece.
It's called Sound Laser.
But I invited her on Facebook
to a Freestyle show in Ars Nova.
We started talking then,
and then she went,
"That guy's smart. That's hard to do."
And that's how I got my wife.
♪ ♪
Hi, I'm Lin Miranda.
I'm the composer, lyricist,
and star of In the Heights and...
Hi, Amer‐‐ [chuckles]
[somber music]
♪ ♪
THOMAS: For In the Heights,
that was everything we had.
We just went like this. That's what we got.
[upbeat music plays]
‐ Yeah.
♪ ♪
‐ And when that goes back...
LIN‐MANUEL: Heights, in a very real way,
was me trying to integrate the hip‐hop
I'd listened to all my life
and grew up listening to and loving,
and matching that lyrical content
and lyrical form to musical theater storytelling.
MAN: A five, six, seven, and‐‐
‐ ♪ Well, check the technique ♪
♪ Honk your horns ♪
[vocalizing]
THOMAS: I mean, In the Heights was the first time
I was ever able to make a living as a director.
THOMAS: Lin, I was just trying to talk about you.
It's a maturity thing. I feel like when he gets there,
he's going to be a phenomenal talent.
CAMERAPERSON: One day. ‐ Yeah.
LIN‐MANUEL: We were realizing,
"Oh, this In the Heights journey
is gonna take a long time.
‐ I think the dynamic changed when In the Heights
started getting really rolling,
that Tommy, Lin, and Chris became unavailable
and started going to a whole other level
of the theater world.
‐ ♪ And I'm there ♪
♪ I'm home ♪ ALL: ♪ Home ♪
[cheers applause]
LIN‐MANUEL: It was also complicated
because Anthony was a part of In the Heights,
but also not a part of In the Heights.
Freestyle was a thing we all still shared,
and then he moved to San Francisco.
‐ When Anthony felt compelled to, you know,
go to San Francisco because his partner
was pursuing her studies
and doing something really important,
like, it's life, it's achievement.
It's‐‐it's the pursuit of the achievement.
‐ [gasps]
Whoa!
We did it! We're on your new bed!
What do you think, pickle?
Whoa!
‐ Daddy! Daddy!
‐ It's awesome!
‐ You know, we still did freestyle shows.
I can't think of a year we haven't done a freestyle.
At least one or two freestyle shows.
But it's different when your founder
is on the other side of the country.
‐ [vocalizing]
‐ The show is over.
‐ That's unusual.
Usually Chris would come out and sing.
MAN: For someone who's, like,
a big In the Heights fan,
why is it important that they sort of get what this is?
‐ Well, because they kind of happened
at the same time, right? LIN‐MANUEL: Yeah.
And they‐‐they fed each other. CHRISTOPHER: Yeah.
‐ They fed each other. I mean‐‐
Yeah, it's funny, like, when we were‐‐
when we were doing the run off‐Broadway,
and we‐‐anytime we had a chance,
and you guys were doing a show,
we would run over after our show and just come and do this.
‐ And now we're running from the theater and hop‐‐
‐ Yeah, we'd hop in a cab 'cause it's just like‐‐
it's the most freeing thing you can do.
You know, Chris is a part of Heights.
Bill is a part of Heights.
BOTH: Hi.
‐ And you're seeing us on the other side
of a lot of ups and downs
and ups and downs and ups and downs.
And then we climb back up on the diving board,
and we do more freestyle shows.
MAN: [singing indistinctly]
♪ Yes, twice as nice ♪
BILL: I think that Freestyle Love Supreme
is sort of, like, the sum of its parts
in that we all have our own careers and all our notoriety.
But it's not about the awards you've won
or the movies you've been in or whatever.
It's about these six guys with very specific talents,
like making everybody enjoy themselves.
‐ [vocalizing]
♪ ♪
♪ You don't got to be fit, y'all, come on ♪
♪ I'ma tickle you, have a ball now ♪
♪ You might find yourself in a pickle boy ♪
♪ But I'll pickle you out so you can have a bone ♪
That core of what Freestyle Love Supreme is
is always gonna seep its way
into whatever project each guy is doing.
It just‐‐it‐‐ there's no way it can't
'cause it's just so‐‐ so much a part of us.
‐ Give it up for Chris Jackson.
Whoo!
CHRISTOPHER: We were always doing this.
This was it. This was before Hamilton.
Heights doesn't happen if it really‐‐
really, if it isn't for this.
THOMAS: Yeah, just that one I guess on the top.
‐ Yeah.
♪ ♪
‐ Nervous? No.
I guess we gotta do it now, but...
‐ Yeah, we have to finish the show.
‐ All right, if you put the sign up.
You just burst into tears.
Come on. Let's go.
♪ ♪
‐ Nobody knew that Hamilton was going to be what it was.
Nobody could have known.
But as far as, like, the inside track goes,
it felt like the most brilliant thing
I've ever witnessed or been a part of.
It certainly felt like it was everything that was in Lin
that just couldn't fit the narrative of In the Heights.
‐ ♪ I'll write to Congress and tell 'em you need supplies ♪
♪ You rally the guys, master the element of surprise ♪
♪ Chicka‐boom ♪
♪ I'll rise above my station, organize your information ♪
♪ Till we rise to the occasion of our new nation, sir ♪
Okay, you'll see it on Twitter. Tag yourself.
[cheers]
♪ Rise up ♪
♪ What? ♪
‐ And is right‐hand man.
ALL: ♪ Ooh ♪
[voices fading]
[somber music]
‐ Writing Hamilton was the most frustrating
and the most cathartic thing in my life.
because I knew it was my best work,
and I knew it would be ages before it was right.
[applause]
CHRISTOPHER: You know, never at any point
when we were doing Hamilton
did I ever look at Tommy and be like,
"Well, Freestyle's dead. We're never going to do that."
A very difficult time for all of us
in the freestyle, you know,
in the collective if you will,
a distant time.
We were over here, like,
we jumped on another rocket ship.
♪ ♪
ANTHONY: I'm not a part of the Hamilton journey.
Part of it was I was gone.
I'd moved away, you know, I was living in San Francisco.
‐ You know, Anthony and I have, in some way,
you know, the furthest reach back
and then the most divergent path
'cause when he left, he was the person that
I was with all the time and then I was with not at all.
ANTHONY: I didn't have a regular interaction with him.
And then something had kind of...
just ceased to exist between us anymore.
‐ In a way, it's like the furthest I felt from Anthony.
You know, I just‐‐I‐‐
it had been the most time I spent away from him.
I'd really been spending so much time
working this other thing with a couple people
he's enormously close to also with Lin and Chris.
And I just felt a lot of that distance.
ANTHONY: So, I saw Hamilton at the Public.
And I sent Tommy an email the next day,
and I mentioned one or two thoughts that I had.
‐ He gave me his thoughts on my show
the day before the show was freezing.
It doesn't mean I don't value his opinion,
but if I want his opinion, I'll just say,
"Hey, can you tell me what you think about this?"
That's not what I needed then.
I needed him to say, "This is fantastic.
I'm so proud of you guys."
ANTHONY: Tommy and I had a pretty big falling out.
We had a major difference around how we wanted
each other to‐‐to be inside of a friendship.
And we couldn't‐‐we couldn't find the common ground.
‐ And I remember talking to him after that
and acknowledging that our relationship changed.
That he was someone who was incredibly close to me,
who was a mentor for me, who pulled me into this.
And I didn't need mentors in that same way anymore.
I needed to be peers with. I needed to be equals to.
And when‐‐you know, the way you identify a relationship
is often how it can stay,
and our relationship had evolved.
Nothing would ever erase the things that are true
about who he is to me,
who he will be, who he was,
what his impact was in the trajectory of my life.
And my love for him has never diminished
and would never diminish and I wanted to tell him that,
but I also need to say, "But this is who I am now."
ANTHONY: There's been a major change.
Whether it's on his end or my end,
I'm not sure, but my heart center is my family.
And all the choices that I've made were to support them.
LIN‐MANUEL: Are we in the Rose Garden right now?
OBAMA: We are.
Yeah, it must be a little nerve‐wracking.
I hope I don't drop these cards.
You ready? We're getting the cue?
‐ During that very heated 2015, 2016,
when Hamilton went from the thing
that everyone was whispering about
to the thing that everyone was shouting about.
BOTH: [vocalizing]
‐ But Hamilton is a unicorn, and it just‐‐just‐‐
there's no way to quantify or qualify the effect
that it's still having.
LIN‐MANUEL: I was sort of cocooned from it
'cause I'm still doing seven shows a week,
and so I can't go out to the parties I'm being invited to.
I got two shows tomorrow.
I already knew who I was by the time Hamilton came out.
I think it's hard when you get hit with that wave
and you don't have your shit figured out yet.
MAN: It's a hoodie. Zip it up.
UTKARSH: ♪ I met a gypsy and she hipped me ♪
♪ To some life game ♪
♪ To stimulate then activate the left and right brain ♪
LIN‐MANUEL: You know, U. T. K. was our Burr
in many incarnations
because he's got the singing and the rapping
and the ability to really act
that we needed, which is a high bar.
‐ Lin came to me,
and maybe this wouldn't have panned out in the long run,
but Lin sort of came to me with the role of Aaron Burr.
And we did it at Lincoln Center.
And then we did it New York Stage and Film.
But the most important things for me at the time
were the party.
I was fully and utterly
a husk of a person.
♪ ♪
Don't film these guys.
At that point, my alcohol use was like,
I couldn't deal and I couldn't execute the way
that they needed me to, and I had to step away.
And then Hamilton drops and it's like, it's everywhere.
It's ubiquitous, and it's a phenomenon.
And it's such an interesting feeling to love people so much
and to be so happy for their success,
and to be‐‐feel apart of, really.
Because like Lin and Tommy, Chris, Daveed,
I felt taken care of every step of the way by them.
♪ But here's something that I found was true ♪
♪ I couldn't stop drinking whiskey every single day ♪
♪ Deep down, I knew I had to stop it ♪
♪ I was falling they saw me dropping ♪
♪ Out of the cot ♪
♪ They saw me falling with no parachute ♪
♪ Pair of dudes saw me falling ♪
♪ And apparently, I couldn't carry the weight ♪
♪ Upon my shoulders and probably... ♪
‐ And it really was a moment that changed his life.
What happened and what didn't happen with that show.
‐ And the positive thing is‐‐is like,
"Hey man, like, how come you don't pick up a drink?"
"Well, let me tell you about
this little thing called Hamilton."
It's a wonderful, beautiful gift that God gave me
or the universe that's like,
"Hey man, if you ever need a reason to like stay on a path,
"that is one of integrity and self‐care
"and of being connected to the people around you, it's there.
It'll be there for all of time."
♪ But now I'm making a new way and that pain is over ♪
♪ I'm four years sober and living wonderfully ♪
They're family. They've been there for me.
I mean, it's an exceptional connection.
♪ But anyway, these days when I'm in pain ♪
♪ No drinking, no smoking ♪
♪ Just some water and two ibuprofen ♪
[cheers]
‐ ♪ Ibuprofen ♪
THOMAS: Now, seeing him with that skill
as much life as he's lived
in what he's chasing now on stage is really elevated.
And so I feel like in some way he might have the largest arc
in this group of where he started and where he is now.
ALL: True!
[cheers]
[gentle music]
♪ ♪
WOMAN: Step up there, man.
I moved it to the trash area, because...
[continues indistinctly]
♪ ♪
ANDREW: It's just, like‐‐ I could go through
every person in this group and just be like, "Oh my God."
It's just like, "I get to rap with heroes."
[indistinct chatter]
LIN‐MANUEL: I feel like everyone knew how rare it was
that we were even getting to do it.
And I always want it to feel like that.
It felt like "pinch me" for the whole month.
That's the circumstances under which I wanna keep doing,
'cause none of us has to do it.
Everyone's got very full lives.
But life's a little better when we do it.
MAN: Good. How are you? ‐ Good.
MAN: Happy last one. ‐ Happy last one.
♪ It's everything we've worked for now ♪
UTKARSH: Wanna see the fastest signature?
Watch. Ready?
Swoop. U. T. K.
And then I'm gonna just do...
Tommy Kail. Done.
[laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
ANTHONY: [vocalizing]
CHRIS: I hope that the energy from all of us
and this whole movement is enough to inspire other people
to start similar movements.
That if it's not Freestyle Love Supreme,
it's letting the world know
that something like this is possible.
‐ "Shockwave is important" on three.
‐ No, like a final‐‐
Let's do a final, this is our last show, something else.
CHRISTOPHER: "This is the last show.
Shockwave, you are so important."
One, two, three. ALL: This is the last show.
Shockwave, you are so important.
‐ On three! [laughter]
ANTHONY: This is different for us, too.
It's our last show of the entire run.
So, thank you so very much for being the last audience.
‐ What?
UTKARSH: I think we all love it.
We love it so much and we need it.
JAMES: You have to let yourself be in the moment.
Well, we could take a story someplace
and it doesn't have to have a punchline.
We just took it someplace that takes the audience
on a journey and they are satisfied with that journey
and so are we.
It just feels good.
‐ This is already amazing.
You had an epileptic German Shepherd named Ramona.
‐ [indistinct]
‐ Yup, obviously.
You accidentally opened the front door.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I was ten, and she got hit by a car.
‐ You were ten, and she got hit by a car.
‐ Oh, my God. ‐ She didn't die.
‐ [indistinct] ‐ And she lived to be 19.
Well, that story has a little bit
of a happy ending to it, doesn't it?
‐ ♪ Yeah, right now I am ♪
♪ Home alone and doing it my own thing ♪
♪ With my Ramona, yeah ♪
♪ Oh, Ramona ♪
♪ She's so great, you see ♪
♪ The only problem is she suffers from epilepsy ♪
♪ Which means she gets to wiggling from now and again ♪
♪ And then she gets to shaking ♪
♪ Oh, what a pain ♪
♪ And I don't have any other siblings ♪
♪ So she's kinda my sister... ♪
THOMAS: When I'm watching the show and I see, you know,
MacArthur Genius Award winner on all fours
playing an epileptic dog in Arizona,
I feel like we've done exactly the right thing.
‐ [howls]
[laughter and applause]
‐ It's really, really good to be back home, you know,
with all of it, 'cause this is
kinda like the nucleus of all of that creative energy.
ALL: ♪ Ladies and gents, we want to thank you all ♪
♪ For coming out this evening ♪
♪ Coming out this evening, this evening ♪
♪ 'Cause we are Freestyle Love Supreme ♪
♪ ♪
[acoustic guitar music]
♪ ♪
LIN‐MANUEL: All we've got on stage is...
our lives and each other.
♪ ♪
The feeling of freestyling and trading too
backstage before we go on,
that all feels exactly the same.
The only thing that's changed
is we just have that much more history.
We have that much more life to draw from.
♪ ♪
I have this weird memory of, like,
standing in my hallway mirror
when I was ten years old.
Like looking at myself, I am three feet all.
I have a bowl haircut.
And just being, like,
"Never forget this moment."
♪ ♪
[hip‐hop music]
[indistinct chatter]
NEWS ANCHOR: More than 15 years later,
the hip‐hop improv group
has taken over Broadway's famous Booth Theater.
The show is called Freestyle Love Supreme.
Lin‐Manuel Miranda is here. Christopher Jackson is here.
[excited chatter]
MAN: [rapping indistinctly]
♪ ♪
[excited chatter]
JIMMY FALLON: Now here are our performers,
Broadway's Freestyle Love Supreme...
‐ Ahh.
FALLON: Let's hear it for our performers,
Broadway's Freestyle Love Supreme.
[overlapping chatter]
FALLON: Oh, my goodness!
ALL: [rapping indistinctly]
FALLON: Wow!
You can catch Freestyle Love Supreme
now at the Booth Theater.
Yeah, get a standing O. Why not?
[indistinct chatter]
[somber music]
♪ ♪
‐ Right there? ‐ Yes.
‐ Thank you.
ANEESA: Broadway has been a dream
for a long‐ass time for me.
For this to be my debut,
I could have never imagined.
But this is true, it's real life,
and I am playing on stage with these people
that I've looked up to for the longest time.
That means so much to me,
and it's been a beautiful experience.
‐ [indistinct] ‐ Have fun out there.
♪ ♪
‐ [humming]
[water running]
‐ Michael, how have you been?
UTKARSH: ♪ I met a gypsy and she hipped me ♪
ALL: ♪ To some life game ♪
UTKARSH: ♪ To stimulate then activate the left and ♪
ALL: ♪ Right brain ♪
UTKARSH: ♪ Said baby boy you only funky as your ♪
ALL: ♪ Last cut ♪
UTKARSH: ♪ You focus on the past your ass'll be a ♪
ALL: ♪ Has what ♪
♪ I try to just throw it at you ♪
♪ Determine your own adventure Andre ♪
♪ Got to her station here's my destination ♪
‐ Oh, wow.
‐ Broadway, guys. What the fuck?
ALL: I got your back. I got your back.
I got your back.
‐ I got your back too.
UTKARSH: Let's do this.
Look at you.
‐ Look at you. ‐ Back where you started.
‐ Got me going. ‐ I'm as God made me, sir.
[all talking at once]
‐ As God made me. ‐ Is your mic on?
‐ Monday night, seven p. m.
‐ Ooh, yeah.
‐ All right, I think‐‐ I think they can hear us.
The mics are on, so let's do this.
‐ Let's go. ‐ Mic check on three.
Y'all ready? ‐ Uh‐huh.
‐ One, two, three‐‐
[funky music]
SINGER: ♪ Ladies and gentlemen ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Ladies and gentlemen ♪
‐ All right, so let's take Freestyle Love Supreme.
‐ Okay.
♪ It's like 10 or 11 years ago ♪
♪ These four met at Wesleyan University ♪
♪ Though I wasn't there, I was at NYU ♪
♪ Doing just what I do, spitting rhymes here for you ♪
♪ But then they moved to New York ♪
♪ And then they started going, wouldn't stop ♪
♪ They did a show at the Drama Book Workshop ♪
♪ Yeah, Tommy and Anthony had a production company ♪
♪ Called Back House ♪
♪ What the heck is that about? ♪
♪ Anyway, at the same time ♪
♪ Lin was writing In the Heights ♪
♪ Where he met C‐Jack, and C‐Jack could flow too ♪
♪ So they decided to go too, and do a show or two ♪
♪ At this place called [indistinct] ♪
♪ They were spitting rhythms ♪
♪ That's where they met Shockwave, AKA Chris Sullivan ♪
♪ He was running it, rumbling, and struggling ♪
♪ At the time was an artist ♪
♪ But he could take the beat farther ♪
♪ So they got together and enter Arthur ♪
♪ Arthur and Lin went to school together, man ♪
♪ Went to third grade, high school, all of it ♪
♪ Then they met me ♪
♪ I was doing a show of my own ♪
♪ And then they heard I rocked upon the microphone ♪
♪ And Lin needed a replacement for doing this shit ♪
♪ And I could rap off the face, man, so I could spit ♪
♪ And then I joined the group in like '05 or '06 ♪
♪ And I've been doing this shit though ever since ♪
♪ These are my friends, we do the television ♪
♪ We spitting rhythms ♪
♪ I'm the one and only Indian revving his engine ♪
♪ Getting your attention ♪
♪ And I love you guys, gentlemen ♪
♪ Did I mention anything else? ♪
♪ I think that's it, love you ♪
[cheers and applause]
♪ And Bill ♪
[laughter]
[gentle music]
♪ ♪
[seagulls calling]