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Riz Ahmed teamed up with Lin-Manuel Miranda for a music video about immigrants and it's magical

Riz Ahmed teamed up with Lin-Manuel Miranda for a music video about immigrants and it's magical

Miranda, the creator of Hamilton, is calling it a "musical counterweight" to the U.S. political debate on immigration,
29 Jun, 2017

"Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda on Wednesday released what he called a "musical counterweight" to the U.S. political debate on immigration, inspired by one of the best-known lines from his award-winning, racially diverse Broadway musical.

The video "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)" portrays refugees and immigrants from around the world in camps, garment sweatshops, fruit-picking fields and crowded trains. It is accompanied by a new song, set to rap lyrics, about their struggles, setbacks and contributions to society.

The line "Immigrants, we get the job done" brings rousing applause on Broadway, where "Hamilton" has been playing to sold-out audiences for two years. The hip-hop infused musical uses a racially diverse cast that includes African-American and Latino actors to tell the story of how penniless immigrant Alexander Hamilton rose to become the right hand man of General George Washington.

Miranda, a Pulitzer Prize and Tony award winner of Puerto Rican descent, said the video was intended as a riposte to a crackdown on illegal immigrants by President Donald Trump's administration and his bid to ban travel to the United States by people from six predominantly Muslim states.

"This election cycle has brought xenophobia and vilification of immigrants back to the forefront of US politics. This is a musical counterweight," Miranda wrote in a commentary on the music community website Genius.com.

The video begins with scenes of immigrants huddled around a radio where a speaker is saying, "It's really astonishing that in a country founded by immigrants, immigrant has somehow become a bad word."

The rappers, including British Rogue One actor Riz Ahmed, sing verses in English and Spanish, with a chorus of "Look how far I come, Immigrants, we get the job done."

Hamilton won 11 Tony awards in 2016 and has productions already or about to open in San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and London.

The Broadway cast caused a stir when it addressed newly elected U.S. Vice President Mike Pence from the stage when he attended a performance days after the November 2016 election, expressing alarm over the possible loss of protection of diversity rights.

Pence said he was not offended, but Trump called the cast "very rude" and deemed the show "highly overrated."

Comments

Sharique - Munich Jun 29, 2017 06:48pm
really really amazing!!! great effort. It takes being an IMMIGRANT to understand the pains!
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Tehreem Jun 29, 2017 07:06pm
This song is from the Hamilton mixtape which has songs from the musical sung by popular musicians.
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user Jun 29, 2017 08:11pm
Great spirit guys keep up the good work
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Waqar (UK) Jun 30, 2017 12:50am
Great cinematography and song lyrics, but not the best of vocals especially by Riza Ahmed. His rapping style just does not have the hard hitting rapture for such a serious subject. He has too much of a soft Cockney accent. I prefer the older song 'Walou' by Danish group Outlandish which tackles a young immigrant trying to make it to Europe, but ultimately fails.
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Khwarizmi Jun 30, 2017 01:01am
Being a devils advocate, I was hoping Pakistan would be added to the list for a nymbet of reasons where the four major reasons are: 1. Termination of NATO supply lines to which we are not getting fullt compensated for 2. Termination of the toxic "aid" which is doing more harm then good 3. Termination of our leaders finding a safe heaven in USA 4. Termination of American defence equipment as Pakistan must move on from an unreliable parter who we can not count on when trouble comes
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Khwarizmi Jun 30, 2017 10:14am
Rizwan Khan is a great entertainer. He can rap and he can act (In the Night of, Star Wars). Hope to see him in more Hollywood projects.
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