Lin-Manuel Miranda

Released: January 8, 2012

I am not throwin' away my... shot
I am not throwin' away my... shot
Hey, yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy, and hungry
And I'm not throwin' away my shot

I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory
When's it's gonna get me? In my sleep? Seven feet ahead of me?
If I see it comin', do I run or do I let it be?
Is it like a beat without a melody?
See, I never thought I'd live past twenty

Where I come from some get half as many
Ask anybody why we livin' fast, and we laugh, reach for a flask
We have to make this moment last, and that's plenty
Scratch that: This is not a moment, it's a movement
Where all the hungriest brothers with something to prove went
Foes oppose us
We take an honest stand and roll like Moses, claimin' our Promised Land

And, if we win our independence
Is that a guarantee of freedom for our descendants?
Or will the blood we shed begin an endless cycle of vengeance and death with no defendants?
I know the action in the street is exciting
But Jesus, between all the bleedin' and fightin' I've been readin' and writin'
We need to handle our financial situation
Are we a nation of states? What's the state of our nation?
I'm past patiently waiting! I'm passionately smashin' every expectation
Every action's an act of creation
I'm laughin' in the face of casualties and sorrow
For the first time I'm thinkin' past tomorrow

And I am not throwin' away my... shot
I am not throwin' away my... shot
Hey, yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy, and hungry
And I'm not throwin' away my... shot

Lin-Manuel Miranda is an award-winning American writer, composer, playwright, and actor. He created and starred in two hit musicals, In the Heights and Hamilton (2015), an epic adaptation of Ron Chernow’s biography of the American founding father. Miranda also co-wrote the music and lyrics for Disney’s Moana (2016). The film’s main theme, “How Far I’ll Go”, was nominated for the 2017 Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Personally, Miranda has received a Pulitzer Prize for Drama (Hamilton), three Tony Awards (Best Original Score for both ITH and Hamilton, Best Book of a Musical for Hamilton), two Grammys (Best Musical Theatre Album ITH, Hamilton), and an Emmy (Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for “Bigger”). He was the recipient of the 2015 MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant”. He has a star on the Puerto Rican Walk of Fame and will receive a Hollywood star in 2018.

Awards for musicals

more tracks from the album

Hamilton Apocrypha

From the album

Hamilton Apocrypha

Lin-Manuel Miranda popular songs

The Hamilton Mixtape (Chris Hayes Excerpt)Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Hamilton Apocrypha