Lin-Manuel Miranda Unearths New Mobb Deep Song For 'Hamildrop' Series

Lin-Manuel Miranda has given hip-hop fans a belated blessing for this month's Hamilton-themed Hamildrop track. "Boom Goes The Cannon...," by legendary rap pair Mobb Deep, is the latest in a canon of new releases related to the Tony-winning musical.

The gruff and gritty track showcases the Queens duo at its peak, with a revelatory air; though the track starts with elegant strings, Prodigy and Havoc's signature flows soon come in under a booming bass.

"We grew up in the slums, broke bread together / When worse came to worse, rode out the weather / Had faith, knew it couldn't be this bad forever / And once the sun shined, it could only get better," Havoc rhymes in the first verse.

This verse harkens back to the duo's earliest days of spitfire bars over menacing, head-knocking beats. Who would have thought it would be a Hamilton one-off to inspire hip-hop fans to reminisce? The release is especially timely considering the track arrives just a few days shy of the one-year anniversary of Prodigy's death. When Miranda shared the song on Twitter, he wrote: "Rest in peace, Prodigy. Thank you Havoc."

Miranda's Hamildrops have come from a wide range of artists, from the Broadway musical's past castmembers to the The Decemberists, from 'Weird Al' Yankovic to (another patron saint of Queens rap) Nas.

Fans of the rap-inspired historical musical will soon get to see Miranda in the lead once again — auditions have started for the production in Puerto Rico.

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