Hamilton's Christopher Jackson Freestyle Raps for Charity

December 17, 2015 - Alumni, Featured

Christopher Jackson’s spitting rhymes for charity.

At the 27th annual Gypsy of the Year Competition, Hamilton star and AMDA alum Jackson took the stage with Lin Manuel Miranda and Wayne Brady in a freestyle rap session before a cheering audience. The competition, wherein Broadway stars (including several AMDA alums) came together to present original songs, musical numbers and skits, raised $4.79 million over the course of six weeks for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. As the beat drops, Jackson, Miranda and Brady rose to the challenge of spontaneously creating flowing rhymes using such words as succubus, sarsaparilla, tsunami and plotz (the Yiddish word for being overwhelmed by excitement, fatigue, etc.). The rap session won “Best Onstage Presentation.”

The three acting titans are no stranger to freestyle rap: Jackson and Miranda once performed together in the improv hip-hop group Freestyle Love Supreme, and now spit rhymes side-by-side as George Washington and Alexander Hamilton (respectively) in Broadway’s musical sensation Hamilton. Brady, who currently stars as Lola in Broadway’s Kinky Boots, has made musical improv the pillar of his career, most notably during his time starring in the hit improv comedy series “Who’s Line Is It, Anyway?”