Remember that time Lin-Manuel Miranda rapped about feminism to the beats by Emma Watson? Yea, that happened in celebration of International Women's Day and for UN Women's He for She campaign.
Just take a few minutes and enjoy.
Emma Watson, Drop The BeatAnd here's a SHORT clip of Emma Watson beatboxing while I freestyle about #HeForShe, if you only have 3 minutes. This was so fun.
Posted by Lin-Manuel Miranda on Thursday, March 17, 2016
Miranda is best known for writing the music, lyrics, and story for Hamilton. He is also the star of the musical that retells the story of many of the US Founding Fathers that is taking Broadway by storm.
For those of you not already in the know, Miranda is making appearances all over the place to promote the musical and show off some of his freestyle skills. He hung out at the White House with a pretty special assistant.
And went on Fallon.
Most of his appreances are in good fun and a way to show off one of the finest artistic talents in the US. (Did I already mention that Hamilton is fantastic? Did you know you can listen to it on Spotify and other places?)
Back to being serious. In the video with Emma Watson, after she gets over her nerves about beatboxing, Miranda offers a quick ditty making the case for gender equality
"Yo, it's Lin and I have to laugh, how can we not be equal, we're like half. Like women are half of the people on Earth," he raps. "And yes they should've been equal since birth. That means all day, every day, equal pay, every way."
It is not all that complicated of an idea. What is even more powerful, and subtle, is that Miranda quickly affirms that he identifies as a femnist when asked by Watson. In some circles the F-word is still taboo, but Miranda does not shy away. And let's not forget that the video, which has more than 3 million views already, is an endorsement of the He for She campaign and all that it stands for.
By being a little bit silly, Miranda helped create a viral video that elevates feminism to an audience of people who may not have paid attention to the campaign before.