pplpod Episode 87 follows Lin-Manuel Miranda’s leap from Washington Heights rehearsal rooms to a cultural reset on the biggest stages. We trace the college sketch that became In the Heights, its salsa/hip-hop heartbeat, and the translation of neighborhood into Tony wins. Then the pivot: years of reading, demos, and workshop grind that forged Hamilton—a mixtape of founding politics, wordplay, and musical theater craft that reintroduced history through hooks and point of view. We dig into the toolbox: internal rhymes as character notes, motif as argument, and casting as thesis. Beyond Broadway, we map film scores and songs (Moana, Encanto), acting and producing turns, the Hamildrop ecosystem, and the community-minded hustle (benefits, scholarships, #EduHam) that kept the work porous and live. Influence, backlash, ...