The film adaptation of In The Heights from Lin-Manuel Miranda is a joyous spectacle of singing, dancing, and asserting your dignity in small ways.

Topics discussed:

• There are multiple elements of hip-hop culture present in the film - and the rapping is on point. 
• Several Latin cultures are represented, showing the diversity of Washington Heights. 
• The vocal talent is top notch and the dancing and choreography sizzle. 
• The film weaves in serious elements that give the light and bright storytelling some drama and weight. 
• There are multiple story lines, all tied towards a common theme of realizing dreams.   

Also check out:

Our episode on Hamilton

Credits

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs JB, BooGie, and DynoWright. Theme music by BooGie. Follow @hiphopmovieclub on Instagram!

And remember:

Don't hate...radiate!

Mentioned in this episode:

8 Mile Promo at SteelStacks

The next installment of our Hip Hop Movie Club film series at SteelStacks in Bethlehem is 8 Mile! Come out to the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas on Thursday, September 19th at 6:45pm, for a throwback DJ set by ARM 18, a special live performance by Allentown's own Mac Vill, 8 Mile on the big screen, and an exclusive video interview with Craig G of the legendary Juice Crew. Tickets at SteelStacks.org.

Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club, the show

that harmonizes the rhythm of hip hop with

2

the magic of movies.

3

Today we're discussing the movie

adaptation of Lin -Manuel Miranda's In the

4

Heights.

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We are three old heads who put their old

heads together to vibe on these films for

6

you.

7

I'm DynoWright Wright, podcaster,

filmmaker, longtime hip hop fan.

8

And the last thing I got digging in the

crates this week is a copy of Rappin'

9

Rodney, a rap song by Rodney Dangerfield

10

I get no respect.

11

Nice one.

12

I'm JB, 80s and 90s nostalgia junkie, long

time hip hop fan.

13

I'm already jonesing right now for a

rematch in NBA Jam versus Boogie, who just

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beat me with his Denver Nuggets squad

against my Seattle Supersonics.

15

It was all Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

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I'm Boogie, a DJ, long time hip hop fan,

and I'm feeling pretty energized.

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Coming off of our HHMC retreat this past

weekend.

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Yeah.

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In this episode, we'll answer the

question, which elements of hip hop

20

culture are on display in In the Heights?

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And we'll give you five key takeaways to

make you a smarter hip hop movie fan.

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In the Heights is the story of a young

bodega owner, Usnavi Navi, and his

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suenito, little dream, of moving back to

his homeland of the Dominican Republic and

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restoring his late father's business.

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We also see the story of his very tight

-knit community of friends and extended

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family trying to achieve their own

suenitos, such as Kevin Rosario and his

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daughter Nina, Benny, Vanessa, Sonny,

Abuela, and others.

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Washington Heights is alive with the pride

of Latin culture in this film.

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There are five things you need to know

about In the Heights.

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Number one, there are multiple elements of

hip hop culture present in the film and

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the rapping is on point.

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Number two, several Latin cultures are

represented showing the diversity of

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Washington Heights.

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Number three, the vocal talent is top

notch and the dancing and choreography

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sizzle.

36

Number four, the film weaves in serious

elements that give the light and bright

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storytelling some drama and weight.

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And number five,

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There are multiple storylines all tied

towards the common theme of realizing

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dreams.

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Right on.

42

Boogie, why don't you kick us off and talk

about the multiple elements of hip hop

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culture that were present in In The

Heights.

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Yeah, so In the Heights the predominant

element that we see on display in this

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movie is emceeing.

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There's various songs throughout

the film in which we see Usnavi Sonny, and

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a couple other characters.

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They're just emceeing different things

that are going on throughout the film.

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And it's not just the typical rap that we

see, like something on the radio, they're

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actually rapping through

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what's going on at the moment.

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Kind of very similar to Hamilton as, you

know, this was by the same person who did

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Hamilton, Lin -Manuel Miranda.

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So it's a very similar style to how

Hamilton was as far as each character

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having the ability to pretty much rock a

mic, if you will, throughout the film.

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There's also graffiti is present

throughout the film as well.

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There's a character, Graffiti Pete, he's

introduced

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pretty early in the film, we see him

tagging, Usnavi's bodega, and Usnavi

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chasing him away, because he's trying to

steal something.

60

But then you see him throughout the film

tagging murals and things like that.

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And he also ends up in the end of the

movie, having a pretty impactful part of

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the movie.

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I'm not going to give too much away with

that, but just keep in mind that he's a

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very important character in the end of the

movie.

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We also see

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breakdancing, not a whole lot of it, but I

did catch there was a blackout that does

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occur in the movie because it's one of the

hottest times of the year in New York

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City.

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And what happens when it's hot in New York

City?

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We get a blackout.

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And during the blackout, several of the

members of the community gather fireworks

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to light the area up to illuminate and

make it safe and beautiful so that people

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can kind of calm down and focus on the

fireworks instead of the lack of

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electricity.

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And during that montage, we do see several

characters, background characters break

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dancing throughout the film.

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The one element that we were struggling to

find was the DJ, which, you know, I'm used

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to it, so it doesn't bother me much.

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The DJ never gets any play.

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The DJ never gets any play, but I mean,

they were in a club, so I mean, it had to

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be a DJ playing at some point, but we

don't see him.

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That's true.

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Good point.

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so those are the elements that we see

throughout the film.

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I think you nailed it.

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DynoWright, right, anything else that you

picked up on in terms of the hip hop

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elements?

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Boogie really covered it.

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I think at one point the manhole cover, he

sort of scratched, does he scratch it or

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something?

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There's something with it and so

there's...

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stuck in gum and he's telling the story to

the little ones in the beginning and it

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kind of swivels and makes a record scratch

sound.

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That's sort of there.

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Yeah.

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I mean, I just want to expand a little bit

about the genius that Lin -Manuel Miranda

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is.

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I'm a Lin -Manuel Miranda stan.

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I'm an In the Heights stan, so that's

going to kind of spoiler alert for my

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review.

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But these songs were so well crafted.

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As you know, Lin -Manuel Miranda does his

homework as he does with Hamilton.

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He takes elements from other well -known

rappers and he weaves them in.

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A couple of songs I wanted to point out,

which I implore you listeners to go out

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and listen on Spotify or look at the

videos on YouTube, but Benny on the

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Dispatch, you have Corey Hawkins playing

the role of Benny.

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He works at Kevin Rosario's.

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taxi company and he's a dispatch.

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And the way he gives the traffic report

and he's gyrating, dancing, and you can't

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help but smile and get into it.

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It's just a couple of lyrics.

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It's like, okay, we got traffic on the

west side, get off at 79th and take the

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left side, riverside.

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He's talking about Big Papi in town for

the weekend.

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He weaves in something about the Jacob

Javits Center.

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He's giving all these landmarks within the

city and he's making it lively and fun.

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And at that point,

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At one point within that, towards the end

of it, Nina comes in and she takes over

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and she bellows out a great hello and gets

on the mic like she used to do when she

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was younger for her father.

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That was awesome.

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I love that so much.

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And then the other song with a lot of hip

hop that I really enjoy was 96 ,000 when

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they're talking about someone had won the

lottery, a lottery ticket, a winning

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ticket was sold at their store.

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And I won't get into, you know, where that

ends up and everything, but

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That song with the back and forth with the

characters, Usnavi and Benny and even

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Graffiti Pete is in that and they're going

back and forth talking about braggadocio

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and other pop culture references.

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I absolutely love the way they did that.

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Other than that, I think you covered all

the elements there very nicely, Boogie, so

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thank you for that.

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Benny was like the Weather Adam atom of

cab dispatchers.

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You know who Weather Adam is on Instagram.

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That's right.

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Weather Adam.

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That's good.

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The second takeaway is that, and it's

obvious throughout that Lin -Manuel

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Miranda had this as a mission to represent

multiple Latin cultures.

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So there were several Latin cultures that

were represented and it shows the

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diversity of Washington Heights.

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DynoWright, you wanna talk a little bit

about a couple of the cultures

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represented?

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Sure.

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We have at least Puerto Rico and the

Dominican and Cuba represented here.

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Most of the characters.

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Usnavi is Dominican and Abuela is Cuban.

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And I think the Rosarios are from Puerto

Rico.

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Is that?

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Yeah, right.

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So I'm sure I'm missing other ones, but

there's other in there.

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Vanessa is a mix, I think, of a few

different cultures.

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Yeah, those were all represented.

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And when they have the song about raising

the flag, I think it's in the Barrio,

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Carnival de Barrio, and they're talking

about raise the flag of Puerto Rico, in

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Spanish, they're saying raise the flag of

Cuba, raise the flag of Dominican.

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It's pretty powerful the way they do that.

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Yeah, they're all living together in this

town and weave together and they get

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together for festive meals and you can see

again, LMM as I call him, he does his

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homework.

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And he has

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Beautiful.

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There's stitching that you see.

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They came from Cuba.

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There's the food and all the elements of

the various cultures.

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There's the food and all the elements of

the various cultures.

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Boogie, anything to expand upon the Latin

cultures as they're represented here?

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I mean, there definitely are other

cultures in there blended in because some

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Washington Heights in the movie has become

a melting pot.

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So even though there's certain, there's

others that probably weren't mentioned,

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the influence is definitely there.

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I mean, you can see it in the food, in the

music, the song selection, the way they

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carry themselves, even the family

orientedness of them.

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gathering together, even though they

weren't all related by blood.

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That's a deep, a deep rooted Latin thing

I've noticed, you know, from several

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friends, they stick together.

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But yeah, I think it was very well done in

that aspect of showing just how all of the

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cultures, even with the differences, you

see the similarities, because they're all

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blending together really well.

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Yeah, I will add that LMM did get some

criticism for not having enough or any

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darker skinned Afro -Latino actors, which

he owned up to actually and took

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responsibility and promised to do better

next time.

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Yeah.

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LMM himself is Puerto Rican in case folks

didn't know, but he also has some traces

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of Mexican and African American ancestry

as well.

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So his background is primarily Puerto

Rican, just as a background for listeners

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here.

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Okay.

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Yeah, I can see why he took a little bit

of heat on that.

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I think there was one part that I

remember, I can't remember the name of the

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song, but they were talking about, they

mentioned the Tainos.

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For our listeners, the Tainos are the

Native Americans that were in that area of

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the Caribbean when the explorers were

coming over to the new world.

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There were Taino.

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Native Americans there.

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And also to expand a little further,

slavery didn't just exist in the United

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States.

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It also existed throughout the Caribbean.

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So they were influxing large numbers of

Africans to that area as well.

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And then you have the Spanish speaking

Europeans who were in that area.

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So you get a mix.

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You get a mix of the cultures together and

that's

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what gives Puerto Rico its flavor and also

Cuba and the Dominican Republic, which

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actually is split between on one island is

Haiti is on the other side of the island.

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So they're very similar in how they carry

themselves in appearance as well from, you

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know, the lightest light to the darkest

dark and everything in between.

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Right.

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The third takeaway we had is about the

vocal talent and the dance and

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choreography.

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So the vocal talent is top -notch.

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The dancing and choreography sizzle on the

screen here.

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Boogie, you want to talk a little bit

about that as well?

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Well, yeah, the songs were amazing.

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First of all, I didn't realize that

Melissa Barrera could sing.

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I mean, I love her.

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I mean, I've seen her in a bunch of stuff.

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And I was like, she can sing?

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But it was good, though.

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And I think the songs were amazing.

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I mean, the vocal talent was definitely

top notch.

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And it was good to see that

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there was a nice compliment to the MCing.

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So you see there's rapping going on.

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And it's good to have that counterbalance

of

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the good, strong vocal talent.

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So, but yeah, it was good.

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I enjoyed it.

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And also the dancing and choreography, you

know, I enjoyed that club scene, that

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Latin club scene.

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It took me back to the 90s and the early

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and it was just amazing.

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And I was like kind of like moving along

with it as they were dancing because I

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really love to dance to those.

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to that music.

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So it was good that they had that in there

as well.

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And we mentioned the break dancing as

well, you know, briefly, but yeah, I think

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even this ensemble as the characters were

singing the songs and as you know, the

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ensemble cast in the background, the

choreography was very tight.

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I mean, it was almost like...

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granted, it was based off of the Broadway

play, but it was almost like watching a

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Broadway play in the live action realm,

because you could see the tight Broadway

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style choreography throughout the film.

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Yeah, Melissa Barrera's song, she played

the role of Vanessa.

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The song, It Won't Be Long Now, that

really struck a chord with me.

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She's talking about the elevator train and

her apartment and the guys in the street

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whistling at her.

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And what I really love about this play is,

well, right from the beginning, it drew me

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in with the hip hop and the rap.

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And there's a lot of character development

that occurs right away through that.

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You know, this is Abuela, it's not really

their Abuela, you know, the block is her

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Escuela.

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And this is Sonny, my cousin, and I was

like, man, I'm drawn right in.

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I'm like, this is awesome.

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I'm enjoying the music.

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I'm learning about the characters.

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Let's go.

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But the vocal talent, Melissa Barrera,

Corey Hawkins, as I mentioned, with the

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dispatch, he weaves in both

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the rapping

and the singing.

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He shows his vocal range.

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He has such infectious energy.

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As you mentioned, the club scene.

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But also what I thought was a feast for

the eyes in terms of the dancing

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choreography was the pool sequence when

they're doing the 96 ,000 song.

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There are people people and swimming in

unison.

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And there's a lot of colors.

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Yeah, I really enjoyed that.

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And then the carnival, del barrio, when

it's just so hot out.

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And I think it's Daniela who had owned the

salon, was like, what's wrong with you

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people?

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When does the heat bother Latins?

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get out there and she drums up everybody,

everybody goes nuts and then they start

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representing their different countries and

celebrating despite the brutal heat.

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DynoWright, anything else on that.

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Vocal talent and choreography and dancing.

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Yes

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Yes, so the choreography was from

Christopher Scott from So You Think You

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Can Dance.

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So I think they brought in big guns for

that.

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And you talk about the 96 ,000 sequence,

which is very Busby Berkeley.

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very Busby Berkeley.

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So listeners, viewers who don't know who

that is, look him up.

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It's very highly choreographed like a

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cast of thousands and it's amazing how

they pulled this off in a pool and reading

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some of the interviews about the

production of it and that's a it's already

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hard to put together a big dance number

like that but to also do it in a pool

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where there's also like safety issues like

don't be drowning you know when there's a

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thousand people in a pool so very

impressive that they pulled this off and

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They weren't allowed to use drones because

of New York City regulations, so you had

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to do this kind of old school and it would

be so easy to have a drone shot or even

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just a crane shot to get above.

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But yeah, they had to improvise that at

least and it looks fantastic.

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yeah, I love that scene.

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Okay, one thing that made me laugh at the

96 ,000 scene was when Vanessa's turn to

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sing and she sings with her lovely voice,

if I won the lottery, you'll never see me

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again.

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And she's like, I'm not gonna try to sing

it.

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And then Usnavi's like, I was joking, stay

broke then.

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I just call it, it just tickled my funny

bone there.

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Yeah, just awesome.

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A feast for the eyes.

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And a fourth takeaway was the film also

weaved in serious elements that give the

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light and bright storytelling some drama

and weight.

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And I know DynoWright, you did a bit of a

deeper dive

305

some of those types of

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heavy issues.

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Do you want to give us a little rundown of

some of those?

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sure.

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First of all, there's some racism and

discrimination that Nina experiences off

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camera, you know, as part of the

backstory.

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She goes off to Stanford, which is

portrayed as white dominant and her Latin

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background does not mesh with this

supposed white dominant.

313

situation at Stanford in California and

Abuela experiences some discrimination in

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her backstory as well coming from Cuba.

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We have the element of DACA.

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So DACA is the Deferred Action for

Childhood Arrivals legislation that

317

provides some backstory to Sonny He turns

out to be undocumented and realizes that

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he can't go to college if he's

undocumented.

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And so the support for DACA is put in the

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as part of the themes that's weaved in.

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It's also economic hardship.

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Daniela has to move her salon further

uptown to the Bronx from where they are in

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Washington Heights.

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And Vanessa's issues renting an apartment

downtown.

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She can't, she's not rented to, she has to

get a co -signer for the lease.

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And so all of that's weaved in.

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It was good of Miranda to do this to give

it a little bit of heft to the story.

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There's no, there's got to be some

conflict in any good story, so that was

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really good.

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And one thing to take away from this part

of it is, Abuela, her advice is to assert

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your dignity in small ways, and so that's

good advice for anyone, because we all

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experience some kind of

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some kind of hardship in the workplace or

wherever and bring your full selves to it

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and asserting your dignity in small ways

is certainly something to take away from

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the film.

336

Nice rundown.

337

Boogie anything about the issues there?

338

actually.

339

I don't know if I have much to add to it.

340

But yeah it was

341

I do think it was good

342

to not glamorize everything and make it sound like everything is happy and

343

You know, he got real with it and

344

showed various issues that occur throughout the Latin American community

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especially, you know, not necessarily at

Stanford.

346

I mean, that was just the school she

happened to go to, but, you know, being a

347

first generation college student and the

awkwardness of trying everyone, everyone

348

relying on you being the one, you're the

one who made it and the pressure that

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comes with it.

350

And then getting to school and getting to

school and realizing that, you know, maybe

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this isn't for me because of, you know,

352

because of other people’s perceptions of her

353

and having to deal with that and the conflict of

354

wanting to be successful and how to tell your family that’s not what you want to do or where you want to be at

355

I think that was very, very well done.

356

And even we didn't realize that Sonny was

a DACA kid until the end.

357

But even how that tied in, you know,

that's very real.

358

That's very, you know, something that's

being dealt with now.

359

It's media.

360

It's in the media right now.

361

You know, you can click Google it and you

can find any kind of article, fairly

362

recent.

363

But yeah, I think that,

364

you know, the

common thing, the theme was like

365

everybody's really had a dream and

366

they all thought that their dreams were little, but

none of their little dreams were little.

367

They were all big dreams and they all

deserve to see those dreams.

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through to fruition.

369

Mm -hmm.

370

One other thing that I read about was that Miranda was

asked about, there's not really gang

371

elements in this film, even though New

York is famous for having sort of gang

372

activity here, there, and everywhere.

373

And he on purpose didn't have that kind of

stuff.

374

Like you didn't want to do a West Side

story where, of course, the Hispanic

375

people all have knives and they're like,

you know ready to rumble in the streets.

376

That's a choice.

377

And he finds other ways to kind of have

that in there.

378

Like Graffiti Pete in the beginning is

like a villain, but then he gets this

379

redemption story.

380

But it was interesting to think like,

yeah, this isn't just like Spanish Harlem

381

kind of thing where like, of course,

sharks and jets.

382

Right.

383

Now I think Boogie you led us into our

final takeaway, takeaway number five with

384

what you're talking about, the dreams.

385

So takeaway number five was there are

multiple storylines all tied towards a

386

common theme of realizing dreams.

387

I guess I'll kick that one off.

388

I mean, there are many dreams or suenitos,

which means little dreams in Spanish, as

389

Usnavi mentions in the beginning.

390

As I mentioned earlier, it was Usnavi

wanted to get back to the Dominican

391

Republic, his homeland.

392

That was his dream.

393

He wanted to rebuild his late father's

business, return to where he grew up,

394

where he had the best days of his life.

395

Vanessa has aspirations to be a fashion

designer.

396

She's stuck in her job at the salon,

doesn't pay her what she expects, and she

397

has bigger goals.

398

Kevin Rosario wants to support his

daughter's education at Stanford, and he's

399

using his taxi business to help finance

it.

400

And Nina wants to be the first one to make

it out.

401

and graduate college.

402

Sonny is kind of just finding his way and

he's dealing with his immigration status.

403

And Benny has a longing for Nina.

404

He's obviously working with his career

path and what happens there with the

405

dispatch.

406

And then Abuela's reminiscing about her

upbringing in Cuba as well.

407

So all these storylines tie together.

408

Everybody has a dream.

409

They're all supportive of each other.

410

It's a village there, which is nice to

see.

411

DynoWright, do you want to add into the...

412

commonality of these characters having

their dreams, how they came together, etc.

413

Yeah, you covered it really well.

414

A .O.

415

Scott in the New York Times wrote about

how In the Heights is kind of like a

416

In the Heights is kind of like a

417

thematic sequel to Hamilton.

418

You know, it happens much later, of

course, but it's got the same kind of

419

thing like American Dreams, making

something bigger than yourself.

420

And so this is sort of like the modern day

sort of extrapolation or like the result

421

of what Alexander Hamilton was doing

during the birth of the Republic.

422

And so it's interesting to think about

that.

423

Like, this is kind of what Alexander

Hamilton was thinking of, like people

424

being able to achieve America as a place

of opportunity.

425

And so that was a cool kind of thing, you

know, to think about as like not Hamilton

426

2 but like.

427

I don't know, maybe Hamilton 2: Latino

Boogaloo or something.

428

alternate title

429

Nicely put.

430

Boogie, anything to add on the dreams of

the characters and those themes?

431

Yeah, I mean, the common theme with, you

know, why people immigrate to the United

432

States in the first place is because they

have a dream.

433

They dreaming of something better.

434

They want something better, not

necessarily just for them, but for their,

435

you know, for their children, their family

members.

436

So, I mean, that theme, like you

said, they even tie back to how Hamilton

437

was, was the American dream and starting a

new country, et cetera.

438

and being, you know, starting this amazing

country.

439

And now we see, you know, years later, you

know, centuries later, we have people

440

immigrating here to want to achieve the

dream as well.

441

So yeah, I do see how, I mean, it

definitely ties into that.

442

I definitely see the correlation between

that tie -in and to Hamilton.

443

And I think that...

444

films like this are necessary because I

mean, like I do like the fact that he

445

purposefully left out, you know, gang

elements and kind of put a more positive

446

spin on the neighborhood and you know, the

people, I mean, this is necessary.

447

People need to see, you know, films like

this and this is inspirational, you know.

448

I also like the kind of dichotomy of go

for your dream, you know, work hard, but

449

also Abuela has that wisdom.

450

She had an expression she used throughout

the film of paciencia y fe, like patience

451

and faith.

452

And it's like, go for your dream, but have

that, have that patience and faith in

453

yourself and maybe of a higher being as

well.

454

Yeah, nicely done.

455

I have a question for you guys off the

cuff.

456

Did either of you take AP English in high

school?

457

And I ask because you're both very well

spoken and you did.

458

Did you?

459

AP English.

460

I actually slummed it in honors English.

461

Honors is no slum.

462

Boogie, did you take AP English?

463

I had honors English as well.

464

Okay.

465

So the reason I asked too I took two years

of AP English.

466

I think it was like 10th grade and 12th

grade.

467

And the reason I say this is I really got

into analyzing some classic literature and

468

really looking for metaphors and similes.

469

It seems like we're always looking for a

lot of metaphors and motifs and themes.

470

And this one like naturally drew me to

that.

471

I was picking up metaphors and I wanted to

kind of explain a few and

472

that I picked up, which I thought were

incredibly done.

473

And I bet you LMM was a AP student to be

able to write these plays like Hamilton

474

and In The Heights and Moana and whatnot.

475

But you see Lin -Manuel Miranda himself

plays the piragua cart guy, piragua

476

meaning the shaved ice.

477

And he's singing one of his songs is Keep

Scraping By, Keep Scraping By.

478

So that is.

479

Obviously a metaphor for everybody just

kind of just getting by, you know, doing

480

what they need to get by economically,

socially, sometimes by the skin of their

481

teeth.

482

But like every day, you know, they might

be broke or they might be making minimum

483

wage or whatever, but it's like, Hey, keep

following that dream.

484

But he uses the term keep scraping by and

it's scraping the ice as well.

485

Usnavi now he has the one song.

486

And I think it's towards the beginning

because he's like, I'm a spotlight choking

487

in the heat.

488

And I love that metaphor where the

spotlight or the street, I'm sorry,

489

streetlight, not spotlight.

490

I'm a streetlight choking in the heat.

491

Streetlights just out there standing and

it's just taking all the heat.

492

And he feels the same way where he's

stuck.

493

He's, he's getting all the elements pushed

at him, but he's just stuck there like

494

cemented in place.

495

He's got the bodega, you know, that he

runs with his cousin.

496

And he needs to do that to survive, but he

has the aspirations to go on to the D.R.

497

At what point can he get to that level

where he makes enough to move on and how

498

can he leave?

499

So he's feeling that strain.

500

And then in the blackout, they're singing

the song, We Are Powerless.

501

We are powerless, we are powerless.

502

And again, to the same theme of.

503

Yes, they're powerless in terms of they're

without electricity, but they're also, a

504

lot of them are feeling, you know, they're

without any type of freedom or strength

505

because everything's so oppressive.

506

The heat is oppressive.

507

Maybe the system is oppressive.

508

They're not able to advance as much as

they want.

509

So I picked up on those things and I

thought, wow, that was really well done.

510

If you watch these again, maybe you'll

pick up on some of these metaphors.

511

It is well -crafted.

512

Thematically it is, yeah.

513

Yeah.

514

And I'm sure again, it was intentional by

Lin -Manuel Miranda.

515

There's a lot of emotion.

516

I mean, what I like is that this film

gives you all the emotions.

517

You feel joy, you laugh.

518

There's some funny lines, there's some

jokes, you're dancing.

519

I'm almost brought to tears.

520

Sometimes when I do watch it, I'm crying

because I feel so emotional for Nina.

521

so much pressure on her.

522

She's like you said, Boogie, everybody is

invested in her being the one to make it

523

out.

524

And she's having a hard time.

525

She's being discriminated against.

526

People are talking, you know, in the

salon, they're talking about rumors about

527

rumors out about her.

528

And it's just tough to see someone have to

deal with all that at such a young age.

529

And, you know, you feel for Abuela.

530

and the families, et cetera, and Kevin

struggles financially.

531

In fact, if you guys didn't know, the

musical is different.

532

There's certain different elements.

533

I saw an off -Broadway performance of it

last summer, which was excellent.

534

And actually Nina's mother, Kevin

Rosario's wife is actually in it.

535

She plays a pretty prominent role in it.

536

And there's a lot of bickering back and

forth about.

537

the situation with the college and

everything.

538

Yeah, there's some slight differences

there.

539

If you can believe it, this movie is like

145 minutes and they cut out a lot from

540

the musical.

541

Yeah.

542

And it's wild.

543

Wow.

544

all have any other tidbits about the movie

that you picked up upon that you wanted to

545

share with the audience?

546

There's a lot of familiar faces in it, in

this film, which was good.

547

I mean, I didn't know that some of these

actors and actresses were in the movie,

548

but there's a lot of familiar faces.

549

I'm not gonna go through them like I

normally would.

550

I'm gonna just kind of let the viewers get

the surprise that I did.

551

Hahaha!

552

I mean, mean, couple of the bigger, go

ahead.

553

Go ahead, Boogie.

554

Christopher Jackson, the Mr.

555

Softee truck driver.

556

That was one of the biggest ones, but I

had a feeling that one of the guys from

557

Hamilton would make their way over to this

one.

558

And Christopher Jackson played George

Washington in Hamilton.

559

So yeah, shout out to him in his role in

this movie as well.

560

Oh and also Marc Anthony.

561

I was like, wow, Marc Anthony?

562

He didn't sing, but he was in the movie.

563

They could have used his voice.

564

played Sonny's father and Jimmy Smits in

it.

565

Yea, Smits has been a ton of things and

the Star Wars franchise as well.

566

Yeah, great cast, great ensemble.

567

Yeah.

568

There's one funny tidbit I liked as well

was the way that Usnavi, which is a unique

569

name, how he got his name based on a ship

that was seen by his father when he came

570

over to the US.

571

I won't totally give it away.

572

You could probably figure it out.

573

Hahaha

574

That was funny.

575

Yeah.

576

Yeah, this film adaptation had a lot of

the elements that I like, you know,

577

comedy, drama, hip hop, music.

578

Especially the hip hop.

579

For me, this is a feel good movie, even

though there's some sadness as well.

580

But it's a feel good movie.

581

Like when summer comes around, I put this

on now.

582

It's only a few years old, but like I put

this on the background because one of

583

those with the music is so excellent.

584

that I'm just happy hearing a lot of the

songs.

585

And I have a Spotify playlist and I have

pretty much the whole soundtrack as part

586

of a big playlist.

587

So when it comes on, it makes me smile.

588

This film made me want to get in the car

and drive through the Heights, which I

589

haven't done.

590

I haven't done that in probably about 15

years or so.

591

But I used to go to the Heights every so

often, at least a few times a year.

592

But yeah, this movie made me want to drive

over there and ride through the

593

neighborhood.

594

One thing that amused me was that when

they're in the club and Usnavi is dropping

595

the ball and not dancing with Vanessa, but

then he dances with the other girl to make

596

try to make Vanessa jealous.

597

And it's like, you remember Grease where

Danny Zuko dances with Cha-Cha DiGregorio

598

instead of Sandy.

599

This made me laugh so much.

600

Yes.

601

Ha ha ha.

602

Yeah.

603

In that club scene, we also get the

classic, you know, split down the middle,

604

guys on one side, the girls on the other

side.

605

It's show us what you got.

606

Yeah, I mean, I have an affinity also for

Latin culture.

607

I was a Spanish minor in college when we

all went to Rider and, you know, I learned

608

a lot about different Latin cultures, but

hadn't really visited some of those

609

countries or really had some of these

experiences.

610

And to see it on the screen, it was nice.

611

Nice to see.

612

Yeah, I too have an affinity for Latin

culture as well.

613

Unfortunately, I haven't been to Cuba yet.

614

But I've been to Puerto Rico and I've been

to Dominican Republic.

615

Enjoyed both of them immensely.

616

Hehehehe.

617

a lot of the Latin cultures are vibrant

and they have a good time.

618

Mexico, yeah.

619

Can't forget Mexico, been there too.

620

Hehehe

621

I have have really good friend who's Cuban

and he said that they did an excellent job

622

with the food that Abuela was cooking

saying, oh my goodness, it took him back.

623

It took him back to his childhood and what

his family would cook.

624

Yeah, I wanted to lick the screen when

they showed that food.

625

my God.

626

I know exactly what that tastes like.

627

I want some now.

628

I want some right now.

629

For real.

630

All right, so let's put a bow on this one.

631

Let's go around the room and give our

ratings for In the Heights.

632

Ah Boogie, as usual, we'll start with you.

633

So for the film version of In the Heights,

will you bring that funky flick back or

634

leave it in the vault?

635

Yeah, I mean, can't help but to bring this

funky flick back.

636

I mean, I've already recommended to a few

people to check out already.

637

So yeah, bring that funky flick back.

638

All right, now, DynoWright Bring that

funky flick back or leave it in the vault.

639

I'll bring this funky flick back.

640

It did have some flaws.

641

I thought it was a little long.

642

And it was edited in a way that you almost

don't get to enjoy it.

643

It's just sort of abrupt in some places.

644

And big dance numbers are hard to film,

right?

645

And shout out to Jon M.

646

Chu, director of this film.

647

He did really well with a tall task.

648

But overall, it's really fun.

649

So I bring this funky flick back.

650

As for me, I think it goes without saying,

I am bringing this funky flick back.

651

Sometimes I talk about this film

incessantly to my family.

652

Yeah, I bring it up and my family starts

shaking their head like again, again, and

653

like, I'm putting it on in the background.

654

I love it.

655

Yeah, this is one of my all time

favorites.

656

I tell so many, like you said Boogie, I

recommended this to so many people.

657

I'm like, have you seen In the Heights?

658

Have you seen The Heights?

659

No, no.

660

a lot, check it out.

661

And it's all the reasons we mentioned, you

know, the dancing, the choreography, the

662

music, the storylines.

663

There's some great heavy topics, light

topics.

664

It's got it all to me and it's packaged

well.

665

And I'm a huge fan of Lin -Manuel Miranda

in general, whatever he touches turns to

666

gold.

667

He does his homework.

668

He's a hardworking guy.

669

Loved it.

670

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your

HHMC's JB, Boogie, and DynoWright.

671

Theme music by Boogie.

672

Whether you're listening to the podcast or

watching us on YouTube, please give us a

673

follow.

674

It's a real power up for us.

675

Thanks for tuning in.

676

And Remember, don't hate, radiate.

677

Hmm, yeah, yeah.

678

Shine like the sun.

679

Shine bright like a diamond.

680

Yes!

681

There you go!

682

Yeah, radiate out in the sun, but be

careful with the harmful UV rays.

683

Yes, get some SPF.

684

Right on.

685

Yes, yes.