Yapping Session - Blog Posts

Let's talk about the Warriors musical by Lin Manuel-Miranda and Eisa Devis

I know that this fandom is only active here, so here I go! (this is my first Tumblr post ever and English is not my first language, so I'm sorry if I gave you an aneurysm with my spelling or smth)

Fist question is about DJ Lynn Pen (y'know, ~hey boppers~). Can the Warriors hear her or is she just a narrator? Like, is she an actual DJ on radio (I heard that that's how it was in the movie but I haven't watched it yet). She explains stuff to us, so she's probably a narrator but it would be funny if the Warriors could hear her like in this tiktok (https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMB8B7TFm/) and be like "GoD???" What do y'all think?

Also OH MY GOD THE MOTIIIIFS. Every LMM fan knows he LOVES heartbreaking motifs and foreshadowing and goodness knows this musical is not an exemption. "Now every move that we make is a bit to survive", "It's all our turf", "Quiet girls don't make it home", "Folks go missin' in the park at night", "Warriors, come out to play-ay", "Survive the night" etc. Lin's a genius, what can I say.

Everyone's talking about Pippa's rap in Reunion Square, but can we talk about that part between Fox's interaction with the cop and her rapping? This is what I'm talking about btw: (Ignore my voice, I was just explaining to my family why it's so loud)

There's parts from Roll Call, Survive the Night, Leave The Bronx Alive, Sick Of Runnin'. IT'S JUST SO AAAAHHH. Also mentioning Ajax is now illegal because I said so (I'll go cry in the corner now)

Of course Fox's verse is PHENOMENAL. It was the thing that got me into this musical, it's so tragic and well-written, you can hear the pressure, fear and despair in Phillipa's voice. The parallels with Eliza, who had time and didn't rap, and Fox, who rapped because she was running out of time, are so heartbreaking (did I mention that Lin's a genius?) Mentioning Fox is also illegal now btw.

A lot of songs in this musical are similar to Lin's previous works. Call Me Mercy is similar to It Won't Be Long Now (Mercy is sooo Vanessa coded, you can't convince me otherwise) and First Burn (which makes cense since Julia was Eliza), Derailed reminds me of Blackout, If You Can Count is kinda similar to Laurens' verse in My Shot (when you're living on your knees, you rise up), but longer.

I know it sounds like I'm giving all the credit to Lin, I'm just more familiar with him, but I'm not forgetting our queen Eisa, I just don't have much to say about her.

It's interesting how Lin was familiar with most of the cast. Sasha, Phillipa and Jasmine were in the original cast of Hamilton, Julia was Eliza and Gizel was in Tick, Tick, Boom, which was directed by LMM. Joshua Henry (one of the Bizzies) was also in TTB and Marc Anthony made a cameo in In The Heights movie (this is a picture of me rn btw)

this album has so many celebrities. My dad and uncle are fans of rap (they didn't like Hamilton for some reason tho), so Nas and Ms. Lauren Hill being on this album was quite a big deal for them. Hopefully I'll get them into Warriors sooner or later :)

Now let's talk about the gender swap. I'm pretty sure everyone in this fandom (except for maybe grumpy misogynistic movie fans) agreed that it improved the story so much. I haven't watched the movie yet, so my sincerest apologies if I'm wrong, but it feels like a story about gangs and murder and violence and stuff. Not that these kinds of action movies are bad, there's just too many of 'em. The musical is about women supporting women, it proves that things we associate with masculinity (gangs and murder and violence and stuff) can be done by women and it DOESN'T FEEL LIKE AN AGENDA unlike, for example, Enola Holmes (I love Enola Holmes, it's one of my favorite movies, but the unsubtle feminist feminism makes it a bit hard to watch (I'm a woman and not a misogynist btw)). The Warriors are just SO FRICKING COOL AAAAAHHH. I completely understand why Mercy joined the gang, if I saw some badass chicks throwing a Molotov to defeat some sleazy guys from my block, I would follow them too. They defeated the Furies and Luthor without breaking a sweat. The characters are much more likeable, too, 'specially Ajax. Her beating up a creepy guy instead of being a creepy guy is so cool GOD.

You're probably getting tired of my yapping, but Tumblr has no symbols limit and I'm not done yet so sit down and listen. LISTEN TO THE VOCALS OH MY GOD I I WANNA SING LIKE THIS TOO (unfortunately, I sound like a dying cat inside of a broken washing machine. Yes I'm also a theater kid. Yes I sing anyway. A lot. Apologies to my family). I'm so glad Jasmine had enough screen time (can you call it screen time if it's a concept album?) in Warriors because she's so good. Also every time Julia, Gizel or Amber opened their mouths I felt like ascending to godhood. EVERY SINGLE EFFING MERCY SONG HAD ME IN A CHOKEHOLD I'M NOT KIDDING. Why are they so good? This should be illegal.

I started writing this post in March and I'll be DAMNED if I don't finish it so let's move on to the different genres this album has. Obviously, we have rap and hip-hop (it ain't a LMM musical if it doesn't have rap and hip-hop), also heavy metal and Latin (I think? Please tell me if I'm wrong). Also I'm convinced that A Light Or Somethin' is ONE OF THE BEST romantic songs in modern musicals. This album conveys so many different emotions, it's like an effing rollercoaster (get it? Cause they're from Coney Island haha). One minute I'm laughing my ass off at Outside Gray's Papaya and a few songs layer I'm crying because Same Train Home. Do not put this playlist on shuffle if you care about your mental health.

One thing I don't like about this musical? I don't know shit about NYC geography besides from stuff I learned from In The Heights, PJO and Spider-Man so it was confusing as hell. I didn't even know there were 5 boroughs (we only learned about 4 of them in our English class years ago so I legit thought they were Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island (because Percy Jackson)). I had to look up Van Cortland Park, Union Square and Coney Island on Google Maps to see how big the distance is. For some reason it showed the distance in miles so my European ass still has no idea how much that actually is lol. Thanks to this musical I know a lot more though! This was the first time I heard a NYC accent and y'all weren't kidding when you said it was distinctive lmao. I really hope I'll visit New York one day just so I can look at all these places I know from this musical. (WOODLAWN CEMETERY WAY UP THE HILL, RUN TO THE CEMETERY WAY UP THE HILL)

Anyways! W-wow, that's-um, that's a long post hahaha. Here's a potato I guess 🥔🥔🥔. Also if you got this far you deserve some kind of award. Hope y'all have a spectacular day. Bye👋 ❤️🖤❤️🖤