I have been working on this movie [Moana] since before Hamilton happened. Lin-Manuel Miranda More Quotes by Lin-Manuel Miranda More Quotes From Lin-Manuel Miranda I had friends who only listened to hip-hop. I had friends who only listened to musicals, and I stood proudly in the middle. Lin-Manuel Miranda middle hips hip-hop I think I learned more about writing scores for Broadway by making mix tapes in the '90s than I did in college. You're learning about rise and fall and energy and tempo shifts. You're showing off your taste and your references. You're trying to be witty by - through placement of music you didn't write. Lin-Manuel Miranda writing witty fall I got to holler just to be heard. Lin-Manuel Miranda heard My power of speech, unimpeachable. Only 19 but my mind is older. Lin-Manuel Miranda power-of-speech speech mind My rhymes are gonna kill, so I suggest you write your will and leave your [expletive] to me. Lin-Manuel Miranda expletives rhyme writing I'm not trying to make something that is difficult to perform every night. It needs to proceed at the speed of that character's thought because that's the only way it's actable. Lin-Manuel Miranda trying character night I probably shouldn't brag, but dag I amaze and astonish. Lin-Manuel Miranda brag I am not throwing away my shot. Lin-Manuel Miranda throwing-away throwing shots With every word, I drop knowledge. Lin-Manuel Miranda We get the job done. So what happens if we win? Lin-Manuel Miranda done winning jobs I know the action in the street is excitin' Lin-Manuel Miranda reading writing jesus These New York City streets get colder, I shoulder every burden every disadvantage I've learned to manage. I don't have a gun to brandish. I walk these streets famished. Lin-Manuel Miranda gun cities new-york I grew up in the time just when cassettes were waning and CDs were growing. And so mix tapes - and not mix CDs - mix tapes were an important part of the friendship and mating rituals of New York adolescents. If you were a girl and I wanted you - to show you I like you, I would make you a 90-minute cassette wherein I would show off my tastes. I would play you a musical theater song next to a hip-hop song next to an oldie next to some pop song you maybe never heard, also subliminally telling you how much I like you with all these songs. Lin-Manuel Miranda girl i-like-you song I loved musicals. I loved being in the school play and being lucky enough to get parts in the school play. But they always took place in some other time and place. Lin-Manuel Miranda lucky play school No one wants to hear me crooning a ballad. Lin-Manuel Miranda ballads want My kid gets me out of bed in the morning. Lin-Manuel Miranda bed morning kids I've had a little Hollywood experience, and there's nothing like the Disney story experience. Lin-Manuel Miranda hollywood stories littles It's hard to pick. I mean, I think the one that is most emblematic of the collaboration that occurred is "We Know The Way." That's the first song we wrote for the movie [Moana]. We actually got it written that weekend in New Zealand, so we're all in New Zealand, we're all absorbing this culture, and Opetaia [Foa'i] brought it in. Lin-Manuel Miranda weekend song mean I got the job [in Moana], and the next day I was on a plane to New Zealand, where the rest of the team was already doing research, and meeting with different choirs, and sort of really soaking up the music, the musical world of, the musical heritage of this part of the world. Lin-Manuel Miranda next-day team jobs The people you're turning to for advice are all people making Disney movies, so we had these amazing meetings where you'd see John Lasseter, and then next to him is Jen Lee, the director of Frozen. Next to her is Pete Docter, who's working on Inside Out. Lin-Manuel Miranda advice directors people