Lin-Manuel Miranda recalls writing Hamilton on New Year’s Eve 2011: ‘Don’t give up’

Lin-Manuel Miranda is ringing in 2018 with a New Year’s throwback.

Six years ago, before he was a household name for being the mastermind behind Hamilton, Miranda was just a casual genius who had already written the Broadway hit In the Heights. On New Year’s Eve 2011, while toiling over a musical that he couldn’t have known would become a phenomenon, he tweeted, “It’s very hard to write battle raps between Jefferson and Hamilton when you’re nowhere near as smart as the people for whom you are writing. The hamster in the hamster wheel that runs my fevered brain needs a drink.”

Of course, the labor of that hamster in Miranda’s head yielded some wise words — enterprising men quote ‘em (don’t act surprised, you guys, ‘cause he wrote ‘em). So on this fine New Year’s Eve, the man who would be Hamilton shared his six-year-old rap-battle lament with the inspirational commentary: “What I was doing on New Years Eve 2011. The work is hard but it is worth it. Don’t give up.”

Talk about not throwing away his shot. Happy New Year!