Music Friday: Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton Calls Himself a 'Diamond in the Rough'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you great songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Alexander Hamilton sees himself as a "diamond in the rough" in "My Shot," the rousing Act 1 hit from Lin-Manuel Miranda's blockbuster Broadway show. Miranda famously portrays the 19-year-old founding father in a musical about young revolutionaries and their determination to rise up against the British. Hamilton on Broadway has grossed more than a half billion dollars.

In the first verse of the 5:34 rap, Miranda's character knows he's smart and well spoken, but acknowledges that he's also young and a bit rough around the edges.

He sings, "I probably shouldn't brag, but dag, I amaze and astonish / The problem is I got a lot of brains but no polish / I gotta holler just to be heard / With every word, I drop knowledge! / I'm a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal / Tryin' to reach my goal."

The "young, scrappy and hungry" Hamilton vows to lead the charge against oppression, repeating throughout the song that he's not going to throw away his shot at making a difference.

Although Hamilton opened on Broadway more than five years ago, the show recently earned a big boost and broader audience when Disney Plus released the Hamilton movie on its popular streaming service just before U.S. Independence Day. The offering spiked Disney Plus downloads by 752,000 over the holiday weekend.

The Hamilton movie features the original cast and is essentially a "live" recording — using six cameras — of an actual Broadway performance.

In 2016, Hamilton earned a record 16 Tony nominations and won 11 awards, including Best Musical. The play also won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Despite the accolades, Miranda reminded fans that the show was "no overnight success." It took the composer/lyricist/actor/singer seven years to write the play, including a full year of revisions to today's featured song, "My Shot."

Please check out the audio clip of Miranda and the cast of Hamilton performing “My Shot.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

"My Shot"
Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kejuan Waliek and Albert Johnson. Performed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and the original cast of Hamilton.

I am not throwing away my shot!
I am not throwing away my shot!
Hey yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy and hungry
And I'm not throwing away my shot!
I'm 'a get a scholarship to King's College
I probably shouldn't brag, but dag, I amaze and astonish
The problem is I got a lot of brains but no polish
I gotta holler just to be heard
With every word, I drop knowledge!
I'm a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal
Tryin' to reach my goal. My power of speech: unimpeachable
Only nineteen but my mind is older
These New York City streets get colder, I shoulder
Every burden, every disadvantage
I have learned to manage, I don't have a gun to brandish
I walk these streets famished

Ooh!

The plan is to fan this spark into a flame
But damn, it's getting dark, so let me spell out the name
I am the

A-L-E-X-A-N-D
E-R we are meant to be…

A colony that runs independently
Meanwhile, Britain keeps shittin' on us endlessly
Essentially, they tax us relentlessly
Then King George turns around, runs a spending spree
He ain't ever gonna set his descendants free
So there will be a revolution in this century
Enter me!

(He says in parentheses)

Don't be shocked when your history book mentions me
I will lay down my life if it sets us free
Eventually, you'll see my ascendancy

And I am not throwing away
My shot (My shot)
I am not throwing away
My shot (My shot)
Hey yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy and hungry
And I'm not throwing away my shot (And I'm not throwing away my shot)

I am not throwing away my shot
I am not throwing away my shot
Hey yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy and hungry
And I'm not throwing away my shot
It's time to take a shot!

I dream of life without a monarchy
The unrest in France will lead to 'onarchy?
'Onarchy? How you say, how you say, oh, 'Anarchy'!
When I fight, I make the other side panicky
With my

Shot!

Yo, I'm a tailor's apprentice
And I got y'all knuckleheads in loco parentis
I'm joining the rebellion 'cause I know it's my chance
To socially advance, instead of sewin' some pants!
I'm gonna take a

Shot!

And but we'll never be truly free
Until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me
(That's right!)
You and I. Do or die. Wait 'til I sally in
On a stallion with the first black battalion
Have another

Shot!

Geniuses, lower your voices
You keep out of trouble and you double your choices
I'm with you, but the situation is fraught
You've got to be carefully taught:
If you talk, you're gonna get shot!

Burr, check what we got
Mister Lafayette, hard rock like Lancelot
I think your pants look hot
Laurens, I like you a lot
Let's hatch a plot blacker than the kettle callin' the pot...
What are the odds the gods would put us all in one spot
Poppin' a squat on conventional wisdom, like it or not
A bunch of revolutionary manumission abolitionists?
Give me a position, show me where the ammunition is!

Oh, am I talkin' too loud?
Sometimes I get over-excited, shoot off at the mouth
I never had a group of friends before
I promise that I'll make y'all proud

Let's get this guy in front of a crowd

I am not throwing away my shot
I am not throwing away my shot
Hey yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy and hungry
And I'm not throwing away my shot

I am not throwing away my shot
I am not throwing away my shot
Hey yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy and hungry
And I'm not throwing away my shot

Everybody sing:
Whoa, whoa, whoa (Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!)
Hey!
Whoa! (Whoa!)
Wooh!
Whoa! (Whoa!)
Ay, let 'em hear ya!
(Yeah!)
Let's go!

(Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!)
I said shout it to the rooftops! (Whoa!)
Said, to the rooftops! (Whoa!)
Come on!
(Yeah!)
Come on, let's go!

Rise up!
When you're living on your knees, you rise up
Tell your brother that he's gotta rise up
Tell your sister that she's gotta rise up

When are these colonies gonna rise up?
When are these colonies gonna rise up? (Whoa!)
When are these colonies gonna rise up? (Whoa!)
When are these colonies gonna rise up? (Whoa!)
Rise up!

I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory
When's it gonna get me?
In my sleep? Seven feet ahead of me?
If I see it comin', do I run or do I let it be?
Is it like a beat without a melody?
See, I never thought I'd live past twenty
Where I come from some get half as many
Ask anybody why we livin' fast and we laugh, reach for a flask
We have to make this moment last, that's plenty

Scratch that
This is not a moment, it's the movement
Where all the hungriest brothers with something to prove went.
Foes oppose us, we take an honest stand
We roll like Moses, claimin' our promised land
And? If we win our independence?
Is that a guarantee of freedom for our descendants?
Or will the blood we shed begin an endless
Cycle of vengeance and death with no defendants?

I know the action in the street is excitin'
But Jesus, between all the bleedin' 'n fightin'
I've been readin' 'n writin'
We need to handle our financial situation
Are we a nation of states? What's the state of our nation?

I'm past patiently waitin'. I'm passionately
Smashin' every expectation
Every action's an act of creation!
I'm laughin' in the face of casualties and sorrow
For the first time, I'm thinkin' past tomorrow.

And I am not throwing away my shot
I am not throwing away my shot
Hey yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy and hungry
And I'm not throwing away my shot

We're gonna rise up! (Not throwing away my shot) Time to take a shot!
We're gonna rise up! (Not throwing away my shot) Time to take a shot!
We're gonna (Rise up! Rise up!)
It's time to take a shot! (Rise up! Rise up!)
It's time to take a shot! (Rise up!)
(Rise up!) (Woooah!)
It's time to take a shot! (Rise up!)
Take a shot! Shot! Shot!
A-yo it's time to take a shot!
Time to take a shot!
And I am not throwing away my
Not throwing away my shot!

Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com.

Exciting Run of Good Luck Continues at Arkansas's Crater of Diamonds State Park

Sometimes good fortune comes down to being in the right place at the right time. It's called "serendipity" and that's the name Dr. Mindy Pomtree gave to the 6.39-carat, gem-quality diamond she plucked from the ground at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, AR.

About the size of a pumpkin seed, the Serendipity is, by far, the largest diamond found at the park this year, easily eclipsing the previous 2020 record of 2.23 carats. The doctor's gem is the 12th largest diamond recorded at the park since 1972.

Dr. Pomtree discovered her diamond near Beatty's Hill, a landmark within the park’s 37.5-acre search area.

She saw the glittering pebble on the surface of the ground and put it in a zippered pocket.

“I kept feeling my pocket throughout the day to make sure it was still there," she told park officials. "I didn’t know if it was a diamond but thought it looked cool, and it was definitely shiny!”

A few days after returning home, Dr. Pomtree decided to show the stone to a jeweler friend, who confirmed that it was, indeed, a genuine diamond.

Little Rock-based jeweler Laura Stanley, who is an American Gem Society Certified Gemologist Appraiser, said the stone was very white in color and likely of gem quality. She said that it measures 15.21mm x 8.00mm x 5.86mm.

Dr. Pomtree returned to the park to have her record-setting diamond officially weighed and registered.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Serendipity was taking a bath in the jeweler's ultrasonic cleaner. There was still a stubborn dark area on the surface, but Stanley was confident that it would come off with a "good acid boil."

At Crater of Diamonds State Park, amateur miners get to keep what they find at the only diamond site in the world that’s open to the general public. The park had been closed for two months due to COVID-19 health concerns, but reopened on May 22, just in time for Memorial Day weekend.

Since then, there has been an exciting run of large diamonds. Just days after Dr. Pomtree discovered "Serendipity," William “David” Dempsey from Athens, Ala., scored what is now the park's second-largest diamond of 2020 — a 2.73-carat bright white gem.

Dempsey first learned about Arkansas’s diamond site from his fourth-grade teacher.

“I've been wanting to visit for more than 30 years,” said Dempsey. “Recent news stories about the park brought it back to my attention, so we planned a trip.”

Dempsey was wet sifting with his youngest daughter when he found the diamond.

“I was running my finger through some gravel I had just sifted, and the diamond popped right out," he said.

Dempsey named his gem the "Dempsey-Ducharme Diamond," as a tribute to his family’s unforgettable experience at the park. He plans to have the diamond examined and appraised before deciding whether to keep or sell it.

“This unique park is one of our state’s most popular destinations,” said Stacy Hurst, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism. “It’s always exciting for one of our guests to find a gem, and the staff is really great at working with them to confirm what they have found and hear each particular story of how they found it.”

Credits: Images courtesy of Arkansas State Parks.

Gem Gallery Virtual Tour: This Emerald Was Worn by the Rulers of Baroda

An exquisite 37.8-carat emerald once possessed by the royal rulers of Baroda is the next stop on our virtual tour of the Smithsonian’s National Gem Collection.

The Chalk Emerald is so special, in fact, that it is the singular occupant of a wall case titled "A Royal Legacy" on the second floor of the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals.

Normally, the hall hosts more than six million visitors annually. But with all the Smithsonian museums in Washington, DC, remaining temporarily closed to support the effort to contain the spread of COVID-19, we’ve been offering these virtual tours.

Previous stops on the tour have included “Gifts from Napoleon,“ “Stars and Cat’s Eyes,“ the Logan Sapphire, the Dom Pedro aquamarine, the Steamboat tourmaline and a collection of enormous topaz.

Here’s how to navigate to the exhibit called “A Royal Legacy.”

– First, click on this link… The resulting page will be a gallery called “Geology, Gems & Minerals: Precious Gems 1.”

– Click the double-right arrows once to navigate to the gallery called “Geology, Gems & Minerals: Precious Gems 2.”

– Click and drag the screen 180 degrees so you can see the back wall of cases.

– Touch the Plus Sign to zoom into the exhibit titled “A Royal Legacy.”

(You may touch the “X” to remove the map. This will give you a better view of the jewelry. You may restore the map by clicking the “Second” floor navigation on the top-right of the screen.)

The panel next to the exhibit explains how the royal rulers of Baroda, a state in India, once owned the emerald in the ring: "It was the centerpiece of an emerald and diamond necklace worn the Maharani Saheba, who passed it down to her son, the Maharajah Cooch Behar. In the 20th century, the emerald was recut from its original weight of 38.4 carats and set in a ring designed by Harry Winston, Inc."

The platinum and gold ring features the square emerald-cut stone surrounded by 60 pear-shaped diamonds totaling 15 carats. The emerald displays the most highly prized velvety deep green color.

The extraordinary ring was purchased by O. Roy Chalk, the real estate, transportation and media mogul, for his wife, Claire. The couple generously donated the Chalk Emerald to the Smithsonian in 1972, where it has been on exhibit ever since.

The Chalk Emerald’s superb clarity, color, size and regal lineage contribute to its status as one of the world’s finest emeralds.

The gem was sourced in the famous emerald-mining area near Muzo, Colombia — a destination widely known as the world capital of emeralds. The Smithsonian reported that emeralds were cherished by the indigenous people of Colombia for at least 1,000 years before the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s.

The riches coming from the Colombia mines were of great interest to the Mughal rulers of India, who were captivated by the green gems. This demand sparked a robust gem trade linking the New World to the Middle East and India.

Emerald is the most valuable variety of the beryl family and is known to display a wide variety of visible inclusions, which are referred to as “jardin” (French for “garden”). These imperfections do not detract from the stone’s beauty but, instead, give each stone a unique fingerprint and distinct character.

Credits: Images by Chip Clark / Smithsonian; NMNH Photo Services.