I Am Not Throwing Away My Shot Analysis

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'mma get a scholarship to King's College
I prob'ly shouldn't brag, but dang, 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
Ev'ry burden, ev'ry disadvantage
I have learned to manage, I don't have a gun to brandish
I walk these streets famished
The plan is to fan this spark into a flame
But damn, it's
'Onarchy? How you say, how you say, oh, 'Anarchy'!
When I fight, I make the other side panicky
With my

[Hamilton/Laurens/Lafayette/Mulligan:]
Shot!

[Mulligan:]
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

[Hamilton/Laurens/Lafayette/Mulligan:]
Shot!

[Laurens:]
But we'll never be truly free
Until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me
You and I. Do or die. Wait till I sally in
On a stallion with the first black battalion
Have another

[Hamilton/Laurens/Lafayette/Mulligan:]
Shot!

[Burr:]
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!

[Hamilton:]
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
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

[Laurens and Ensemble (Company):]
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!

[Hamilton:]
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