Anthony Ramos Talks The Good & The Bad, Hamilton & In The Heights

hey what's up y'all Anthony Ramos I just did an amazing interview with the Zach sang show and we talked about my new album the good into bed and check it out [Music] hello beautiful human we have Dan here and we welcome to the studio it's an you're Ramos yo yo yo yo what's up your life right now everything that's going on it's amazing from the public's perspective it all started with Hamilton sure but that's not necessarily the case definitely not there's definitely a long journey leading up to that one show that obviously changed your life yeah but can we sit here and agree that that one show totally transformed everything 100% Hamilton is the gift that keeps on giving it's changed my life man I mean you know he we all knew it was special but you know walking in the room and we heard that first downbeat that first don't don't they were new for anybody who knows the record and we all looked at each other like you know are you listening to what I'm listening to because this is kind of crazy what do you what do you make of it at first is it did you know right at the gate that it was gonna be a success do you think it might be hard for people to understand we didn't know if it was gonna be a success I mean but I think what mattered the most is that we knew it was special you know I mean people were given a crazy like TV contracts movie kinda like to do this show that we were all making at the time 420 dollars a week or something like that at the public theater yeah off Broadway I mean you and these are people with families like because we were like hey you know I mean I was twenty to twenty times so I have no family and I was like please get me my $400 a week and I shot somebody you had nothing to lose but everything to gain everything again nothing to lose I already lived in a box apartment but I was you know I was happy I was fine but it was uh but the you know all that to say was when we were in the in rehearsal and we heard that music for the first time unanimously everybody in a was like yeah now this is different and you can't really make anything of it the only thing you can make of it is what you feel right you and you can barely even make anything of that I think it's just kind of like we felt it and we were like whoa you got to kind of just got to go with this feeling you know so people were turning down jobs and all types of them you know you know in between off Broadway and Broadway even in between we did a workshop of four for four weeks before we were on Broadway off-broadway and I like stuff six-month space time between that and I worked at a bakery I was at a preschool you know I was like oh I gotta hang on I gotta hang on what keeps you going because you didn't need to hang on like you could've gave into a normal life at that moment yeah yeah I mean what keeps you going is I think you know I don't wanna be cliche but it's the dream right it's that feeling you get when something feels right right when you walk into something and hopefully right that's what you guys feel like when you walk into the studio right like when you do your thing and like this is what you guys are good at this what you do we found right hopefully you're calling right but for me this was like I walked up in in that room and I heard that music and you know I had to hang on to the music I had to hang on to that thing that was in the music that spoke to me you know I think that's why we follow artists right certain artists that we love or this is why we watch certain movies over and over and over because there's something in there that we hang on to that we feel like we can cling on to you know but at one point in your life your dream and your goal was to be a baseball player yeah and then be a coach it wasn't it wasn't it wasn't a tap into like but in high school at the same time I'm assuming because you played in high school baseball yeah I played baseball yeah but you were also part of the harmony trio which is like some Motown thing with you so that was in junior high school oh yeah yeah so so in junior high school so I put together this trio right with two of my friends Khalif and Lennox who Lennox just came to my show in Brooklyn I'm on a tour right now Lennox just came to my show Brooklyn I hadn't seen in years you know and like that's that was crazy to see him and Kylie just hit me up too and I was like we might have to get back together and I have to bring y'all out on the next tour let's go hola but anyway no nonetheless like we used to we form this trio and during high school and we used to sing temptation songs at the assembly at the assembly so our teacher Miss our Garen she let us come come in the room like she'd rehearse with us but I would say miss out Garen discovered us the whole middle school and miss our Garen was like yo you guys know me you guys can really sing you guys are awesome she's like you guys should let's see if we could you know she had to do some finagling you know it had to finesse it a little but she got the principal to allow us to sing one temptation song in every assembling yeah so we would rehearse and we do a little bit of choreography and and I started learning The Temptations catalog and it was crazy like we were just singing these songs in the fastforward high school I was playing baseball and um and you know that had been the thing that I've been doing my whole life I was playing ball that was like you know where my family did they could they call me franchise that's my nickname in the backyard and the projects in Brooklyn they were like your franchise everybody called me franchise freckles and franchise baby but it was uh but it was uh you know they called me Francesca my dad played baseball my brother played ball and it was me and now I'm supposed to be the next in line right until I wasn't I got hurt 16 is oh well and uh I was another forget it we were I was pitching against I think it was a very in high school and I remember remember how I felt I threw that pitch and I was like yeah I think this is it you knew right away right away I was like yeah I think I think I think we're done here my arm felt like it was gonna come off of my body it was crazy I never forget it and uh I recovered like I came back and I played my I played the next two years but I was never the same you know but uh my high school coach did remind me he was like yo you batted like 400 in your senior year though bro yeah the best batting average of the team was like yeah right and rice son as you sit here today do you believe can you look back at your life and be like that was all meant to happen or do you hate or do you feel like anger for the fact that you got hurt no I don't feel anger at all I'm so happy because if I hadn't got hurt I wouldn't be on the exact same Jo Yeah right like totally right you think about it like is I'm happy that all the things in my life happened to me the way they did because because it was you know like my even my teacher my teacher who I'm playing the El Rey tonight and my teacher from high school that director the director who like basically changed my life is here in LA with me she flew out to come see the show should you turn to high school drama after your injury so the way it happened was my junior year because I had you know I've been singing in junior high school and I kinda stopped I was like y'all kinda wanna like singing a little bit again get back in the way you know dust off the cobwebs and what sparks that I don't I don't know right it's that thing that you hang on to is the thing we are against we talked about in the beginning and the thing that you hang on to it you forget that you've been hanging on to because you've been trying to look for other things to hang on to that people been telling you to hang on to that you've been been taught to hang on to right but that thing inside of you is still tugging on you like yo yo yo this whole time I've been trying to hang onto this bra and and you know I had to get hurt to realize it realize what all to click you know Oh can't hang onto this right arm no more maybe this left arm is trying to tell me hang on to something different truth SP SP I love that right for anyone who's not watching that just raised his arm in the air and yeah and but uh but yeah this teacher she um she really she mentored me man I mean I audition for what I thought was a talent show ended up being a musical she's like hey you know I sang ordinary people by John Legend she's like hey can you uh can you do these lines now and I'm like nah miss Howe and do that but she's like my man this is a musical I was like uh I really don't do that no no then you can't be in the thing if like because you have to read these you have to be a character in this thing all right let me cease lines and I do him and a couple days later the list comes out and I get a lead role in this musical to play the part of Zeus and a musical written by the students called love conquers all and I know forget it I was onstage I'm wearing this cardboard crown I don't know and and I'm rocking this basically a huge cloth it looked like somebody's blanket from their house that they had made into a robe for me so I can look what Rolly or whatever regal in like Zeus and and I get there on stage and it was like I was so uncomfortable because I was so comfortable it's kind of how you know right like you ever been in a position where you were so uncomfortable because you were like yo why do I feel like I belong here right now most of my life in this room you know I'm saying yeah and uh and and it it sort of happened in that way it written odd for not sort of it happened in that way and then fast forward I was applying to colleges I didn't have any school I didn't have I didn't have any schools to go to so I'm start applying I start going to camps where I still keeping a baseball dream alive and I was still I was gonna play balls as a couple schools had offered me money to play d3 boy wasn't gonna make it to the majors anything but enough to make money get some money to go to school right and become a gym teacher hopefully coach but um again all my applications get withdrawn from every school I applied to because I couldn't I didn't give it my financial aid forms in time I was late FAFSA passing FAFSA crazy GRA Z will always come and get you FAFSA will get you because let me tell you and anybody who feels more knows on them deadlines are real and if you miss them you missed it hey beautiful human real quick I want to tell you about native I'm pumped to tell you about natives they're my favorite deodorant I came across native a target about a year ago and it changed my life forever I've had overactive sweat glands and growing up in high school I'd actually wear two sweatshirts on top of each other so people couldn't see my giant sweat marks and every week I'd go to the pharmacy looking for a new deodorant none of it would work and I knew that it was so 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I also use the body soap squeeze it it's in a cool square box I like it a lot if you're into Native try it out good a native deodorant calm I'll give you 20% off just use my name as the code Zach sang native deodorant com native deodorant calm look good feel good and put good stuff on you but again like meant to be in a sentence like straight up you weren't meant to hit those deadlines no with like I say this is love in my heart like you weren't meant to keep your arm intact like right it's really weird but also I don't know yeah and it was wow right missed the deadline and I was like okay well what am I gonna do now you like eight applications we've drawn crazy and I was working hard on these I don't even write as I didn't even do my homework so I'm writing essays but these things and like the first time you're right for the first time like yo you got a lock in you got actually do the work and I'm locked in and uh and all these applications get withdrawn and from Sony schools from CUNY schools like you know City University in New York and then the state university near and for anybody who doesn't know a SUNY and CUNY is but um in uh and you know the the applications are gone and now I'm like what do I do I guess you know and I started to feel hopeless and I'm like you know what maybe I should just like enlist in the military you know I have family in the military and and I was like maybe maybe that's the answer maybe I just follow suit maybe I'll do it a lot of my family members did right it became cops or I went to the military and and they they had good lives for themselves right after right you know I mean good benefits and you know but but I was like you know my mom kept hanging up the phone on the Navy she they were trying to call you know cuz cuz I had expressed interest and they were trying to call that hey we like to be dating Ramos and she's like hey don't live here okay hanging up and uh fast-forward Sarah teacher she she basically she said hey I got this one application for this one school that I want you to fill out in New York musical theater school and and uh we're gonna you need to do this and I was like alright that okay and I fill out the application or rather I started to and then I wanted to quit it was just too hard again I was just felt hopeless I didn't want to finish the essay he's my best friend from high school Jason is calling he calls Sara and says Mr I was I think he's crying in my room talking about he want to go to the Navy I don't know what to say to him can you uh can you talk to him she's like put him on the phone get on the phone wipe my tears in my head what's up she's like a man come to my house right now we're gonna finish these essays we gonna send out this application like now you live for no no get your ass here like that's not how she said it but that's how I heard it yeah and uh and I said you know what I bet get my things wipe my tears we walk about a mile and a half we never bust fast we walked about a mile and a half to a crib and we get there she got the table set up we finished the essays two essays we finished them she paid for the application cuz she knew I didn't have the money and she sent it out cuz she knew I wasn't responsible and as it audition for school get in she helped me with audition material I'll get in bro serious like this you wanna talk about that like you wanna talk about how lie just kinda is telling you knocking on your door until you answered how life sometimes knocks on the door and will not stop knocking I'm thankful that God and life just was like yo yo yo and finally I get into the school can't afford it I'm so happy but I see how much it cost was crazy Sara says hey I'll give you names as Jerry Seinfeld Scholarship Foundation and and they've given the scholarship out the one person at our school five years ago and I recommended her I told him your story and when I meet Russ oh how they see my grades she's like yeah like I want no secrets I walk up in there sitting across from Caitlyn him and this woman was a good friend of mine now and I tell him my story she's crying I'm crying I'm like I gotta go and then um I think a couple days later maybe if not a day later schools called me for a loan on my hand can you give me one more day I know what I'm gonna do it a day ten grand well I'm not doing a day bro rob a bank or two yo I was thinking about I was clotting I have my ski mask ready you know we got to get a proper I call the ghouls happen sometimes you gotta ruffle the feathers a little bit to make the dreams happen ruffle any feathers let me have some faith and in a couple hours later I get a call hey you have to hang up with the school about the one more day can give me one more day Kate calls hey we don't usually give the scholarship out the people we grades but we'd like to pay for your school for all four years and my life was that was you know that was people say oh yeah Hamilton pop it off Hamilton popped it off player I said that phone call popped it off that was when my life popped off teachers oh you changed your life Danny from middle schools I mean without those two teachers like yeah more and more teachers Jason Jacobs was my constantly in high school who just text me he's like Brian let's go look on a trip for Christmas we out you know you talkin late we adults now so getting it lit with my counselor was kind of crazy it be like that right and there's a bonding in a new way and then uh you know my Shakespeare teacher miss H you know I didn't even good enough grades to be in an honors class but she she was like yo you're a good actor you need to learn Shakespeare so I'm gonna put you in this class we're not gonna tell anybody and uh and you know it's you know angels man you know these teachers these teachers they you know my coach my baseball coach he held me accountable all the time you know these people Rick DeMarco they they you know I wouldn't be here I wouldn't be here without them yeah but your success is what keeps them going like that's the thanks in a 99% thankless gig truthfully it's really remarkable let's dive in because your problem is spectacular thanks brother the good in the bad yeah is about everything I just talked to you about yeah literally kind of thought that if anyone reads the lyric like I encourage you if you're listening to this right now just read the lyrics look in the bad and it's it's almost verbatim what I just explained to you but every single record off this album he's such a vivid story I feel like I'm like on your shoulder experiencing what you're experiencing wow that the lyrical content matched with the production in life instruments is just I haven't heard music like this in a while I'm so happy it exists come on that's awesome I mean this this album is your life and I've read quotes where you've written you've said things about like writing from a place of a character or whatever but this is has to be you characters me oh yeah no I say it in the show all the time I tell the audience like when we come to the show I say so this character not story and I say feel free everyone when I say the character in our story I'm gonna point to myself you can say you cuz this character's me yes I say hi everybody so the character in our story point to myself in the everybody's like you like yes me this guy you knows now you know takes his journey he leaves home and these are all true stories things that happened to me that that became this narrative they're all small you know all true stories in three minutes or what a two to two and a half to three four minutes songs that um that became his narrative about this character again me right and who thought he needed a leave home to figure out who he wanted to be in life and realized that all the answers you know he goes through the good and the bad and between the gold on his journey in gives us its rights his letter love letter to his family and dear diary in the first song like I love you hey there mama can you tell me how you been I know I said I'll be back at two months and I've been gone ever since you know and then pops in the second verse hey there pop I wish I knew where you been we talked two months ago and I heard from you since you know but the recurring theme is it don't matter where life leads me because if you call and say that you need me no matter whether we're in a bad relationship or good relation if you call and say that you need me I'll be coming home but I gotta go on this journey to figure out who I am figure out how n is and um and he goes to the good in the bad he goes to the industry party and auntie basement in one hour they have they have he has a long night which these are all day like I went to a fancy industry party in Osseo and it was great but then my agent was like it's gonna be the best party alive - the party goes fly but wasn't the best part of my life like I start thinking I'm like where did some of the best parties are my mom's living room my auntie's basement right and then I go one more hours about the first that my fiancee and I kissed and you know this in our story the character of me again right meets this person at this party but in my life there was one more hours like yo you so fly I wish we had one more hour in this night but every place is closed right now it's 5:00 in the morning and the sun's coming up so the birds you hear on the album the birds start coming up at the end of the song the birds are chirping at the end of the record cuz they take us in the e Sabella which is my favorite you know one of my favorite towns in Puerto Rico so if you're thinking about it as a movie right the camera pans up and the the sun's coming up and we see these birds in the tree and we in New York but now we pan down and now we're in Puerto Rico on this beach on this island and then you hear the guitars dead rightfully Sorella and then they go on and make it passionate love in mind over matter the song is about actually making love us money actually love right how sick because we had a lot of songs about people just having one night stands and I'm like that's not my life yo and that's not the lives of like many people living on their earth people are like just trying to make it yo like oh yeah a dope I there's no cheeks clapping and on the right thumb was in the air every and if you are I mean God bless I don't know how you keep it up but do you think like you got that good deep like a therapist all in my hair while I'm licking your areas right give me them feels like that strong sativa right here for my pain call you Oliva you could cure my pain call you will leave you're the only one for me looking at you I made you oh I'm going for two three o'clock four o'clock five o'clock right it's like why can't it be sexy to make you love to somebody you love right why do we not think that why is there something about that that is not sexy to us talking about sex in my life it's one of my great wonders I amazed to figure it all out okay great but my assumption would be that like it is sexy to make some love to something right to somebody you love right yeah I think is sexier right like especially when you can keep it going y'all can keep that right and like y'all look man you got a word for that I'm not gonna lie I work for that you know trying to get innovative it right you know can I say but light you know is but but I think that's the beauty in in love you know and and I think that's what makes the lovemaking even better and and you know and I guess I just didn't haven't heard any song like that in a while and I'm like a whisk song for the person who been that they per person for like two years five years 15 years it ain't no I was like I see you over there cooking why you over there lookin like a five-course yeah total because everything's about like you said ass clapping one-night stand oh you know man shorty at the club took a back to the crib we BB dead candy paint on the Rolls Royce Chinese food call a cab send a home bah-bah-bah that's the number one record it's number one somebody put it on the radio man my life how you know what I'm gonna take a chance am I right about that I know I don't have I don't even drive I don't have a Rolls Royce none of this is true for me like none of that but sure is it for how do you view this album like do you view it as documentation of your do you view it as like this obviously it's a piece of art to you yeah but like is it a diary is it the movie of your this chapter of your life because the way you were describing is a movie like do you go in with all of these concepts no I had it start yeah I mean these songs we wrote 21 songs in 30 days when we wrote this album I wrote a couple other amazing songwriters and we got up in there we were just deep in it and I had just met them all for the first time on that trip too which was crazy so it was crazy opening up to these new people I had never met before but by the way like on the list Michael Justin Tranter or Ross : like I means crazy yeah incredible people only one that you've worked with before right well well well which is he's the recurrent through he's the common thread in all of you write all these record executive produced this album and I couldn't have anybody else you know like do and I just don't want anyone else period because he is one of my best friends and he knows me better than like most of my family and he's a musical genius and I don't even say that lightly and um and I was like now we ride this out son I don't care if if I'm getting signed I'm getting signed and you get this we come and we going together that's the only way I'm making this album if you executive producing it that's the only way I'm making an album period cuz you you know I'm saying even if he didn't even certain songs he didn't write on but he he he oversaw everything you know I'm saying and and and he was the one that I was in the studio we know we have our whole team winning is our is our company whole team winning and and we we were a whole team when it headquarters we call it in New York and and Dumbo Brooklyn and we had our studio and we picked 12 songs 14 we cut two and we going on index cards we wrote every song the title of the songs we had picked for the album our index cards and we mix the index cards around and we wrote the BPM the you know the BPM of every song you know 86 BPI right right so how so let's see I said what's the tempo here what's the name of the song was the song about okay let's see what his story is now this wasn't a narrative right these were all again true small true stories that became one long true story and and we just started mixing them up with our idea diary boom he loves leather boom auntie basement industry party boom one more hour long night boom he said out loud they go away mind over matter they haven't make passionate love relationship now boom they in a relationship that the other person doesn't want to call relationship she promised the brakes on him boom little eyes he's like maybe if I tell you all the little lines and never told you before maybe that'll make you realize that I take this seriously not enough boom woman I want to write a song about the power of a woman's love maybe I would have loved you like a woman that would have that would have been enough friend should have stayed but I couldn't right woman will stay show ya acting crazy but we'll figure it out tomorrow right should have spoke but I wouldn't she's you know she's she's like let's speak about let's talk about let's get to the bottom of it right he'll I gotta go outside and clear my head I hate ya spoke but I wouldn't I did what I shouldn't I could have looked if I couldn't love you like I was a woman then maybe I would have loved you like crazy but I did what I shouldn't if I could have loved you like I was a woman right he goes on to say this to her apologize like maybe if I could I loved you the way you did unconditionally the with that kind of power that I'll never understand you know in a woman's love maybe that you know maybe that could have been enough right if I would even strive for that right and then she leaves and then he figure it out he's lonely you know and I don't think we have enough music about people be you know I mean but yeah maybe we do right there's a whole song right who who wrote it laughs well right he wrote a song I'm so lonely or whatever Ryan is grey it's a great record right and like it's honest right like he and he just says it plainly like I'm was I'm so lonely like I'm lonely like and figure it out that right it's like where are those songs we were just like admiting especially men right sometimes we feel like we're weak or we're like not tough or whatever like we if we admit like nah man I feel a little bit lonely I'm a little depressed I'm a little down or whatever right but we learned to like hide it or cover it up because not that's not manly or that ain't that ain't nah that's not what you do you know I'm saying like I couldn't go to my brother and be like a man feel lonely today be like well no go outside and do some non lonely like I don't know what to say to you no not I hope you what's your problem is that a scary song for you to write because like the scariest kind of men in your life did son yeah and for me to say you know for me to say why am i pushing away with silence has to say why do I push through the day like tomorrow's gonna figure it out like someone else will figure it out me admitting that I'm making me a promise to admit my problems ain't saying I'm a solve them but I'm making progress I say that four times at the end because it's like half for you and the other half is for me you know just in case I forgot the first two times cause it's like you know I'm all alone on my phone in my bedroom Johnny swimming again in my headphones right like how we distract ourselves we go to the dinner table when the first thing is turn the game on turn the TV on turn to whatever they write like we got what's we thing to mask you know everybody's phones on the table now right like it's like how you know how do we just get through this moment right but why we just getting through moments and that song is about that like why Anthony why are you why do you live your life like that just getting through moments cuz now as an adult I I'm guilty of that and I that's me admitting to the world whoever decides to listen to this album yeah I do that I'm guilty of that of not knowing how to deal with myself in the silence at 28 years old now you know just recently like still admitting that I'm a work in progress right and then in either way the next song right his friend pulls him out of the rut he's like well you've been wearing the same sweats for three days and you've been eating this from from the same pizza spot for the last this week you know you got your problems I got a bottle let's wash it all the way I know you cry on your bills I hire your checks are coming later I got a question all this stress did it ever solve a thing is whether you do or whether you don't I've gonna keep happening either way and then the good and the bad he reflects on his life right you know and and he's like ma'am I'm grateful I took this journey maybe it's time for me to go back home and then the final song come back home he's like I had to leave to see how good I had it and in the first two verses I talk about all the things that I was you know all the things that have that in my life I had been running from all the things that I learned lessons from Ray or or or were too stubborn to learn lessons for him like my mom said when I was six years old I always sit up by the window true story I'd always say the city's way too cold I wish there was another place I could go she would ask where and I would say we're anywhere tell me where cuz I'm scared if I'm here then I'll never see paradise I just want to see paradise like well six-year-old me couldn't tell my mom yo ma these dreams to be had this thing's for us to see this this a world for us to see I can say I allowed six so I can say was she'd be like I'd be like I don't want to be here anymore I genuinely sit by the window I want to be here so how about where do you want to be and I'll be like oh no right but you know then I talk about my exes but then at the end of the song I'm like you know what are all the things that I should actually what all the things that make me who I am and who are the people right and what are the things like nothing's better than my mama's rice and beans so I the sound of people yelling on the streets the lights when I landed JFK to cold wind when it hits me in my face all the things I've been running from my whole life I only feel the ground under my feet when jazzy standing right there next to me my fiancee right those are things that make me feel at home and that's the only paradise I know so I had to leave to see how good I have it and that's then the album ends with the melody of dear diary it don't matter where life leads me if you call and say that you need me I'll be coming home I'll be coming home but just on the piano followed by well my mom's voicemail followed by that melody that ends the album why was that voicemail vital I don't know it was crazy I was just looking through my phone I was like you know how do we end this album I don't want it in this album and I'm just like looking through I was like I always wanted to put a voicemail on an album because I'd love voicemails on albums y'all like it sets the set but but it really sets a tone yeah I could see it yeah I just love when you hear voice memos or voice anything recorded from someone else from another person right even the ones I they call me back you ain't call me in five days and I've been trying to call your ass and you AME back you better not be with no other like you know that right like we love those things those things feel real right Frank Ocean did it right like I think black did it on his own right these people these artists are British they are than we lie I love it at least and I was like I need a voice Minh and mom's voicemail was like and thorny Oh mommy god bless you how are you where where are you are you still at work anyway call me when you get this message god bless you love you and that was just the end of the song and then and we end the album where we began why was that important I thought it was important because that's what happened to me I ended that that season of my life where I began you know I moved back to you know I was bouncing around I thought I wanted to I love LA right like I know and I was like always my dream was to move here or or somewhere right like you if you're Puerto Rican in New York you want to move to Florida do you like I need the heat I need the hot weather and they're still in the states and it's the closest thing that feels like Puerto Rico and Island so it's like and ever you know my whole family lives out there now right like everybody moves but uh but it's you know it's funny that when you realize like no I actually don't need to go anywhere home is here it's okay I'll get a warmer coat and it's all right like if if I want to move to different neighborhood I can move a different neighborhood I can make a life wherever I want it right here at home I don't have to run away I'll have to go anywhere to do that and if I can do that here I can make myself at home anywhere else which is is that a crazy thing to think they anywhere could be home if you not try hard enough but if you have the right foundations yeah it really is foundation I think so I think of your feet right I think if you have a solid foundation right um a thing it gives you it gives you this sense of like you know at least try right like you do your best to get good people around you you know you do right like you know we faint almighty perfect like you do you know we do crazy all the time like I mean I know I do right like I'm up all the time right but you do your best to like be like oh you know what man I made this mistake I remember one of my baseball my baseball coaches down Russell used to say to me say you make mistakes to not make them twice and he was like you know mud you know and it's like why am i running from my mistakes why not just face them and be like oh that happened I learned from that and like I don't need to leave home to do that because they always did it's gonna follow me anyway it's gonna follow me to LA it'll follow me to Florida I don't follow me to Puerto Rico it's gonna follow me anywhere how I don't matter how far I go right and it's like you know and if could be halfway decent at home then maybe it'll be alright when I'm on the road how's the tour going it's goin so good it's crazy I mean this is the first experience I've ever had with people singing the words back in I'm talking like y'all word-for-word well because in Hamilton people can't really sing in a Broadway show right but people could if they I mean I'm sure they would they get it in under their breath you see them in the first row they just everywhere just I'm making money and that's not even the lyrics but it's what it's like I'm past patiently waiting my passion at least imagine every expectation they do you see him in the front row on yeah okay I'm doing the show for you tonight tonight's my 400 show but I'm tired but this one's for you I gotta tap into that because I'm like really deeply convinced that if you can be a performer on Broadway you can do anything Broadway crafts the greatest performer to ever exist the work ethic that is involved in doing eight shows a week consistently in front of a live audience of that size with so much on your shoulders if you can do that you can literally do anything yeah thanks I agree you become seasoned 400 shows yeah the six whoo yeah do you think you could walk on stage today and just do the whole thing or nah Brandi rehearsal I think like what Roz that's not your professional in you I can probably bring it back I need one rehearsal I can't I don't know if I could but you know cuz it's like I remember where to stand and a lot of places anymore you get kicked in the head and I show fan is there's people iterance flying around on the stage like getting picked up and turned and chairs going up and down and you you you it it's just I need over any two rows to so if I go back in Lynn and Tommy and the rest of the team Andy and lack I need to rehearsals and we're good to go and we'll be alright but uh yeah but but it's all there it's all I I did it so much that you know it's it is so engrained in my my body and in my mind that show you know so but I don't know because it's just show the same it's not new it's not something different yeah you do it so much that you is muscle memory I mean it's like you know you sing a song enough times you you you can learn the runs but you know in the song like you can learn all the little intricacies of the song those you know you've learned those harmonies you learn those ad-libs that uh that people hope that you know when you write song you give people enough space to also create their own Adler's right you okay you learned mine now here's the space in the song you make your own and you learned the song so much you start to make your own so so that was a lot like that part and a lot like that show like us you know you start to figure out okay I know the steps I know where I'm supposed to stand I know what I'm supposed to say how do I make this my own now right and there's anything with any show right like okay now I know my songs I know I know what I'm gonna say like I know what I'm gonna sing so now what do I talk about okay once I find out what I talk about where can I leave space for the audience talk to me where can I leave where's their room now to explore because now yeah this show is can't become the same - right it's not the same as I'm in a different city every day right and I'm up there but you start to break in a routine one for your mind because you like I need to have some kind of routine totally but at the same time it's different every night because because it's the more you do it the more times the more spaces you fight you know there's a space there Oh getting calm do their you get comfortable yeah okay let's put a bass solo there let's uh let's you know what let's keep the music going for another 16 bars right there you start to find things right which is nice about being on tour that you can't do in Broadway it was once this is the way it is that's the way it is you gotta have you got to make that new for yourself so well you have a trillion other things that are factoring into every movement that you make a thousand different cues like there's no flexibility no yeah rod Wayne right but even down to like what you're saying like where you stand like you can't stand one step to the left no you kicked an eye yeah but now that it's your show you can stop the music and just sit there and talk to people if you want just talk yeah you have no rules I got a couple rules not setting these rules got you got you know you got it's not it's really no rule it's like you you you make you all do you you rehearse yeah so those are quote-unquote where you set the rules right okay here we'll play this song here's where we'll play this song write the order right I'll probably say this in between here right either I start setting the guidelines and then okay we set that so another no rules now we can do whatever we want this is a show let's do whatever we want and if somebody's feeling something somebody want to shout something now let it out let it out you want to dance and dance you want to cry and cry if we need to stop the music let's stop it right let's because you know there's a live show man I'm here with you I'm here to connect with you you could listen to the record you could do your thing right like you could listen to record all day long but this is my time with you to get to know you and for you to get to know me so let's take this time until they kick our asses out of this venue right like let's get to know each other and let's connect cuz I don't know when the next time I'll be back here I don't know what's the next time I'll meet you so let's go what did you learn from starring in Hamilton that you've put into your own music I learned that never stop never stop thinking about how you can make a song better until it's until you have given it over to the last moment write like and I don't I don't like to hold on to things for too long right but but I do I do like to think about you know I was giving those to the bitter end like some of these producers like yo I've never worked with artists of your notes like this I was like yo I'm so sorry but totally not sorry like yeah like I know we can make it better if we do this let's please do this let's let's fix this let's all right well let's add that there's at the the base like there's a song I have an album called relationship that was the first song that we wrote in the writing of the album and it was the last song that we finished and conceptually you listen to it and it sounds like a simple song that should have been done quick but it wasn't because I was so specific about a drum part that happens tell me how to say no relation hood huh I just wanna be the one you in do it so that crack got came every four bars I said I wanted every eight now and I've made that decision way later on so Bruce had to go back and reprogram why because I was like I saw needs more space the song needs space and I said there's that ad-lib there let that ad lib live there and it's so small but was so funny and was so gratifying was that the musical supervisor Alex lack of all who's a music kind of sore yo Alex lack of more from Hamilton calls me it's like yo ain't I loved all the little things bro there's so many little nuggets in there especially in relationship - huh huh huh you didn't add any extra names just like nothing that wasn't needed and that was like the moment where I was like yes that reason why I said take that out after take that out after every four bars it would only put it in after every eight was for Alec slacker more telling me right now on the phone and I love that huh huh huh validation that's the muse of when a musical genius like that tells you yo I love the nuggets like that it makes you realize that all thinking about everything right and so you gotta let it go eventually eventually you know you let it go you have I'm not we're not doing anything else to the song that's it you come up with new ideas later on you could have done it whatever but but but I love to think about everything until we run out of time yeah I don't know if that answered the question I think did well I think it's attention to detail that's what you learned oh yeah yeah that tension because alex is like the ends always Lynn well is gonna say does that mean they were changing the script and script all the time oh really you all the time stay relevant like they were changed nah they were changed the script to to because we were in preview so it was like how do we make the show better right when you're in previews you're rehearsing from one to five you're rehearsing for one to five and then you do the show at night right so you were Hearst and then finally they're like okay preview so that people pay to come see or her CIL's essentially but they still judge right because they come to your show and that's what you want to get better it's sure others people is I wish people would just remember that coming to rehearsal show out it's like we just rehearse from when the five were all dead tired right now we're doing a show for you three hour show why not be comfortable yeah I used to come to meetings dressed up and that was like you know what let me just let the work speak for itself easy just me go ahead and wear D sweats and these sneakers by the way it takes a while to get there no it does for sure no I mean you know you know kid I didn't I wasn't rocking up and you know Nikes any yeah trainers or trainers jogging yes at first you think that like your clothes speak loudly in terms of making an impression right with somebody if you don't can see meaning or whatever yeah but now it's not necessarily about the clothes it's about the art you put out there yeah it's about who you know it's also about connecting I want you to just meet me I don't actually think about what I'm wearing you'll probably think about what I'm wearing right like but it's fine I just I just like what you're wearing cuz that's what I were every day I wear sweat pants running shorts and running shoes and hoodies yeah oh yo come on man right we're just people but we like put on these costumes every day right and it's like we just put on what I wear and see what happens what do you perform in you know what's funny is I performed in this in Houston the other day like I usually wear a whitey and led the jacket with some jeans and Jordans that's cool but uh I think it was better but yeah thanks man I might you know I might come out tonight like this for real I cuz in Houston I was just kind of like you know what I think I'm gonna just rock the hoodie today and the sweats and I'm just gonna put the J's on to keep it on brand and see what happens and it was great it was lit it was actually the most comfortable sure I played so so you can really feel the difference yeah you can yeah but there's something also sometimes it's nice to put on a costume when you get on stage you feel like you can assume the you know the rolling of the roll I guess that's a question how did you get to keep any of your costumes from him hell no man oh man I think it all that somebody else is wearing that tonight everyone huh no no no they keep him somewhere in some warehouse just in case you come back or just in case someone steps into the show that fits no lie and your name is still on it and in the you know I was wearing people's I was looking in the inside other people's names I was like hi here we go are you ever going back I don't know man I mean you know I'm focused on so many other things like I'm doing movies now and it's hard to be in a Broadway show and like I couldn't do I couldn't do music if I was in a Broadway show I just just you just can't do it again you do it eight shows a week yo that's it I can't swore I can't compare ly live a life you know yeah like you barely can do that in the show by itself so if I was to go back to Broadway it would it would you know it would be for something special something that spoke to me you know I'm saying play or music whatever musical whatever it is I'm actually working on musical so I'm I go back to probably for that you're doing in the heights the movie am I'm doing in the heist movie that's a big deal yeah yeah we just wrapped where we wrapped in August and you know I'm so excited were like it's crazy that was the one show that I saw you know I wanted it like give up you know at one point because acting was so hard like nobody's in a rush to write apart from barely five nine Latin like you know latino freckle-faced dude like nobody you know saying 155 wet nobody nobody like oh my gosh I can't wait to write that lead role for him if you ain't looking like Brad Pitt or like you know saying or whoever Denzel it's like and I was like man this is hard I was like where do I fit in here and in the heights was the first show though that I saw where I was like I don't only I don't only relate to some of these characters I know them I know Mousavi he's lay off from the corner store down the block from where I grew up I know Vanessa she reminds me of Tiffany who was in fifth grade with me you know like I know Nina I know I know these characters the p-dog waka because I see the pyramids all the time around my mom's neighborhood and all throughout Brooklyn like these people were real people to me and I was like then they all sound like me and he looked like me like saying maybe there is a spot for me out here and you later well I guess seven years later I'm playing the lead role a role that Lin played on Broadway playing that in the film it's amazing his bananas do it is so I mean it's wild to think how life does that right like but consistently for you and I think that's one of the themes here to our entire conversation right like the things they're meant to happen actually happen and you have a lot of full circle moments so the way things began for you tend to be the way things end like even to work with Lin Wow yeah like you would have thought that that would have been enough I get in there that's a full circle moment for sure but yeah but now we'd like on our fourth thing together right it's being a show that proved to you that you could do this too it's wild do you feel like you have a responsibility to tell other people that look like you and that come from the places that you've come from that they can do it as well I think the only responsibility I have is to tell my story as honestly as possible because then you know maybe someone who looks like me or sounds like me or came from right and they don't necessarily have to look like me or sound like me but if someone relates to something I've been through they could be white black Hispanic Asian they could be from wherever they are in the world doesn't matter right like we're all connected in some way and I think we think for whatever reason that we're not because we come from here or we come from there but we go we're like human beings like we all have feelings and we go through you know so I think and I'm like yo if I could just tell my story as honestly as possible maybe that'll not only give kids who look like me and sound like me and come from where I came from hope that they could they could achieve their dreams but maybe some kid from some small town and some city that I would never been to before or you know maybe some kid in India or some you know right like yeah somebody who's taking something that I said that hopefully makes them feel like somebody feels them that's the power music in the power of genuine honesty like not fabricated anything being able to share your true self and be transparent and open and not shy away from what was but embrace it and share it and it's kind of rare man the combination of the two I think is pretty rare these days yeah I love this again it's like that's what you said music is so powerful like that there's so much of that other on the all over the radio and all over the and I'm like I could do that but I just can't I'm like yo I was like there's so much of that and I'm like you know what like if that's what makes money I live like I don't care look if I paid my rent on the first of the month and I got some dough in the front I got a little bit in the same as I'm shelling you know I'm saying like because if I could make music that I love that's worth more to me then any any other to me at least you know and I don't care you call me cliche or whatever it is right but it's like this real for me and this is an opportunity for me to tell my story and I feel like I'd be wasting my opportunity if I did it do you learn anything new about yourself from telling your story and looking at yourself like a character yeah a lot I learned you know it really gave me it really gave me a clear picture of how much I was running from my whole life cuz I really put it when you put something on the paper who's right in front it's tangible easy tangent and you read them back your lyrics seem like damn I was born through that I'm still going through that you know like figure it out as a song that I'm still working through right like come back home these songs these songs are things that I'm still that I'm still just a lot of some of the stuff I'm still going through this and some of this stuff I've gotten over right but but you know this album reminds me of who I was and who I want to be you know and I forever have that to look back on is if at any moment I forget about Who I am an album to remind me have you thought about the store you're gonna tell in the next album yet I have and you want to hear about it yeah I don't know it's an idea this might not make the I'm not gonna gonna go out on a limb and be like this is for sure this album number two concept but this is what I've been thinking about I thinking about my the neighborhood I grew up in in Bushwick in Brooklyn was divided by it was divided after Halsey Street and we called it dark side and the light side it was only because it would less streetlights on one side of the neighborhood so became actually got darker on one side once you got past a certain point in the neighborhood the streets with darker I went to school in the dark sign the little I sign and I said what if I came up with an album like about that dark and light right not said all the darker I wanted to say and then I said all the light then and then but then I you know I come bat it with with all the that but the part of me that fights against that every day right well the part of me that light part of me that is like it's that good and evil thing right it's like it's like here's here's me you know this this is the part of me that actually right because every every one of us we you know the reason why we love those songs with people with shorties clapping you know with the strip in the strip club and I'm like look make your money everybody's gonna do anything ryan is yes do you think make that dough everybody's gotta make a living right and I'm not ain't nothin against nobody working anywhere right but this fantasy sometimes that we that we that we make out to be our life out to be or or that we sing about or that we strive to have right all this money and this power and I'm like we all have those two characters inside of us all of us and we have to make a daily decision every single day to fight against that character that we know it's giving us the wrong it's telling us the wrong thing or telling us to do the you know is it's trying to convince us to make the wrong choice for our lives so I'm I'm playing with that but nobody nobody you know steals it but no on the sack saying show but by the way well first of all now I'm thinking to myself like you know it is like you it is an internal battle right look you know the bad stuff and you fight to keep it away but sometimes like it's the balance of the good in the bad that gets you seize a day it's like The Lion King yeah yeah yeah you would like this to the lie yes true real you know that's kind of crazy you connecting this symbol was folded over the light touches is yours and symbol one to go see what's on the dark side I really did and he found out yeah bad news but sometimes you gotta go there sometimes you have to write to to figure out like oh and those thoughts are still in sapphire is hot yeah there's actually a real flame what are you thinking now the one other thing I wanted to ask was like you're very captivating and everything you do whether it's just sitting here telling a story or onstage or writing songs like says something you had to learn or is that just come naturally Wow well thanks doesn't very kind of thing is the same like we I think we've all been very interested in what you're saying the stories are great there's a lot of times we're sitting here I'm like kicking myself to stay awake I'm like oh my god but like you it's just very interesting thank you so much man yeah I don't know man I think you know my dad was always a good storyteller maybe I got it from him and and you just you know I just life has just been so full and I'm 28 I'm not like old and but you know like this is so much life has happened to me and and a lot of sitting back and receiving information has happened to me and so I get excited when I have a chance to share the information I've received with people and strangers especially like hey nice to meet you here's something I found out yesterday or a his'n that has happened to me in the last five years that you might be interested in I don't know but I'm gonna take a chance and tell you about this thing that has happened that was kind of interesting to me and in the story too think I mean uh you know I mean I'm around theater people all the time and you kind of just pick and I love stand-up comedy mm-hmm I think that's one of my favorite things to watch as you say enough to ever do it um I don't know if I ever do it maybe I might do one special just to just to you'll see if I bomb then I bomb but I should always have that special that I bombed it right like let's try like I don't know man you never know what any of what you gotta throw it up and see if it's sick you know but at least like you know even if I just stand up I wouldn't talk about that I don't know I talked about how I went crazy I went through my life growing up in the projects and drugs and alcohol my family and I you know yeah that can be dark but there's a lot of funny that happens you know it's like the guy who you know it's it's sad that there's the dude leaning on the train but it's really funny that he is leaning and still he's my man's half of his body is almost on the ground but his legs are firmly on the ground anyone who's been on the train and the other subway knows what I'm talking about you know and isn't that a metaphor for life we're all this even when the third of our body is hanging the feet are appointed are planted they are trying everything to keep our asses on the ground so these stories come from like these come from life I just laugh at life sometimes cuz I'm like how do you laugh or you cry but you cry after you know I mean I wrote a song called cried today smiled tomorrow cuz it's like you know he cried it in he smiled tomorrow like and that song was about a girl who had a terminal illness right she was battling cancer at the time and thank God she survived and we my boy will and I will well so and and I were we met her through an organization who brought patients together an artist and um it's cool yeah it was amazing it's called Katie's art project Stephanie Clements who was our see a choreographer on Hamilton started this organization and she brought us together with this grunting Daria we wrote the song called cry today smile tomorrow because you know I was asking Daria all these hard questions and I said any point you totally like backoffice she's like nah you can ask me whatever you want and I said you know I said to her the way we got the title the song as I said is there one saying or slogan that someone said to you that you hold on too tightly to help you get through your situation she's like yeah I'm one time a nurse walked in the room and I was very vulnerable I was in the shower she said she was like don't forget she walked in on me on the in the shower she heard me crying so it's her job she has to check in on me she opens the curtain mess it's gonna be a vulnerable place to be in you're like in the shower and like besten when you're naked in the most vulnerable and her nurse tends to her eighths to her right helps her out and finally before her urn when her nurse really you know Lee is feels like she's okay before she leaves she says it's okay Dario the honey was Dario is Dario cadet she says don't worry you'll cry today you'll smile tomorrow and I said that's the name of the song we're gonna call taking on a project like that must change your perspective on life in a sense right because that's a big one I was huge huge people I mean people are getting the lyrics tattooed to their body which is crazy I met this this woman the other day she was like hanging out like when my brother and a few of his friends and I guess she had heard the song before she had come to the show Miami and I see her after the show she said hey look what I just got tattoo month to my wrist and then one risks that cried a day and the other one says smile tomorrow I was like and then one of my boys hit me in Instagram cuz people started posting tattoos they're getting of the lyrics of the album and the bad in my handwriting and they're like he's like bruh you know you speaking to the soul when people get tattooed today bodies sure and I was like dang but you know that right in that song was big from you know because you're taking on her story and her struggle like that's a lot of you're carrying a lot of weight in that moment to pull through a record that truly matters and is honest right yeah I mean it's her story - it's not mine so I had to be even more delicate and vulnerable I had to be very careful Yeah right with her there's her story he's choking everything she has told with her right you know three songwriters on the song of Dario will myself you know we did that together right then you know and it's even it's even more delicate when you tell somebody else's story and it was kind of dope it was really dope that she opened up in that way and again that's the power of music that's the power of music yo the good in the bad is an album that totally deserves your ear you need to need to need to need to need to listen to this I'm Tanya it's more than worth your time really records top to bottom I felt very understood after listening to this album so I thank you hey thank you come back home hit me relationship is probably my favorite record off the albums go it's really good stuff man on his basement definitely that's how I feel I'm not here in Los Angeles I'm like a party's aren't from me I go back home I'm like yes let's go Shelly with the homies you junk in somebody's basement just chillin those are the best would you do what's your job there's a beer and here it's the first thing they ask you what what do you do I mean if you listen to audre basement closely in the song at the beginning is hey Mike this is my friend Joey Joey this is - Johnny what have you been up to what have you been working on you know let's get him a drink like that's those are the in the you know that banter at the top of the song and then me in the beginning of the song when I'm driving up in the car right they give you the car all right like you know they hook you up with a little thing or whatever you roll up to this and in the car just like manage right here it's crazy you can hear it in the album when I'm saying all right here we go door closes if I'm putting on all these clothes I don't want to put on showing up to this party real insecure but this ain't my scene but this is the dream at least that's what my agent told me you ain't never seen a party like this before oh no you know then it's like I guess I kind of like the vibe everybody looking kind of fly but I swear I had a bet Dallas sliced coronal I'm cousin spending joints all night and auntie basement all this fancy is fine but it don't compare no I swear I had a better time on two basement you know it's like the party I'm not saying the party wasn't good it's not Angie's basement it's not on see basement you don't say anything it ain't like partying with people who you love in the places most familiar to you to the dollar slice to the dollar slice anybody who knows I'm talking about it's good I'm it's not gonna be so many but but it's good it's good in the moment and better for your bank account yes thank you thank you thanks for having me hey beautiful human thanks for watching our full interview but I get it like full interviews a lot so we got a Clips channel we don't expect you to watch the full thing anymore so we just gave you the highlights please subscribe and uh notifications and all that stuff okay cool I love you

Channel: Zach Sang Show

Views: 129,812

Rating: 4.9848685 out of 5

Keywords: Anthony ramos, the good & the bad, the good and the bad, hamilton, lin manuel miranda, broadway, in the heights, lady gaga, Bradley cooper, a star is born, shallow, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alexander Hamilton, George washington, zach sang show, zach sang, dan zolot, radio, interview, podcast, Aaron Burr, Sir, You'll Be Back, Guns & Ships, Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down), My Shot

Id: ccZjIIPusAc

Length: 65min 1sec (3901 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 27 2019