Before there was Hamilton there was Freestyle Love Supreme. And before that, there was In the Heights, but that’s a different project for a different time. Now Lin Manuel Miranda may be on to bigger, better things but he started with little seen plays like Heights and the underrated improv series that’s like Whose Line is it Anyways for comedic rappers. Freestyle Love Supreme was originally a live show that also aired on “Pivot TV,” a channel I’ve never heard of in my life, in 2014. SeeSo, jumping on the LMM/Hamilton bandwagon (a smart move I might add), decided to bring the old series to their platform with some exclusive new content. It’s not absolutely hysterical, but these guys are all very impressive freestyle rappers and quite funny on top of that.
Joe Portes is a writer of Fiction and Essays, as well as a Creative Writing instructor in Upstate New York. He has edited literary journals and online magazines where his stories, interviews, and reviews have also appeared. His work has been in or is forthcoming in the Indianola Review, Pitkin Review, and Free George Magazine among others. Aside from writing for the Pop Culture Beast, he maintains a blog at JoePortes.com where you can read about everything from teaching college freshmen, to his love of podcasts, to playing video games.