Warriors (Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis album)

Warriors
Studio album by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis
Released	18 October 2024
Label	Atlantic Records
Producer	Mike Elizondo

Warriors is a forthcoming concept album by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis. It is inspired by the 1979 action film The Warriors. It is scheduled for release on 18 October 2024 on Atlantic Records. It is executive produced by Nas, and produced by Mike Elizondo.

Background

Miranda first saw the movie The Warriors at age four on a VHS copy that belonged to a friend's older brother. He says the story has been "on two stone tablets in my head" since then.

A friend suggested the idea of a musical based on the movie to him in 2009 after In The Heights came out. Miranda initially told his friend that the idea would never work. After his first run of performing in Hamilton, he realised he'd "lowkey been thinking about" adapting The Warriors since then. He proposed the idea of collaborating on the project to Eisa Davis, who had never seen the movie, in 2022.

In August 2023, the New York Post was the first media outlet to report that Lin-Manuel Miranda was working on a stage musical adaptation of Sol Yurick’s novel The Warriors. In July 2024, it was reported that Miranda was completing the recording of a concept album for a new musical, an adaptation of the movie The Warriors.

In August 2024, the album's release date was confirmed. The New York Times said it was unclear if the album will lead to a stage musical, while the Los Angeles Times described earlier reports that the album was to be a stage production as "speculation". The New York Times noted that "Hamilton was initially conceived as a concept album, and there is a history of concept albums evolving into stage productions, from Jesus Christ Superstar to Hadestown."

Concept

An album, not a show

Miranda told Fast Company that approaching this project as an album, rather than a show, allowed him to work with artists he wouldn't otherwise be able to. He explained that some of his "dream collaborators" would never commit to a Broadway schedule of performing eight times a week, but could spend a couple of days in a studio.

Gender-flip

Miranda describes gender-flipping the characters of The Warriors as being key to him understanding how his adaptation could be interesting to write. He told the Associated Press that if the warriors are women "at every point, it complicates [the narrative] in a really compelling way". In the same interview, Davis adds, "I think that it’s just so crucial to think about this - it’s a group of women that no one believes. Everyone is accusing you falsely, [...] and what is it that you do? What is it that you try?"

The 2014-205 misogynistic online harassment campaign Gamergate was part of Miranda's inspiration for the gender-flip. He likens the campaign's doxing of women to Luther's actions in The Warriors: "Luther shoots Cryus, turns to the Warriors and goes 'they did it'. Then they have to deal with the consequences for the rest of the night, with everyone wanting to kill them."

Recording

Miranda describes producer Mike Elizondo as his and Davis' "third collaborator". They spent two weeks at a studio in Nashville recording the album. Miranda said of the process "If you're a musical theatre writer, the only time you're in the studio is when you're making the cast album of the stage show. To get to be in Nashville for two weeks with Mike's favorite musicians and figuring out what these tracks sounded like [felt like] indulgence as a musical theatre writer to just really focus on the songs and how they sound and not worry about staging".

Lauryn Hill's vocals were recorded separately. Aneesa Folds recorded a demo vocal on the track, which was sent to Hill. Miranda subsequently received a Dropbox link in a text message from Hill's management with her vocals. He was on a photo shoot when he received the link, and immediately went to the changing room to listen to the song.

Personnel

Featured on the album are:

• Utkarsh Ambudkar - Sully
• Marc Anthony - Tato
• Busta Rhymes - voice of Brooklyn
• Cam’ron - Manhattan
• Colman Domingo - Masai of the Gramercy Riffs
• Luis Figueroa - Miguel
• Aneesa Folds - Cleon
• Ghostface Killah - voice of Staten Island
• Amber Gray - Ajaz
• Julia Harriman - Mercy
• Joshua Henry - Wanya
• Lauryn Hill - Cyrus
• Timothy Hughes - Lance
• Sasha Hutchings - Cowgirl
• Michaela Jaé - Yaya
• Daniel Jikal - Joon
• Gizel Jiménez - Rembrandt
• Jasmine Cephas Jones - Swan
• David Patrick Kelly - cop
• Mykal Kilgore - Élan
• Casey Likes - Jesse
• Kenita Miller - Cochise
• Nas - Queens
• Flaco Navaja - Jesús
• Billy Porter - Granger
• James Remar - cop
• Chris Rivers - The Bronx
• RZA - voice of Staten Island
• Stephen Sanchez - Cal
• Phillipa Soo - Fox