--- description: The star of the hit Broadway musical freestyled against Black Thought of The Roots title: Watch 'Hamilton' Star Lin-Manuel Miranda Rap About Darth Vader and Pancakes on Jimmy Fallon image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt087cb3e653288a79/6988700b0a4a2270b79c6ee8/lin-manuel-miranda.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [TV](/tag/tv/) ## TV Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch _Hamilton_ Star Lin-Manuel Miranda Rap About Darth Vader and Pancakes  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 7, 2015 3:01 PM CUT  Lin-Manuel Miranda during an interview with host Jimmy Fallon on Nov. 6, 2015. Lin-Manuel Miranda during an interview with host Jimmy Fallon on Nov. 6, 2015.NBC/Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 7, 2015 3:01 PM CUT Lin-Manuel Miranda, star of the hip-hop Broadway musical _Hamilton_ appeared Jimmy Fallon’s _Tonight Show_ on Friday and rapped about rainbows, pancakes, slam dunks and Michael Jordan in a freestyle battle against Black Thought from the band The Roots. Miranda was on the show to promote _Hamilton_, a musical with a hip-hop soundtrack that covers the life of American founding father Alexander Hamilton. He took on Black Thought using Fallon’s “Freestyle Generator,” which randomly selects three words for the rapper to drop into a freestyle, such as “pancake” in Miranda’s case. “I started at the bottom like my man Drake. I flatten it, flour, eggs like a pancake,” Miranda rapped. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4103778/lin-manuel-miranda-hamilton-jimmy-fallon-tonight-show-rap/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4103778/lin-manuel-miranda-hamilton-jimmy-fallon-tonight-show-rap/"},"headline":"Watch Hamilton Star Lin-Manuel Miranda Rap About Darth Vader and Pancakes","datePublished":"2015-11-07T15:01:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:25:46.270Z","description":"The star of the hit Broadway musical freestyled against Black Thought of The Roots","url":"https://time.com/4103778/lin-manuel-miranda-hamilton-jimmy-fallon-tonight-show-rap/","keywords":["TV","rap","Hamilton","lin-manuel miranda"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt087cb3e653288a79/6988700b0a4a2270b79c6ee8/lin-manuel-miranda.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt087cb3e653288a79/6988700b0a4a2270b79c6ee8/lin-manuel-miranda.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon - Season 3","caption":"The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon - Season 3","creditText":"NBC/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/tv/","name":"TV"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4103778/lin-manuel-miranda-hamilton-jimmy-fallon-tonight-show-rap/","name":"Watch Hamilton Star Lin-Manuel Miranda Rap About Darth Vader and Pancakes"}}]}] ```