Cousin Lyrics – 21 Chump Street

Song Overview

Song Credits

• Featured Vocalists: Lindsay Mendez, Gerard Canonico, Antwaun Holley, Anthony Ramos, Alex Boniello
• Producer & Composer: Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Release Date: June 19, 2014
• Album: 21 Chump Street – The Musical EP
• Genre: Hip-Hop / Musical-Theatre mash-up
• Length: 2 minutes 19 seconds
• Label: 5000 Broadway Productions
• Language: English
• Mood: Frantic, conspiratorial, family-bonded
• Copyright © 2014 5000 Broadway Productions, Inc.

Song Meaning and Annotations

“Cousin” is the hustle montage of 21 Chump Street. Justin’s puppy-love has officially crossed the moral double-yellow line, and the music shows it: bongos chatter, bassline slides around like a borrowed car, and the Cousin song words tumble in breathless sixteenth-notes—every bar crowded like a group chat blowing up at 3 a.m.

Miranda leans into Latino kinship clichés on purpose. The hook—“Everybody’s got a cousin who can hook them up with something”—is both joke and indictment. Justin keeps insisting he’s not a dealer, yet the communal chant proves temptation is only ever one relative away. Underneath, the harmony bounces between I and bVII, a hip-hop wink to the 90s boom-bap lineage but also a musical shrug: rules bend easily here.

Opening Run-On

I called a cousin who called a cousin who called a friend, who called a couple dozen cousins …

That piling of “cousin / dozen / doesn’t” is lyrical slapstick—a verbal domino chain that mirrors Justin’s spiraling risk.

Mid-Song Bargain

Only if you believe in love. Love!

Justin weaponizes romance as currency, praying family loyalty plus a dash of Shakespearean ardor will cough up the weed. Notice the tempo notch up two BPM right here: his heart—and the beat—skip ahead of good sense.

Deal-Sealing Image

I hand my cousin twenty-five ducats … little green nuggets.

The antique “ducats” parodies Romeo and Juliet; Miranda loves theatrical echoes. In 2014 Brooklyn, though, Shakespearean coin turns into a Ziploc bag of probable cause.

Compared with previous numbers, the track’s texture feels crowded on purpose. Cousins rap over each other, the narrator breaks in, Naomi’s texts ping. Chaos is the point: in real life Justin spent weeks sourcing pot he’d never bought before. Every overlapped vocal becomes another clock-tick toward his arrest.

Similar Songs

1. “Run and Tell That” – Hairspray
   Both songs explode with ensemble call-and-response and neighborhood gossip. Seaweed’s joyful self-promo contrasts Justin’s anxious procurement, but the rhythmic hand-offs feel like cousins across decades.
2. “The Confrontation” – Les Misérables
   Layered vocals, moral urgency, and a tug-of-war over legality. Javert and Valjean thunder in operatic minor keys; Justin and his cousins volley slang, yet each duet dramatizes a line one man won’t cross—and another does.
3. “My Shot” – Hamilton
   Miranda again stages peer-pressure frenzy inside speedy internal rhyme. Alexander raps to seize destiny; Justin hustles to impress Naomi. Same author, two very different American dreams.

Questions and Answers

Is “Cousin” available as a standalone single?

No—like the rest of the mini-musical, it lives only on the five-track EP.

Did the track ever chart?

It never touched Billboard, though streaming numbers spike every prom season.

Are there notable covers?

Yes—Chris Jenkins’ 2025 high-school production went semi-viral on YouTube, and Miranda’s own early demo (“Everybody’s Got a Cousin”) sits on SoundCloud.

Where was the first public performance?

Brooklyn Academy of Music’s RadioLoveFest, June 7 2014, alongside a live This American Life taping.

Can schools license the number separately?

The entire 15-minute show is licensable via Concord Theatricals; individual songs cannot be separated.

Fan and Media Reactions

“Miranda rhymes ‘cousin’ with ‘doesn’t’—my linguist heart squeals.” @VerseNerd on X

“The tempo feels like you’re sprinting through the wrong hallway between classes.” u/StageLeft42

“Spanish-dub cover swaps ‘primo’ for ‘cousin’ and somehow hits even harder.” TikTok @musicalesPR

“Our theatre kids played this during a lockdown drill—bit on the nose, but genius.” Ms. Delgado, HS Drama Coach

“That sandwich-bag rhyme? Pure Miranda mischief.” @CastAlbumReview