Cabinet Battle #2 Lyrics – Hamilton

Song Overview

Song Credits

• Featured Vocalists: Christopher Jackson, Daveed Diggs, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Okieriete Onaodowan
• Producers: Bill Sherman, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alex Lacamoire, Black Thought, ?uestlove
• Composer & Primary Lyricist: Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Additional Writers (sample/interpolation): The Notorious B.I.G., Poke, Diddy, James Mtume
• Album: Hamilton: An American Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Release Date: September 25, 2015
• Genre: Hip-hop show tune / Political rap theatre
• Length: 2 min 26 sec
• Label: Atlantic Records
• Studio: Avatar Studios, New York City
• Instrumentation: Violin, viola, cello, bass, drums, percussion, guitar, banjo, harp, keyboards, synthesizer, programming
• Orchestration & Conducting: Alex Lacamoire
• Copyright © 2015 Hamilton Uptown LLC / Atlantic Recording Corporation

Song Meaning and Annotations

“Cabinet Battle #2” turns the East Room into an MC cipher and stakes America’s infant foreign policy on rap-sparring charisma. Where its predecessor wrangled over national debt, this sequel wagers blood and diplomacy: whether the newborn United States should honor the 1778 treaty with a headless French monarchy. The beat? Sparse snare pops, harpsichord twinkles, and a bassline that stalks like a wary envoy pacing the docks of Charleston. It’s courtroom drama rewritten as a mixtape interlude.

Jefferson (Diggs) brandishes revolutionary IOUs, name-drops Lafayette, and accuses Hamilton of perfume-soaked betrayal. Hamilton (Miranda) counters with guillotine gallows humor—“King Louis’ head? ‘Uh… do whatever you want, I’m super dead.’” The rhyme is black comedy, but the stakes are scarlet: American coffers, soldier lives, and the very precedent for executive power. George Washington (Jackson) presides, part referee, part reluctant monarch, issuing the neutral-ground verdict.

Musically, the track parodies a 1990s freestyle battle: call-and-response hooks, crowd “Ooh!!” ad-libs, and that wink to Biggie’s “Juicy” (“And if ya don’t know, now ya know…”). By splicing golden-age rap DNA into 18th-century policy, Miranda frames political ideology as performative spin — centuries-old and evergreen.

Verse Breakdown

Jefferson’s Opening Barbs

“We made a promise, we signed a treaty / We needed money and guns and half a chance / Who provided those funds?”

Jefferson wields moral debt like a saber, reminding Washington that freedom was crowdfunded by Parisian financiers. The alliteration (“money and guns and half a chance”) mimics a rising drumroll—idealism marching toward the punch-line.

Hamilton’s Rebuttal

“We signed a treaty with a King whose head is now in a basket / Would you like to take it out and ask it?”

The macabre puppet show underscores Hamilton’s pragmatism: treaties bind governments, not the decapitated symbols thereof. His argument rhymes on “basket / ask it,” a childlike taunt that sharpens the satire.

Washington’s Verdict

“We’re too fragile to start another fight.”

Jackson’s measured baritone cuts through the lyrical gun-smoke. The newborn republic is an eggshell; neutrality becomes parental common sense rather than cowardice. Still, Jefferson’s final jab—“Daddy’s calling!”—exposes the patronage politics nobody will acknowledge aloud.

Annotations

Article I, Section 8. Congress alone can declare war, yet Washington claims his neutrality decision “is not subject to congressional approval.” Hamilton backs him by publishing the Pacificus essays, arguing that “the Executive must preserve peace till war is declared.”

Jefferson’s gripe. He says Hamilton coached Washington—and everyone else—before Jefferson even knew the topic. Jefferson’s private note: the “ingenious tissue” of questions Washington sent him was obviously Hamilton’s prose.

1778 Treaties with France.

Lafayette’s role. The Marquis pressed Louis XVI to bankroll guns and gold—France supplied 90 % of America’s gunpowder. Jefferson invokes that debt; Madison, dry as dust, sums it in one word:

“France.”

Jefferson’s stand. He cites $13 billion (today’s dollars) French taxpayers spent, insists revolutions must be “refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants,” and twice chants “take a stand.” He views Hamilton as a monarchist “bottomed on corruption.”

Cabinet roles. Foreign affairs are Jefferson’s turf, yet Hamilton keeps meeting Britain’s envoy George Beckwith (“Number 7”) and steering policy. Jefferson fumes:

“Stay in your lane.”

Personal jabs. Jefferson mocks Hamilton’s clothes—too “nouveau”—and sneers that rising “above your station” betrays America’s ideals. (Irony: that rise defines the American Dream.) He flips Biggie Smalls: “And if you don’t know, now you know, Mr. President.”

Hamilton fires back. He warns a war-ravaged, debt-soaked U.S. could shatter if it joins France against every European power. Chess imagery: France fights “without a king or queen”—a board already lost. He undercuts Jefferson’s “decapitated king” with grisly guillotine facts.

Washington’s verdict. The President cuts short the rap duel, sides with Hamilton, and orders a Proclamation of Neutrality. Jefferson cries, “But Monsieur!”; Washington repeats,

“We’re too fragile to start another fight.”

Lafayette again. Jefferson hurls, “Did you forget Lafayette?” Hamilton retorts that the Marquis is “fine”—though the truth: Lafayette languished in Austrian jails while his wife narrowly escaped the guillotine (Angelica and Monroe interceded).

Final sparks. Jefferson’s argument collapses into insults: Hamilton is “quick-wit, lawyer-slick,” Washington’s “favorite.” Hamilton counters: “My defendants got acquitted.” Washington’s paternal favor—Jefferson’s taunt of “daddy”—highlights Hamilton’s dependence on a single powerful ally.

Bottom line: Neutrality survives; the Franco-American treaty dies. Pride—on both sides—marches toward the cliff at Weehawken.

Similar Songs

1. “Cabinet Battle #1” — Original Broadway Cast
   The obvious sibling: economic policy versus foreign entanglements. Battle #1 sets the template of Jay-Z-style bravado; Battle #2 raises the existential ante by dangling war. Together they mimic a two-round rap league, each MC learning the other’s tells.
2. “Ten Duel Commandments” — Original Broadway Cast
   Both tracks convert historical procedure into contemporary flow. Where “Ten Duel Commandments” borrows from The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments,” “Cabinet Battle #2” winks at “Juicy,” highlighting Miranda’s habit of translating laws—be they dueling codes or neutrality doctrines—into hip-hop rulebooks.
3. “The Confrontation” — Les Misérables (Valjean & Javert)
   Another duet where ethical absolutism meets political pragmatism. Valjean’s grace mirrors Jefferson’s idealism; Javert’s legalism resembles Hamilton’s strict constructionism. Each pair argues life-and-death stakes over a propulsive score.

Questions and Answers

Why call the song “Cabinet Battle” instead of “Debate”?

Miranda frames policy disputes as hip-hop clashes, implying that verbal agility wins as much as logic. “Battle” signals rhythm, audience reaction, and braggadocio—an arena, not a committee room.

Is Washington really allowed to decide unilaterally?

Constitutionally murky. Congress declares war, yet the executive steers foreign policy. Hamilton’s essays as “Pacificus” argued the President could proclaim neutrality to keep peace until Congress acted.

What’s with the Biggie reference?

Jefferson’s “And if ya don’t know, now ya know” nods to “Juicy.” The interpolation lamp-shades that cabinet meetings are the rap battles of their day—sampling modern culture to decode old politics.

Why does Jefferson weaponize Lafayette’s name?

Lafayette personifies Franco-American camaraderie. By invoking him, Jefferson paints Hamilton as a back-stabber, turning a friendship badge into guilt trip.

Does Hamilton actually draft the Proclamation of Neutrality?

Yes. Historically he ghost-wrote Washington’s statement, then penned seven “Pacificus” essays defending it. The track’s last line—Washington ordering the draft—foreshadows Hamilton’s pen doing presidential heavy lifting.

Fan and Media Reactions

Online discourse crackles like the cabinet floor itself:

“Jefferson going full Biggie is the textbook definition of facts plus swagger.” — User @BurrNotSorry

“Hamilton’s ‘I’m super dead’ punch-line? Dark, hilarious, unforgettable.” — User @FederalFlow

“George Washington playing hype-man referee remains peak theatre.” — User @RevolutionRhythms

“Miranda somehow makes constitutional law binge-worthy—I can’t even finish my taxes.” — User @ArticleISect8

“The track should come with a neck-brace warning: so many jaw-drops per minute.” — User @NeutralityOrBust

Rolling Stone praised the piece as “Hamilton’s most overt love letter to 90s East Coast rap,” while historian Joanne Freeman chuckled on her podcast that “this is exactly how the founders sounded—minus the beats, plus a few powdered wigs.”