Warriors: Musical review

Warriors Review - Broadway musical

"Warriors" Soundtrack: A Grit-Pop Graffiti Bomb

Hot Take, Straight Off the Third Rail

Short version: There’s enough rhythm, rage, and Broadway-shined bravado here to knock your AirPods clean off the Coney Island boardwalk. Long version? Keep reading; I brought spray-paint for the details.

Context Corner: How We Got This Neon Riot

• Release: 18 Oct 2024
• Label: Atlantic Records
• Masterminds: Lin-Manuel “Rhymes in His Sleep” Miranda + Eisa “Genre-Magnet” Davis
• Runtime: 80 minutes of adrenalized city blur

Miranda’s boyhood VHS obsession with the 1979 cult flick slammed head-first into Davis’s playwright instincts, and the pair decided to gender-flip the entire gang saga. No theatre lights, no preview jitters—just a concept album built like a subway rush hour: claustrophobic, sweaty, strangely euphoric.

Track-by-Track: A Sonic Walk-Through in Graffiti

1. "Survive the Night" – Opens like a borough roll call at a street-corner block party. Nas drops chess metaphors, Cam’ron flexes uptown drawl, Ghostface snarls Staten slang. It’s swagger layered on steel wheels.
2. "If You Can Count" – Lauryn Hill’s voice drifts in like incense through a cracked church window, blessing the truce before chaos. Sparse bass, hand-clap gospel, subway screech samples—chef’s kiss of tension.
3. "Derailed" – Twenty-second child scream loops under grime-crusted drums. You almost smell burnt brake pads. Ajax’s frustration crackles; Luther’s shadow lurks.
4. "Going Down" – Kim Dracula detonates a metal-trap fusion so violent you’ll check for nosebleeds. At 2?36? you hear the guitar solo careen off the tracks and cackle all the way down.
5. "Call Me Mercy" – Julia Harriman croons on a rainy-day R&B canvas; wounds, wonder, and boardwalk salt water mix in the hook.
6. "Finale" (three-part) – Surf-rock twang, gospel choir lift, and a final whispered hope from the surviving Warriors. Dawn breaks, but you’re not sure anybody is truly safe.

Big Ideas Hiding Under Leather Vests

Feminism With Brass Knuckles. Flipping the gender lens reframes every alleyway chase into commentary on who is allowed to walk at night and why.
Hip-Hop as Oral History. Each borough-rep verse doubles as archival testimony of block pride; graffiti tags in sound.
Refusing One Genre Cage. Salsa horns tumble into ska up-strokes, then ballroom house, then doom-metal shrieks. It feels messy—on purpose. New York is messy; the mix serves truth.

Performances: Who Steals the Show?

The Warriors Core

Cleon (Aneesa Folds)

Folds’ muscular alto slices through ensemble bustle, commanding without over-singing. Her “Woodlawn Cemetery” verse might be the album’s most quotable pep talk.

Swan (Jasmine Cephas Jones)

Underplays heroism, lets quiet determination carry weight. When she whispers “Mercy, run,” you run.

The Rogues

Luther (Kim Dracula)

Chaos incarnate. Think Joker with a distortion pedal.

Cameo Kings + Queens

Hill, Busta, RZA—drop-in fireworks that could feel gimmicky, yet Miranda’s pen gifts them lines worthy of their mythos.

Studio Spill: Tape-Loop Sandpaper

"We stopped asking ‘Can we clear that sample?’ and started asking ‘Does it make the story bleed the right color?’"Eisa Davis

"Nas said my chess line was solid. I nearly retired right there."Lin-Manuel Miranda

Legend says the Nashville sessions ran on two food groups: cafecito and hot chicken. Lauryn Hill’s Dropbox vocal arrived during a photo-shoot; everyone froze, headphones passed like contraband, tears may-or-may-not have happened.

Verdict: 8/10 Baseball Bats

Is the album perfect? Not remotely. Some scenes scrub the grime too clean, and metal purists might recoil at Luther’s trap swing. Yet Warriors wins by swaggering into the crosswalk between theatre and street and refusing to flip the “Walk” sign. It’s theatrical but not theatre, cinematic but not cinema—its own mutant hybrid. For my money, Miranda and Davis just spray-painted a fresh lane on concept albums’ six-lane freeway.

FAQ

Do I need to know the 1979 film?

No, but spotting references feels like finding hidden tags on a brick wall.

Best listening setup?

Night ride, over-ear cans, volume one tick below tinnitus.

Any skips?

"Cardigans" feels novelty-thin, but even that groove worms into your brain by the second chorus.

Stage musical when?

Nothing official, just whispers and hope. Keep eyes on subway posters.

Last Update:July, 20th 2025