Alexander Hamilton may have thought he would've been throwing away his shot if he didn't impress his new revolutionary friends with his views in Act I of Hamilton. But Ben Schwartz in The Afterparty would like to set the record straight. The Hamilton parody in The Afterparty claims, "We all get one shot twice." Confused? Well, so was Sam Richardson's character. But what's clear is that "My Shot" was the inspiration for Yasper and Aniq's song in the third episode of The Afterparty.
"I've heard it said before that we get one shot in life/And even though that may be true, it's not exactly right," Yasper rap-sings at his 15-year high school reunion. He's trying to get his buddy to go after his long-harbored crush, Zoe. Aniq thinks he already missed his shot when he didn't profess his love to her back in chemistry class. But AV installer Yasper has something to share with us all: "Cause here's a secret even though we get one shot in life, we all get that one shot twice."
As the chorus goes: "We all get one shot twice, we all get one shot twice/In other words, we get two shots in life that's why we all get one shot twice."
To help explain this phenomenon of two shots, Yasper cites Eric Stoltz losing the role of Marty McFly in Back to the Future to now being a "sought-out director of television" (it's true!) while Aniq realizes his uncle Amir got his two shots by transitioning from lawyer to microbrewery owner. You know what? Sorry, Lin-Manuel-Miranda, but I don't hate this two-shot philosophy. If it works for the COVID-19 vaccine, it can work for me!
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the song was written by Jon Lajoie (who wrote music for The LEGO Movie 2) and Jack Dolgen (who wrote the episode and music for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend). So they're more than familiar with perfecting music parodies. And if "One Shot Twice" kind of reminds you of Eminem's "Lose Yourself" (which would have been a hit when Yasper and Aniq were freshman), well, Miranda's "My Shot" evokes that early-2000s rap sound as well.
While Aniq is all for his convoluted second chance with Zoe, what would Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton have to say about this? Well, maybe if he had gotten his one shot twice, he wouldn't have been shot to death. But, hey, since Aniq's now dealing with a murder as well, this second shot might not be all that it's cracked up to be.
Images: Apple TV+