Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis have teamed up with Nas and producer Mike Elizondo for Warriors, a new hip-hop concept album based on the 1979 film The Warriors. The album will be out everywhere on October 18th via Atlantic Records.
The original film The Warriors was adapted from Sol Yurick’s 1965 novel of the same name, and follows a New York City street gang as they travel from Coney Island to the Bronx and back when they are framed for the murder of a respected gang leader, Cyrus. Now, Lin-Manuel Miranda and playwright and actress Eisa Davis have taken the gang’s multi-hour, 30 mile journey and adapted it into a musical score.
Nas serves as executive producer with Mike Elizondo assuming duties behind the boards. The project promises an “immersive” listening experience, as well as “star-studded cast of voices” lending their talents to Warriors, but no names have been revealed yet.
“We’ve spent the past three years musicalizing the Warriors’ journey home, from the South Bronx to Coney Island,” say creators Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis. “Along the way we’ve gotten to work with a lot of our favorite artists, and we’ll be announcing their roles on the album in the weeks ahead. We can’t wait to share these songs with you on October 18th.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda previously expressed interest in adapting The Warriors for a stage musical, with Variety confirming last year that the Hamilton scribe was working on music for it. It’s fitting source material for the Washington Heights native, who has now written several musical projects set in New York City. Besides Warriors, Miranda most recently produced and wrote new songs for Disney’s live action remake of The Little Mermaid.