From Radio Waves to Dance Breaks: How 21 Chump Street   Came to Be

The year is 2011, and across three high schools in Palm Beach County, Florida, a cluster of young, fresh-faced police officers commence Operation D Minus, where they’re sent undercover as high school students to investigate drugs being sold on campus. They attended classes, took standardized tests, and, at Park Vista Community High School, an honor roll student smitten by one of the undercover police officers, makes a grave error with significant legal consequences. This is the true story of “What I Did For Love”. Thus is the basis for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 21 Chump Street: The Musical.

First, reported by journalist Robbie Brown for the esteemed weekly radio program (This American Life), the brief segment detailed the actions of Justin Laboy, a student from New York who became infatuated with a police officer using the name “Naomi Rodriguez.” Laboy goes into detail on how he was drawn to Rodriguez, noting her backstory of also being from New York, their supposed conversations about family troubles, and even how she used to sleep during class. Then, of course, their conversations shifted to how Laboy could provide her with drugs.

Laboy claimed he told Rodriguez he didn’t do drugs, but wanting to impress her, offered to provide marijuana for her. After obtaining the marijuana from an acquaintance and bringing it to Rodriguez, he then claimed he refused money for the drugs multiple times before politely conceding, sealing his fate as having committed a felony. In a police sweep at the end of the school year, Justin, alongside 30 other students, was arrested for selling drugs. In an interview with Rodriguez, who refused to provide her real name, she stated that he brought up the drugs first and that he took the money without argument. Her statement, alongside text messages from Justin agreeing to get her marijuana, were enough to convince Laboy to take a plea deal after spending a week in jail. He served 3 years of probation in exchange for pleading guilty to the felony charge, and Operation D Minus was a success.

Twelve hundred miles up the east coast in New York, Lin-Manuel Miranda, then best known for his Tony- winning musical In The Heights, sat and listened to this same story. Moved by the segment’s rhythm, structure, and Laboy’s youthful sincerity, Miranda was inspired to write 21 Chump Street. Choosing to approach the show more as a musical translation of the radio segment rather than an interpretation, many of the quotes from the segment appear in the songs verbatim, with Miranda’s signature fusion of contemporary music and hip hop imbuing the situation with scathing humor and heart, bringing us closer to Justin’s perspective and the childlike infatuation that leads him to this irreversible decision.

In 18 blaze-paced minutes, 21 Chump Street acts as a twisted love story, a critique of the war on drugs, and an exploration of how impressionable and naïve young men can be when it comes to matters of the heart. We’re entertained, yes, but also asked to reflect on the actions of a real young man whose life was affected by these events, systems, and his emotions. Young men like Laboy make errant choices every day, but 21 Chump Street forces us to consider what environments truly shape them.

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