Updated on Jan. 22, 2021, to include the Spotify link to “Who’s Yellen Now?”

When then-President-elect Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Janet Yellen for secretary of the treasury, he joked that “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda should write a musical about her.  

“We might have to ask Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the musical about the first secretary of the treasury, ‘Hamilton,’ to write another musical for the first woman secretary of the treasury — Yellen,” he said. 

So “Marketplace” asked Dessa, a member of the hip-hop collective Doomtree and one of the artists who contributed to “The Hamilton Mixtape,” to think about what that might sound like. Here’s what she and her collaborators came up with: 

"WHO'S YELLEN NOW?"
Vocals and Lyrics by Dessa
Production by Lazerbeak and Andy Thompson

HOOK
Oooo, who’s Yellen now?
Who’s Yellen, who’s Yellen now?  

VERSE 1

Doves on the left
Hawks on the right
Crosstalk in the flock tryna fight mid-flight
But here comes Yellen with that inside voice
Never mind the mild manner, policies make noise
She’s 5-foot nothing, but hand to God
She can pop a collar, she can rock a power bob
Bay Ridge represent!
Brooklyn’s in the cabinet!
Damn, Janet, go and get it —
Fifth in line for president!
She knows the kinda stimulus it takes to pass a buck
I heard she called the housing crisis 
She’s qualified as ffff —
It only took a couple centuries
The first female secretary of the treasury

BRIDGE

Don’t want no tax evasion
Forgers faking
In her treasury
Trying for higher wages
For the nation
Less disparity

VERSE 2

Watch your step, there's busted glass
Janet broke another ceiling
You can bet your brass
That the Lego guy is leaving
Last check to cash
— 'Scuse me, Janet has a briefing and a flight to catch
And Janet
She’s the first that’s led
The Council of Economic Advisers, Tresh and the Fed,
She needs a three-sided coin that always comes up heads
To put the triple crown down when she goes to bed
Call the decorators
New boss in the office
Spenders and the savers
Watch the confirmation process
We got to meet her
Now let’s let her settle in 
And lift up your mojitos —
'Cause she manages the mint

Dessa told “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal that she spent a lot of time watching old speeches and flipping through photographs of Janet Yellen while writing the song.

“I read a lot about her to make sure that she was somebody who I’d like to send up,” Dessa said. “And it was really exciting to become a fan of Janet Yellen.” 

On the music side, Dessa said she and collaborators Lazerbeak and Andy Thompson drew inspiration from Lin-Manuel Miranda.

“I think both Andy Thompson and Lazerbeak put another ear on the ‘Hamilton Mixtape’ (shoutout Lin) just to kind of remind themselves how that particular piece of music came together and nod to it as best we could,” she said. 

The song, “Who’s Yellen Now?” is now available on Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming services.

“The three of us who worked on this song … I don’t think we’ve ever had so much fun,” Dessa told Ryssdal. “It was like, how do we get out of this normal rap game and into this [cabinet] appointment niche because it was so much fun to write.”