The White House is known as the People’s House, but not everyone gets an opportunity to come by and see what happens around here. Since the very beginning, the White House video team has worked to bust open the walls of the White House and invite people in to get a behind-the-scenes look at President Obama, the First Lady, and the notable people, places, and moments that have occurred over the entire Administration.

So after much consideration and time spent pouring over the thousands of videos that produced over the past eight years, these are the top picks for videos, as chosen by our resident White House filmmakers.

Some seen by millions, and others by just a handful, these videos provide a window into the rare, historic, fun, and candid moments of this Presidency that people might not normally get to see. And now, in chronological order, check out the top ten picks of White House videos.

May 12, 2009: Lin-Manuel Miranda Performs at the WH Poetry Jam

In 2009, President Obama and the First Lady hosted the first-ever White House Poetry Jam, an evening celebrating poetry, music, and the spoken word. This event was designed around the theme of dialogue, showing how dialogue is important in every aspect of who we are as Americans and as human beings, and demonstrating how communication is a constant throughout the ages.

First Lady Michelle Obama speaks at the first White House Poetry Jam in the East Room of the White House, May 12, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

The event featured a lot of notable artists, including a young Lin Manuel Miranda. As the President noted seven years later, it was here that Miranda decided to perform a song from a mixtape was, he said, “about the life of somebody who embodies hip-hop — Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton.”

Presaging what would later become the somewhat popular Hamilton, the Musical, this video shows a visionary and determined Lin-Manuel Miranda workshopping, in the East Room, the only track he had fully realized in his soon-to-be masterpiece.