The mythology of hip-hop is burnished to a brilliant, nostalgic gloss in The Get Down, a music-driven trip through time to New York in the 1970s.
The new Netflix drama chronicles its rise of the art form during the last days of disco, as seen through the eyes of six South Bronx kids who would change the world.
A decade in the making, this dramatic musical odyssey is the brainchild of Australian director Baz Luhrmann (The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge), who has pulled together a phenomenal creative team – including his wife and four-time Oscar winner Catherine Martin, the legendary MC Nas, musician Grandmaster Flash and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis, as well as several dance legends and graffiti artists – to recreate the story of how a battered city at the brink of bankruptcy gave birth to an art form.
For kids in the Bronx who came of age in the era, life revolved around hip-hop, punk, disco and dance – but despite living on the edge of such an exciting and vibrant scene, their world was blighted by violence, bankruptcy and poverty.
The first six episodes of the musical saga, which will be released on Netflix on Friday, weave fact, including real archive footage of New York in the 1970s, with fiction, original music and re-imaginings of classic songs from the era. A second batch of six episodes will debut next year.
“If you visited midtown Manhattan [in those days] and went to the glittery discos of the city, you’d never know this thing was happening,” says hip-hop historian and supervising producer Nelson George, who was one of the first journalists to write about the emerging musical genre.
“But in the outer boroughs and in Harlem, something was growing via word of mouth, cassette tapes and street parties. It’s the contrast between these two visions of music that helps drive our narrative.”
The Get Down boasts a youthful cast of fresh faces, including: Shameik Moore (Dope) as Shaolin Fantastic; Justice Smith (Paper Towns) as Ezekiel "Books" Figuero; Herizen Guardiola, in her acting debut, as Mylene Cruz; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (who is also in the upcoming Baywatch movie) as Cadillac; Skylan Brooks (The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete) as Ra-Ra Kipling; Tremaine Brown Jr, in his acting debut, as Boo Boo Kipling; and Mamoudou Athie (Jean of the Joneses) as Grandmaster Flash.
More familiar faces include Jimmy Smits (The West Wing) as Francisco "Papa Fuerte" Cruz; Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) as Ramon Cruz; and Jaden Smith (The Karate Kid) as Dizzee Kipling.
Among the fictional characters, real-life figures are woven into this scripted tale of ambition, love, and hardship, several of whom were consultants on the series.
“The series is very true to the early hip-hop scene – the people that were there are all in this story, as well as people you never meet until now,” says the rapper Nas, who also served as an executive producer. “It’s the first time we all get to see a series about the time hip-hop began.”
A frequent visitor to the set, hip-hop pioneer and legend Grandmaster Flash was not only consulted about the culture of the era, but also offered insight to young actor Athie, who portrays him in the series.
“There’s no such thing as the historically perfect programme, but I have to say that Baz and this team have gotten it extremely, extremely, extremely, extremely close,” says the Barbadian-born Flash.
Now 58, he was DJ to his group, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, who formed in the South Bronx in 1976 and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, the first hip-hop act so honoured.
“Finding the clothing, the sneakers, the dance moves, what we drank, what we smoked, how the environment looked … he’s scary close to what this is,” he adds.
Growing up in an isolated town in Australia, Luhrmann recalls how he viewed New York from a distance as a creative hub and cradle to some very sophisticated art forms.
“Yet, it was also a dangerous, and in some ways broken, place in 1977,” he says. “My first question was a simple one: How did these profound, creative, new gestures come out of this place, this youth, and this geography? So much creativity, so little means.
“We see so many depictions of the burnt-out Bronx. But who were these ‘kids?’ This generation of artists? What great adventure, sense of curiosity, and hope did the adults and the newsreels miss?
“Fundamentally, this show isn’t simply about the roots of hip-hop or the demise of disco. The ultimate character is childhood – that ‘authentic impulse to action’, the simple happinesses – and the accidental discoveries that made hip-hop possible.”
•The Get Down will be on Netflix from Friday
artslife@thenational.ae
