The ABC’s Of Hip Hop: Netflix’s ‘The Get Down’ Dazzles At Summer 2016 TCA

One of the most hotly anticipated Netflix series had its first TCA panel today in Los Angeles. Though Baz Luhrmann‘s name brings a lot of attention, he was careful to make very clear that the story told in The Get Down is not his story and that it was his initial quest to understand how hip-hop came out of the disco era that led him to work with Nelson George and Grandmaster Flash. The panel quickly became the ABC’s of hip hop as told by Grandmaster Flash, which was a major treat for everyone in the room.

After showing the recently released two minute trailer, Luhrmann launched into the story of how he was in Paris ten years ago and saw a photo of two kids break-dancing and wondered about how hip-hop got its start. The path to discovery led to Grandmaster Flash, who describes the series as “the missing years of what has now become a million dollar business. I can’t tell you about the number of people who took a slice off the cake but I can tell you about the recipe.”

Flash went on to describe how he used to buy 99 cent records at shops like Downtown Records and then remixing them because “We didn’t have musical instruments. We had turntables and a mixer. In search of the perfect beat, we looked for perfect drum solos. The drum solos were always too short and that annoyed me. I’d edit the drum solos to the beat to create a musical bed.” Then he added, “Disco was the big thing.We were doing our own thing. Music had no color. We had a chance to create something joyful to us.”

Supervising producer Nelson George noted that now, “Kids have laptops with digital files of music. Trap music is all digital. Hip hop has mutated 20 times since Flash started it.”

Flash commented, “The way hip-hop is today, a lot of performers don’t know the formula it started with. I think you need to know where you came from.”

Baz Luhrmann first thought of doing The Get Down as a movie but then realized “the story is too epic” and appreciated that Netflix allows for epic stories to be told, like Roots and The Holocaust, two miniseries that influenced him when he was young. Lurhmann quickly realized, “the number one thing was that this had to be from the kids’ point of view. These kids did this because they wanted to say, ‘We exist.’ I wanted to get it right and pay respect to all those young people.”

Nelson George pointed out that the series depicts family life truthfully, showing families having dinner together and that “families were strong and they raised strong kids in chaotic times.”

When Nelson George, Nas, and Grandmaster Flash joined the project, it took real shape. George added, “Then it got the Baz-ification, which made it much bigger. There are conversations that took place between Baz and Flash that wound up in the script, almost word for word.” Careful to avoid accusations of cultural appropriation, Luhrmann said again and again, “This is not my story. This is a community project.”

After seeing the trailer, you might think The Get Down is completely Bronx-centric. Nope. In episode four, the story shifts to Manhattan when one of the young men does an internship in Manhattan. Another thing to keep an eye out for: a Hustle vs. break dance showdown in the second set of episodes between Cadillac and Shaolin. Nelson George teased it saying, “That’s it! That’s so hot!”

The music cred runs deep with The Get Down as Nas wrote and performs all the raps in the show and his voice opens every episode. Finally, look for Hamilton co-star Daveed Diggs, who was cast in the series for his many performing talents and because he looks like an older version of Justice Smith, who plays lead character “Books.”

[Prepare for The Get Down when Part One drops August 12th on Netflix.]

[Photos: Netflix]