Have you heard the good word of The Get Down?
Allow me to be your introduction. The “get down” is the part of the song where the vocals blend with the music, when the beat comes to the fore, when the hook drops and the people dance. The “get down” part is when you groove, when the funk seizes the soul. It’s what makes the b-boys and b-girls of the Bronx dance. It’s the best part of disco, soul, jazz and brass, and it’s the part every disc jockey must isolate and master. In the crumbling fire-trap that is the Bronx, against a skyline of derelict buildings and exquisitely graffitied train cars, hip hop is being born. It’s a brand new musical form rooted in re-purposing the sickest sounds from disco into the ultimate counter-cultural dance music. At the cutting edge are legends like Shaolin Fantastic, aka “Lady-Killing Romantic”: the red Puma-wearing tagger who roams the rooftops, mysterious and elusive in his quest to become a DJ under the tutelage of Grandmaster Flash. The city is a mythical place, full of mystery, adventure and romance; where battle is done by dance, by rhyme, and sometimes, by bullet, sword and tire iron. The Bronx is ruled by three secret kings: DJ Kool Herc, Bambado and the Zulus and Grandmaster Flash. They rule a realm of grit, hope and resourcefulness, a world apart from the shiny, aspirational disco mainstream in Manhattan.
Now you should know, this is no dry music documentary full of interviews and historical footage. The Get Down follows Books, a teenage poet and reluctant candidate for escape from the ghetto. He is in love with Mylene, his childhood friend and singer, but establishes a new passion when he meets the legendary Shaolin Fantastic face-to-face. Brought together first by competition, then by music, Books becomes Shaolin’s wordsmith, and they seek the secret knowledge of the get down together. They navigate the constant tension between the various factions of the Bronx. Mylene’s glitzy future as a disco star clashes with Book’s stubborn commitment to underground hip hop; bringing to life the conflict between disco and hip hop. Every character balances the drive to make music, and the need to survive amidst upheaval and deprivation.
The Get Down masterfully weaves the political, the historical, the musical, and the personal together to create a rich and varied composition that portrays life at the birth of hip hop better than anything else out there. My only complaint is that Netflix canceled the show after season two, because that’s what corporate America does to art. All said, you should watch The Get Down if you have any interest in hip hop, disco, music, history, good television, seeing Jaden Smith play a bisexual graffiti artist/rapper or watching Grandmaster Flash lock six guys in an apartment for 24 hours with a purple crayon to teach them how to DJ.
Gus Dunn-Hindle is a third-year environmental studies major who is a firm believer in the “get down.” They can be reached at [email protected].