The year is 1977 and disco reigns as king of mainstream music, but in the crime infested, burned down borough of the South Bronx a new genre of music is emerging. The Get Down showcases the rise of hip hop culture during a time when New York City was on the brink of bankruptcy.
Residents are left with nothing but burning buildings and a slave mentality while a new art form helps them find their voice and speak on issues that affect their community. Those who know hip hop know it was founded on four core elements: music, graffiti, breakdancing & style. This series hits all those elements and gives them all a life of their own.
The main character of this story is Ezekiel ‘Books’ Figuero (Justice Smith) who is a promising wordsmith from the South Bronx. He quickly builds a friendship with an ex-legendary graffiti artist turned DJ, Shaolin Fantastic (Shameik Moore) along with their crew of misfits, The Fantastic Four plus One, which is a play on a real-life hip-hop group also from the Bronx: Funky 4 + 1. These actors are young and relatively unknown yet they all demand your attention when they are onscreen. As the season goes on, you watch first hand how their bonds strengthen as they become a brotherhood that will later be known as The Get Down Brothers.
Of course, what’s a good story without love? The connection between Ezekiel and Mylene (Herizen F. Guardiola) brings the innocence of young love and the complications of two different people intertwined with each other. As Mylene is pursuing her dream of becoming a disco superstar against her father’s wishes, Ezekiel is trying to figure out where his talents fit in the emergency underground culture of NYC while still figuring out where they stand with one another. This dynamic does add great story elements to the show, especially where the main character is, at times, forced to choose between his dreams and love.
What I really enjoyed the most about the show are the characters. Each character brings their own unique narrative to the overall story without feeling misplaced or forced. They each have their flaws and complexities that keep you trying to figure out what their next move will be as well as seeing what inner demons they may be hiding.
I really enjoyed the way they portrayed real-life hip-hop icons, such as DJ Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash, and exhibiting them as these mystical, larger than life figures in the neighborhood even during the infant years of hip-hop. The scenes where Grandmaster would sit down Shaolin Fantastic to test his skills and give his apprentice some coded secrets were probably my favorite segments of the show.
The writing is top notch by delivering very quotable moments and infusing elements of spoken word in the conversations to deliver an unmistakable flow through each interaction. The narration in the show is done by an adult ‘Books’ voiced by legendary MC, Nas, who also executive produced the first episode. While performing at Madison Square Garden in the late 90’s, ‘Books’ recants the story of his life in the beginning and within each episode gives us a small glimpse into the future and defines how important this time was in his life. They also tackle social issues in the show as well, from corrupt politicians to the poverty across the river from the higher class, and even homosexuality. We also get new original music from Nas himself as well as a top-notch soundtrack carried throughout the series with influences from the early hip-hop and golden era of disco. It is definitely an incredible soundtrack to purchase after you have finished the show.
The series is rather short; however, despite being only six episodes long, it 
does an excellent job of telling a very vivid and complex story without any filler or wasted time. Some might say the world created in The Get Down is a little over the top and exaggerated at times but I think it adds to the allure of the series. It is as if someone made hip hop into a comic book, then made that comic book into a series.
Netflix has a ton of great series under its belt and The Get Down sits at the top of the list of shows it has produced. With a great story filled with colorful characters and a vivid world all coming together to showcase the legacy of the birth of hip-hop in the South Bronx. Part 2 is scheduled to premiere in 2017 and with some unanswered questions left after the Part 1 finale, I am very excited to find out what more is to come for Ezekiel and the Get Down Brothers.
Reel Talk gives Part 1 of The Get Down 3.5 Reels.
