Hip-hop’s cultural impact makes it hard to imagine a time when it wasn’t music’s dominant sound. But Netflix’s latest series, The Get Down, takes people back in time to the late ’70s and the art form’s inception. The show’s premiere last night at the Bronx’s Lehman Center for the Performing Arts was a celebration of creator Baz Luhrmann’s exuberant vision and the power of hip-hop itself. Infusing the story of how legends like Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, and DJ Kool Herc rose to prominence with the tale of young lovers trying to find themselves during Mayor Abe Beame–era New York is the kind of pop history mash-up Luhrmann does masterfully, and the 90-minute first episode was no exception. The crowd-pleaser lent itself to singing along and audience participation, as guests cheered, danced, and found themselves caught up in the evening’s spirit and music. “It can serve you when words fail—it can move through time and geography,” said Luhrmann, who praised the ingenuity of rap’s first generation and the sound’s ability to transcend boundaries. “Music doesn’t have to be wallpaper. As a storyteller, I like to use music as the text.”
The blend of fiction and real-life events allowed for several stories to make it on-screen for the first time, among them that of genre pioneer Grandmaster Flash, who served as a consultant during the 17-month shoot. For Flash, seeing that the period was accurately represented was paramount. “It’s a period that journalists never cared to ask about,” says Flash. “Now, this time that all the kids should know is on this huge platform and it’s becoming a topic of discussion. When we were kids, that’s the one thing we didn’t do; we didn’t record it, film it, so there was nothing for these guys to reference. Baz has cracked open this vault, and it is time for people to take a look.”
For the cast, most of whom were too young to have grown up during the ’70s, working on the project offered a history lesson and a taste of a bygone era. “I wasn’t familiar with disco at all. I pretty much learned everything for this role, but it was so much fun,” said Herizen Guardiola, the show’s female lead and aspiring Donna Summer. “I hope people will be singing after they see this!” The upbeat sentiment was echoed by costar Justice Smith, whose poet-turned-rapper Ezekiel sets the plot in motion. “I think it will give people newfound reverence for hip-hop. A lot of people from my generation will learn that hip-hop began from a place of positivity by people who wanted to mitigate all the negativity around them,” said Smith. “The older generation will have lots of nostalgia; no one’s ever done anything like this show before, so I think that in of itself is going to be powerful.”
Given the enthusiastic response, the power of the show’s message wasn’t lost on last night’s guests. With everyone from Debbie Harry, Nas, Jaden Smith, Zoë Kravitz, Rita Ora, Jimmy Smits, Rosie Perez, Billy Porter, and Daveed Diggs heading over to Jerome Avenue for the B-boy-themed after-party, the celebration continued until the wee hours, providing a fitting toast to music’s past and its future. “Hip-hop is 40-something years old. It’s a grown-up now!” quipped Diggs, who just wrapped a successful run in that other hip-hop cultural event—Hamilton. “It’s branching out and becoming a mogul in all the ways a successful adult would; we’re going to see its continued influence in spaces where you don’t expect to see it, but it’s been here for a long time.”