The first six episodes of Baz Luhrmann’s The Get Down, a ‘70s-set saga about the origins of hip-hop and the dwindling of disco, are now available on the streaming service. With a budget of $120m, it’s the most expensive Netflix Original series ever – and as you can see from the exclusive footage below, it doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the club scenes. The main characters are a set of South Bronx teens striving to make their mark on the world.
Like the similar NYC music show Vinyl, The Get Down has involvement from a host of actual musicians, including executive-producer Nas. The rapper wrote raps for the show: “I’m just a super fan of the old school and the golden era, and so it just felt like I couldn’t have asked for a better project to be involved with”, he’s said.
The most famous face in the cast is Will Smith’s son, Jaden Smith, who plays a talented graffiti artist called Dizzee Kipling. But the main focus of the show falls on Justice Smith’s poetry-loving teen Ezekiel ‘Books’ Figuero and Shameik Moore’s aspiring DJ, Shaolin Fantastic, who is in awe of Grandmaster Flash and helps inspire Books. Mamoudou Athie plays the young Grandmaster Flash, who in real life was associate producer on the project.