The Get Down looks so good that you probably won’t want to get up.

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The other day I had the pleasure of attending a special screening of The Get Down in The Bronx at the Universal Hip Hop Museum’s home. The Old Bronx County Courthouse’s interior was transformed into a magical palace with superb lighting and a welcoming staff. It was like entering a royal castle and heading to a ball. A perfect site for treasures.

Inside other Film, TV, Media and Music celebrities and luminaries were in attendance like Spike Lee, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Caz, Grand Wizard Theodore, ASAP Rocky, Jaden Smith, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz and many more…

The Netflix hosted event kicked off with an interesting and moving speech by Grand master Flash who stated “If Hip-Hop was a cake, and let’s just say the cake is the 80’s on… I cannot tell you, how many people, fans, producers and the like. How many people took a slice off that cake, but there’s one thing that I can tell you. I can tell you who the Bakers were.” He also went on to say when he’s always asked about the 80’s he says to himself “Why doesn’t anybody want to know about the ingredients? Why Not?”

Flash then proceeded to tell of how a gentleman came to him and said he wants to document the early years, the organic years. He mentioned how he told his part of authentic Hip Hop history along with other original pioneers like Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa telling their part. He declared “We now have a visual place in history.”

Then that gentleman flash spoke of the director Baz Lurhman well-known for film classics such as Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby spoke and joked about he isn’t a big speaker, he’s a director and some of the things that are important to him about telling this story. Being from Australia himself he mentioned how the part of Hip Hop that no one has ever really told inspired him. And as Gramdmaster Flash said when he spoke about why it wasn’t documented before is because “Nobody had a camera, Nobody filmed this.”

Check Out The Official Trailer for The Get Down

Set in The Bronx during the 1970’s The Get Down tells the story of the birth of Hip-Hop and the effect of Disco as it began to transition and morph from a different perspective. It is both exciting and inspirational with touches of comedy. It definitely looks to become a classic. I’m not a big fan of the binge watching craze, yet from what I saw so far, this I can tell will be worth it. I’ll have to re-up my Netflix account and get some popcorn and beverages… maybe we should have a little watch party. Who’s down?

The Get Down premiers exclusively on Netflix August 12^th 2016

I’m not going to tell you what happens but I will say all the cast including Herizen Guardiola who plays Mylene, Justice Smith (Ezekiel), Shameik Moore (Shaolin Fantastic), Jaden Smith (Dizzee), Yahya Abdul-Mateen (Cadillac), Jimmy Smits and Giancarlo Esposito as Pastor Ramon Cruz deliver excellent performances. And as for all the hype about the budget and its cost for producing, it sure seems like it was worth it! With lyrics written by Nas one of the executive producers and other musical greats like Christina Aguilera, Nile Rogers, Janelle Monae and Miguel adding to the soundtrack. I’m definitely looking forward to hearing it and seeing the rest of the series when it’s released.

Thank you to Baz Lurhman for directing this series and kudos to supervising producer Nelson George and all the writers. It is brilliant from what I saw in the way it covers or at least touches on just about every aspect of a great story, from romance and rebelliousness, to trials and triumphs of the human spirit. The rise of super heroes and of course the power of music – @TabouTMF