Quantcast

‘The Get Down,’ on Netflix, brings back the Boogie Down Bronx

The Boogie Down Bronx comes back to life on Netflix in “The Get Down.”

The late-1970s hip-hop drama series from Baz Luhrmann, the filmmaker best known for “Moulin Rouge,” depicts a group of young black kids with big dreams in the poverty-stricken South Bronx.

It’s filmed on an elaborate, graffiti-covered set in Glendale, Queens, that resurrects the era’s grungy feel, and all over the area, including the neighborhood at its center.

Grandmaster Flash, the series’ associate producer, a South Bronx native and a pioneering artist, says it’s important for people to know about the origins of hip-hop and where the movement began.

“This little teeny place called the South Bronx, without realizing it, we created something that has become global,” Flash says.

Comprised of at least 12 one-hour episodes, “The Get Down” is a rare potpourri of music, art, dance and fashion – a story about the creation of hip-hop culture in the middle of disco’s glory days. The first six episodes are scheduled to debut on Aug. 12.