Both episodes four and five of The Get Down and the reading, (Re)building the cypher; Fulfilling the Promise of Hip Hop Liberation, touch upon the influence that youth have in hip hop. In The Get Down, you see various scenes where Mylene, an aspiring Disco artist and daughter of a pastor, struggle to follow her aspirations after being forbidden to do so by her father. Growing up in the church, the music industry is deemed as sinful by her father. Any attempt in following her dreams are blocked, and this ultimately leads to great tension in her family and the revealing of many family secrets. It’s important to note that a gender dynamic is very evident in this story. Mylene is forbidden to do disco due to it’s promiscuity. It goes against patriarchal standards. You also see Books, who was also kicked out by his guardians for his desire to want to do hip hop. Hip Hop is highly misunderstood by the older generations, especially during this time period. What they fail to see is that hip hop is a movement. It is a radical protest against accepted American ideals that promote misogyny, racism, and other types of oppression. Hip Hop is an outlet for the youth to speak out against this. It is more than just music, but an active resistance against these ideals. This is emphasized and promoted in the reading, (Re)building the cypher; Fulfilling the Promise of Hip Hop Liberation, which talks about the aim to educate young hip hop artists on US history in politics. This creates an important opportunity to continue this dialogue of resistance through music. It would have been nice to see a program like Project Hip Hop exist during the era that the Get Down takes place in. Unfortunately, Hip Hop was too fresh, so the resistance of it was at an all time high. Young artists faced more boundaries and oppositions than they did support. Having a support system that can foster this resistance and turn it into something larger than ourselves is very important; perhaps this is why Mylene clung so hard to Papa Fuerta and Books clung so hard to Shao!
