The Get Down has captured what performing with different platforms within hip hop was all about. It emphasizes the importance of creation meaning solidarity and the fight for a presence to be known and a voice to be heard. Similar to the readings Cultivating Affective Digital Networks and Re-Membering Herstory and the Transephemeral Performative, The Get Down highlights different characters who show how creating art and performance becomes a way to unify people, to share uncomfortable and/or raw emotions and experiences to empower the vision and desire for change as a reality.
Shaolin is someone whose has learned to believe in the the value of networking and collecting and utilizing the different individual talents of his crew and what they all bring to their collective performance (ex. Ezekiel with rhymes, Boo-Boo’s vocals, earned wisdom of Grandmaster Flash). Even Marlene’s record, until he realized that it was vital for spreading a message and through his own art, DJing and scratching, it then had value part of the process. They all are identifiable to each specific individual’s input, but they are all contributing to the same presence and voice. Both Marlene’s and Shaolin’s music and performance are very noticeably fueled as a means to achieving their dream of wanting more than what life has given, wanting what they feel deserve, and that they are valuable. It is because they feel they are being devalued and that their community is being devalued. During the blackout, blacks and hispanics being scapegoated as the cause of city’s crime and poverty. But with the platforms achieved through these different connections, they will let it be known that they have more value than what a white centered society has dictated for them to have.
You also get a good sense of both ontology and epistemology and how they relate within the realm of hip hop through Shaolin’s and Grandmaster Flash’s relationship within the series. This can be seen in their conversation on their purpose being to create music, why it fuels them and for the messages that can be shared to their audience through it. Their state of “being” and their essence exists within their performance. It shows that Grandmaster Flash understands that while his presence within hip hop is powerfully influencing, an artists physical contribution to their space cannot remain permanent. However, the values behind his messages and his skills can be passed for another to share within that space. Otherwise he would not bother to spend the time teaching Shaolin or refer to him as “grasshopper”. This way even when there comes the time where many will no longer recognize the name, his contribution to what messages and values that will exist within the work of new upcoming artists will leave a lasting impact within hip hop culture.
