Luhrmann explores birth of hip-hop for Netflix's 'Get Down'

Baz Luhrmann knows what you're thinking.

“I'm probably the least obvious person you might think to be curating and trying to get this story told,” he said of his Netflix saga “The Get Down.”

Indeed, the Australian director is known for fanciful retellings of classic stories, such as “Moulin Rouge!” and “The Great Gatsby” — a far cry from a TV series about the beginnings of hip-hop.

“Curating” is an apt description of what Luhrmann has done for “The Get Down,” which begins streaming its first six episodes on Friday, with another six expected to drop next year. Luhrmann put his theatrical, grandiose style into the project, which reportedly cost about $120 million. But the series is also grounded in history and an authenticity owed to collaborators such as Grandmaster Flash, Nas, Kurtis Blow, DJ Kool Herc, Rahiem (of Furious Five fame) and writer-filmmaker Nelson George, a noted hip-hop expert.

“The Get Down” is the rare television series with a young cast that's predominantly black and Latino. It begins in 1977, the height of disco — and amid a sense of discord in New York City. Ezekial “Zeke” Figuero (Justice Smith) is a smart and sensitive teen who writes stirring poetry that helps him cope with a childhood tragedy. Zeke is in love with Mylene (newcomer Herizen Guardiola), a gifted singer whose disco aspirations are at odds with the wishes of her religious father (Giancarlo Esposito) — and her feelings for Zeke.

Zeke meets a street-smart graffiti artist dubbed Shaolin Fantastic (Shameik Moore), who wears bright red Puma sneakers and glides through the Bronx like a ninja. He introduces Zeke to “the get down” — an underground world of DJs and “wordsmiths.” Shaolin is a nod to the popular kung fu movies of the era and the enduring cultural intersection later embodied by Wu-Tang Clan.

That intersection is one of the many details that Flash, an associate producer, and other consulting legends lent to the project.

Flash didn't know Luhrmann by name when he was first asked to consult on “The Get Down,” but “The Great Gatsby” was one of his favorite films.

“I look at this white guy from Australia and I say, ‘Why?'” Flash recalled. “‘Why do you want to do this, and why should I do it with you?'”

Luhrmann told Flash that he wasn't interested in telling a story about hip-hop in the '80s — he wanted to know what came before that. The approach fit with an analogy that Flash likes to use, in which '80s hip-hop is a cake — a now-billion-dollar confection — and he and his peers in the ‘70s were the bakers. Here was Luhrmann asking about the recipe.

The show's fictional universe is set against real figures and events, but music is the undercurrent.

“There's this idea that we talked about called a weave in the show, where one or two or three different storylines are united through music and pushed forward through music,” Nelson George said. “For Baz, it's not just wallpaper — it is text in a very profound way.”