...the first episode and I loved it. I guess I'm biased. I'm a lifelong New Yorker and I was teen during this era so it made me feel very nostalgic.
I see all the negativity on this board and I don't get it, but I guess you had to have been there.
"when they go low, we go high" - Michelle Obama
I guess you had to have been there.
Not an American, could you elaborate about the bronx scene? Is it inspired by true stories?
shareThere's a good documentary called Rubble Kings about The Bronx in the 1970's. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1730714/
shareWhat country do you live in? I've traveled to over 25 countries and I'm always amazed at how hip-hop is used as a socio-political voice for the disenfranchised, much as its inception in the US before major record companies and NWA molested her.
Now, her soul has been stripped away and made garbage.
@talibdinm
I'm always amazed at how hip-hop is used as a socio-political voice for the disenfranchised
That's how rap basically started out, as the ultimate form of self-expression by young folks of color from the ghettos in New York who did feel disenfranchised, and made to feel like they weren't even a part of the larger society because of who they were and where they lived. Which is why I think it's resonated with so many other people all over the world, and why not just the music itself, but why the entire culture of hip-hop (DJing, breakdancing, graffiti, and freestyle rapping) has been so popular in many different countries since the late '80's, early '90s.
For example I remember getting the very first issue of VIBE, one of the first major hip-hop magazines around '92, next to the Source and Rappages (it was a test issue,apparently---its actual run wouldn't start until about nearly a year later) and one story I always recalled from it was about how rap had caught on with young Korean folks in Japan (also my first time reading about rap being popular anywhere in Asia.) They said that they could relate to rap because as Japanese folks of Korean descent--even though some of their families had been in Japan for a couple of generations at the time---they still felt that they had never been really been actually accepted into Japanese society,no matter how long they'd been there. So they definitely felt like they were outsiders in their own home country, and that's why rap itself spoke to them at the time, having been created by outsiders itself. Just a good example of why it became international in the first place, that's all.
Brooklyn Boy here, raised in the era depicted in this show. They hit all the right notes, while keeping it lighter than how dark the time actually was. This would have been too sad had it been balls on accurate.
What some of the haters and homo-phobes are missing is one of the main themes, that where you are raise and who you surround yourself with has a profound effect on how your life turns out. In other words, what you are born into. Through all that and despite the horrible conditions (not because of them) these kids, these nobodies, these creative humans created something that's still effecting culture today. Makes you wonder what kind of amazing world we would have if everyone had more opportunity.
As well, I love the fantasy elements in it. Grand master and grasshopper and the like. Took the influences of the hip hop culture and turned it into something beautiful. It works a lot better than a bunch of kids sitting around talking about how the love Bruce Lee.
I love this series and I can't wait for the next batch.