Netflix just released part 2 of its original series The Get Down earlier this month. If you have yet to see the show, which is definitely worth the watch, the drama follows a group of young people living in the South Bronx in the 1970’s growing up and figuring out their futures, while at the same time still dealing with being young.
Many of the characters and their stories are fictional, but some references to actual people are made such as Grand Master Flash, and the show presents the rise of hip hop. Shameik Moore, who starred in the 2015 movie Dope, plays one of the main characters, and the show also features Justice Smith as the main character Ezekiel, and Jaden Smith among others, and no, Justice and Jaden are not related, although they briefly convinced the show’s creator that they were cousins.
With summer quickly approaching, I decided to make a list of which ice cream flavor to eat based on your favorite member of “The Get Down Brothers”, which is the hip hop group that the boys form. Warning: spoilers ahead.
Shaolin Fantastic: Superman Ice Cream
Shaolin’s the DJ that we call conductor, Cause Shaolin Fantastic’s a bad mother—Shao considers himself to be a superhero, and he doesn’t even go by his real name, which we find out in part 2 is Curtis. We initially see him as a mysterious but fly figure jumping off of buildings with his red pumas. He’s the one that leads “The Get Down Brothers” as their DJ and mentor.
Ezekiel ‘Books’ Figuero: Swirled Ice Cream
Zeke is constantly being told by different people what to do with his life. His family and love interest Mylene want him to pursue Yale and his internship because of his intelligence and the chance that these things give him for a “better life.” His friends, particularly Shao, want him to forget about Yale, get serious about “The Get Down Brothers”, and embrace his poetic talent as their wordsmith. We see him trying to balance both of these things at once. Instead of taking one path take two with an ice-cream swirl.
Marcus ‘Dizzee’ Kipling: Rainbow Sherbet
It makes sense that Jaden Smith would play one of the more “out there” characters. Dizzee is different from the rest of his friends in a few ways. He is a talented graffiti artist and his art is incredibly meaningful to him. He uses a character called “Rumi” as his tag, who is an alien with a top hat. This is an extension of himself, and because he identifies with the alien, rainbow sherbet works because it is not even really ice cream.
Ra-Ra Kipling: Cotton Candy Ice Cream
Ra-Ra, who is the middle Kipling boy, provides a lot of the comedic lines from the show. He’s sweet and silly, just like cotton candy, and has a childlike innocence about him.
Boo-Boo Kipling: Coffee Ice Cream
This is the type of ice cream people eat when they want to feel like adults. Boo-Boo is the youngest of the Kipling brothers and the youngest member of his group of friends. This means he sometimes feels the need to prove that he is not a child. At the end of the day though, coffee ice cream is still ice cream, and Boo-Boo is still a kid.