LIFE ON THE FAST TRAIN
How one teen took the subway to TV stardom
It was the greatest commute in NYC history. In October 2015, Tremaine Brown Jr., then 14, was on the A train, rapping for straphangers as his proud dad watched, when opportunity knocked. A woman approached the aspiring young rapper and said, “I liked your performance. I’m casting for this show called ‘The Get Down,’ ” recalls Brown, who had independently recorded three albums at that point. “She said, ‘We’ll be in touch.’ I thought it was a lie.” But the casting director was legit, and interested. Brown got a call in March to come read for Academy Awardnominated director Baz Luhrmann, who created the series for Netflix. It was the Bronx native’s first audition ever — and he nailed it. “I was real proud of myself. I booked the role from a train!” “The Get Down,” Luhrmann’s first TV project, debuting Friday, depicts the rise of hip-hop in 1977 New York City.
Brown plays Boo-Boo Kipling, a budding musical genius.
“He can dance, he can sing,” says Brown. “He’s very talented — just like me.”
Brown grew up in the South Bronx with big dreams of becoming a rapper like his idols Kanye West, Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar and Drake. He regularly rapped for money on the subway, but acting wasn’t even on his radar. That all changed the day he got “The Get Down.”
“There was a lot of celebrating, because of where I came from and what I’ve been through,” says Brown, who lives with his dad, a freelance filmmaker, and stepmom.
“I was performing on the train just trying to get a niche, just trying to get something out of it. So when I first got the call, it was emotional.”
Now 15, Brown, the oldest of five brothers, is hardly living a normal teenage life. His dad — who is also his manager — and grandfather drive him to the studio in Queens every morn- ing, and he spends long days on set with co-stars such as Jaden Smith and Jimmy Smits. Brown, who was previously a student at InTech Academy in The Bronx, is now homeschooled and tutored on set between scenes.
“Having a job at 15 and doing nine hours of work — that’s the most fun thing,” he says. “And going to events that I would never go to if I didn’t have this job.”
In May he attended the Met Gala, decked out in a smooth Thom Browne suit. He even got to meet Kanye.
It was “one epic night,” he says.
Although Brown is loving the newfound glamour of the TV-star lifestyle, his memories of those subway days are fond, if bittersweet.
“Me and my dad and my brother had great times on the train — performing, telling jokes,” he says. “But now that I have a role and get the spotlight, it’s about looking back at where you came from.
“You just wish you could do it one more time, but you can’t.”