The Defiant Ones

I found the documentary to be very pleasurable to watch, first of all. Gorgeously shot, and of course the soundtrack is incredible. It's almost worth it simply to relive the times and learn more about the men.

It's also far from any kind of objective documentary or news piece. They mostly interview people who adore Jimmy & Dre, and negative moments are framed as exceptions or learning experiences. It's not a journalistic documentary as much as a piece made by friends and fans. So long as you're fine with that, if you have any interest in their work in the music business, it's a captivating ride, even if it often comes across as a super well-produced infomercial.

This was... simply put, the best documentary I have ever, ever seen! There's no other way to define it. I mean, man, where do I start? The editing is... breathtaking! The music... ohhh... what a delight. The way the stories are intertwined. Simply marvelous. You don't have to be into hip-hop to watch this. It is pure history.

I'm not much of a reviewer, this is my first one in almost 12 years of IMDb, but I felt like it needed at least ONE review, since it had none at the time I wrote mine.

Anyway, if you can, DO watch this! It is incredibly well done and compellingly truthful.

It's a pretty good documentary, with several interviews, telling how two different paths can encounter in the ways of life. I watched because NWA, which I like, despite being more a heavy metal fan than a hip hop one. This doc is more about how to win in american way of life, getting tons of cash and keeping on the top for dozens of years, reinventing the ways of making money in musical industry. But, right after watched this, I find myself looking for Beats headphones on internet.. And I say "hey! Something is wrong here...".

I approached this as a fan of Dre and not knowing much about Jimmy Iovine, who turned out to be a pretty interesting character and thought the first 3 episodes were great. Well balanced and informative. The 4th episode was the one I had most been looking forward to , knowing Eminem featured and was looking forward to seeing some insight between him and Dre, however this episode the glossed over any of the actual stories that had featured in the previous episodes with collaborators and it became an hour long Apple commercial. It was mentioned that Jimmy Iovine was a great marketer and tried to sell at every opportunity and this was one of those.

Most are aware of the megadeal of Apple buying "beats by Dre" and now the deal was done, you would have presumed the need to brown nose them would have passed. It was a massive shame as this started promisingly and just lost it's way.

This dual narrative about a Brooklyn pit-bull of a record mogul (Iovine) and one of the most successful rapers-cum-producers-cum-engineers-cum-executives/directors in the game, is the most stylish (and best) episode of Behind the Music ever made, and then some. It's excitingly produced, kinetic, edited so that it's taking the usual taking heads with editing that will often play one head against another (this is extremely helpful due to the business dealings with Iovine and Interscope that could become dense too), and how music flows through this with a rhythm and juxtapositions that cant be touched.

I was also very impressed not just by finding out things I didn't know (frankly outside of Iovine with Springsteen on Born to Run I didn't know much about his career at Interscope), but the scope: this isn't only about Dr. Dre but the entire WORLD around him that he got into and loved at times and hated at others (he left Death Row before that imploded, so to speak). It reminds me of digging in to a really strong biography more than a typical doc. Oh, and it's funny at times too (Snoop catches you off guard sometimes).

I'm waiting for Primus's doc though..

PS: did Dre become the Kubrick of rap?