The Defiant Ones

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.

Love, love, love this documentary series. Not only is it a behind the scenes story of some of the world's best music (from Springsteen and Petty to NWA and Eminem), it's the story of an unlikely partnership that evolves and defines the future of the music industry. Even if you are not a fan of hip hop, this series is well worth watching with an open mind - looking towards learning about how art, technology, business and good old American ingenuity changed the world.

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?

A masterful documentary about Dre, who I grew up listening to, and Jimmy Iovine, who I had only heard of. The work ethic of these two is beyond inspiring. The ups and downs were entertaining but their persistence and commitment to their vision kept me glued to my TV. The 4+ hours flew by. Whoever edited this did a great job. These two are the American dream and give me hope. You will not be disappointed.

I thought this was released more recently, so I was confused at how Dre's marriage was portrayed as pure bliss. I'm disappointed that this documentary about true industry titans and legends would resort to the same production gimmicks seen far too often in netflix's many docuseries', like filming doubles acting out scenes being described, or using stock footage for the same. Unnecessary and feels cheap. Everything doesn't have to be spoon fed. And so often instead of showing the person being interviewed actually talking, just showing footage of them making faces while their speech is dubbed over.

There are some interesting tidbits from music industry folk we all know and love, I just wish the production felt a little more authentic.