Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
The Defiant Ones, which premiered on HBO last night, is a new 4-part documentary series which tracks the intersecting careers of classic rock hit-maker Jimmy Iovine and hip hop super producer Andre “Dr. Dre” Young. Between the two of them, they’ve manned the mixing desk for the recording of some of music’s most important and best selling albums. Together, they turned their acumen for smelling a hit record into a series of lucrative business ventures, culminating in the $3 billion sale of their audio company Beats Electronics to Apple in 2015.
Directed by filmmaker Allen Hughes, who along with brother Albert was behind such movies as 1993’s Menace II Society and 2010’s The Book of Eli, The Defiant Ones portrays its subjects as visionary outlaws, willing to do whatever it takes to achieve greatness. While Episode One was about how they got their respective starts in the music business – Iovine as New York recording studio gnat, and Dre as an L.A. club DJ – Episode Two follows them through their first rush of fame, replete with growing pains and heartache.
Jimmy Iovine embodies just about every New York City music industry hustler stereotype there is. He’s fast-talking, opinionated, perpetually nervous and shrewd. At his peak, he also possessed excellent ears for what’s called in the recording process “getting sounds,” as well as the ability to draw out the best in a songwriter or musician, whether by cajoling, pestering or berating. By contrast, Dr. Dre exhibits a steely reserve and a genuine artistic sensitivity, a surprising twist given his formidable gangster rap pedigree. What ties them together, besides their shared hardscrabble upbringings, is their exhaustive work ethic and their understanding of how various pieces come together to make a great record.
Episode Two picks up as Dre makes the jump from creating novelty records with the World Class Wreckin’ Cru to defining West Coast hip hop as we know it with legendary gangsta rappers N.W.A. The group was initially built around rapper Eazy-E, who also funded their label Ruthless Records with proceeds from dealing drugs. Eazy-E may have been an actual gangster but he wasn’t a natural MC, so rappers Ice Cube and MC Ren were brought in to help write lyrics and coach him through recording sessions. Along with fellow Wreckin’ Cru veteran DJ Yella they formed the group N****z Wit Attitudes, whose harder sound and graphic lyrics reflected the harsh reality young black men faced in South Central Los Angeles. The old adage “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is often employed when discussing music groups, though it’s striking to consider the group contained in Ice Cube one of rap’s greatest MCs, and in Eazy-E one of its all time great characters … not to mention Dr. Dre, arguably the greatest hip hop producer of all-time.
Staying on the same side of the country, but travelling back in time, Jimmy Iovine first found himself on the West Coast in 1979 to work on Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers‘ breakthrough album, Damn the Torpedoes. Ever the city kid, Iovine may have been freaked out by the laid back California lifestyle but that didn’t prevent him from carving out his role as the record’s producer after initially being hired as an engineer. While out West, he began a romance with Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks, and would end up producing her debut solo album, 1981’s Bella Donna. Just as he had persuaded Bruce Springsteen to give Patti Smith the hit song “Because The Night,” he talked Petty into letting Nicks record his song “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” which became a top 10 hit, much to its writer’s consternation.
As we all know, success is a motherfucker, especially in showbiz. While N.W.A.’s 1988 debut album Straight Outta Compton was a hit, celebrations were short lived after Dre’s younger brother was killed in a street fight while he was away on tour. The album’s candid discussion of race relations and police brutality also courted controversy and ran the group afoul of law enforcement, though it’s amusing to learn their song “Fuck tha Police” was written after Dre and Eazy-E were arrested for paint gun hijinks. The Defiant Ones is also quite frank in discussing Dr. Dre’s assault of television host Dee Barnes, after Ice Cube quit the group following a contract dispute. While they provide context (he was distraught and drinking too much) and Dre seems sincere in his apology, it doesn’t entirely let him off the hook. By N.W.A.’s end, none of the group members were on good terms with each other, leaving Dre contemplating his next step as an artist.
Success also got the best of Iovine, drugs ruining his relationship with Nicks, and his reputation as a high-priced big-name producer relegating him to working with established artists somewhat past their prime. An association with U2 led to him producing their self-important double album and movie soundtrack Rattle and Hum, but making records no longer delivered the same thrill for Iovine. When he tragically lost his father and grandparents within a six week period, he began to rethink his career as well. How these two-enormously talented lost souls finally came together and changed music forever is the story of the next episode of The Defiant Ones.
You can stream all four episodes of The Defiant Ones on HBO Go and HBO Now.
Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.
