The Defiant Ones | |
---|---|
Genre | Documentary |
Written by | Allen Hughes Lasse Järvi Doug Pray |
Directed by | Allen Hughes |
Music by | Atticus Ross Leopold Ross Claudia Sarne |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 4 |
Production | |
Producers | Ryan Gallagher Broderick Johnson Gene Kirkwood Andrew A. Kosove Laura Lancaster Charles Parish Brady Kephart Sarah Anthony Steven D. Williams Fritzi Horstman Allen Hughes Doug Pray |
Cinematography | Shane Daly Charles Parish Vincent Wrenn |
Editors | Lasse Järvi Doug Pray |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production companies | Silverback 5150 Productions [1] Alcon Television Group [1] |
Release | |
Original network | HBO |
Original release | July 9 – July 12, 2017 |
The Defiant Ones is a four-part American television documentary series, directed by Allen Hughes, that aired on HBO from July 9 to July 12, 2017. It focuses on the careers of and partnership between Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, co-founders of Beats Electronics.
The four-part documentary examines the partnership between Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre and their leading roles in a chain of transformative events in contemporary culture through interviews with the men themselves and others who were involved. Some scenarios are broadly reenacted.
Years before they sell their Beats headphone company to Apple Inc. for US $3 billion (the largest acquisition in Apple's history), Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine's music careers begin on opposite coasts with nothing but a little ambition, many frustrating setbacks, and a few good breaks — allowing each to show the world their talent for producing hits.
NWA skyrockets to success with provocative recordings like "Fuck tha Police" but tragedies, ego and money conflicts eventually leave Dr. Dre on his own. Meanwhile, Jimmy Iovine finds his own mix of huge hits and personal battles while producing Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, and U2.
Jimmy Iovine co-founds Interscope Records and signs edgy artists like Nine Inch Nails and Dr. Dre, whose 1992 album The Chronic helps ignite a national, political firestorm over gangster rap lyrics and free speech. Simultaneously, Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac Shakur get in a violent feud with East Coast rivals.
Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine strike gold with Eminem and others, but Napster and digital piracy threaten to destroy the music business. Desperate for alternatives and facing hard personal times, Jimmy and Dre create Beats Electronics which leads to a historic 2014 megadeal with Apple Inc., forever sealing their legacies.
The documentary aired on HBO on four consecutive nights from July 9 to July 12, 2017, and was also made available in its entirety for streaming on Blu-ray. The DVD/Blu-ray release was eventually pressed by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. [2] It was given a TV-MA rating, meaning that it may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17. [3]
On February 9, 2018, Netflix announced it had acquired the exclusive distribution rights to the series in all territories outside of the United States and Canada. [4] The streaming service premiered the series in their acquired territories on March 23, 2018, listing it under their "Netflix Original Series" banner.
The soundtrack to the documentary was released on Interscope Records, under license from Universal Music Enterprises.
The documentary received generally positive reviews. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called it "glossy, rapidly-paced, ambitious and often fun" as well as "impressively lush and well-resourced" in his positive review. [5] Lorraine Ali of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "the decades of struggle and successes leading up to" the deal with Apple "make this four-part series stand out in the crowded field of music docs" in her positive review. [3] Variety 's Jem Aswad wrote that the documentary "tells a compelling story and tells it effectively and well, but its bloated length is a bit hard to justify". [6] Aswad noted the frequent use of reaction shots, [6] dubbed by the editors as the "Empathy Cut". [7] IndieWire 's Ben Travers praised the "fast pace and entertaining design". [8]
The Defiant Ones won the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Music Film and the IDA Award for Best Limited Series. The series also garnered five Emmy Award nominations (Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series, Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program, Sound Editing for a Nonfiction Program, Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction Program, Writing for a Nonfiction Program) and an ACE Eddie nomination for Best Edited Documentary. Director Allen Hughes won the NAACP Award for Outstanding Direction in a Documentary. Editors Doug Pray and Lasse Järvi won an HPA Award for Outstanding Editing (Television over 30 minutes).
Andre Romell Young, known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American record producer and Rapper. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and was the president of Death Row Records. Dr. Dre began his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru in 1985 and later found fame with the gangsta rap group N.W.A. The group popularized explicit lyrics in hip hop to detail the violence of street life. During the early 1990s, Dre was credited as a key figure in the crafting and popularization of West Coast G-funk, a subgenre of hip hop characterized by a synthesizer foundation and slow, heavy beats.
The Slim Shady EP is the only extended play by American rapper Eminem, released on December 10, 1997, through the Detroit-based record label Web Entertainment. Unlike his debut album Infinite, Slim Shady EP helped Eminem gain the interest of CEO Jimmy Iovine and West Coast hip-hop rapper and producer Dr. Dre, who subsequently signed Eminem to his Aftermath Entertainment record label, and served as executive producer on his major-label debut album The Slim Shady LP (1999).
Death Row Records is an American independent record label that was founded in 1991 by the D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, and 2Pac, during the 1990s. At its peak, Death Row was making over US$100 million a year.
Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Music Group and Interscope Communications, it differed from most record labels by letting A&R staff control decisions and allowing artists and producers full creative control. Interscope's first hit records arrived in under a year, and it achieved profitability in 1993. Chair and CEO until May 2014, Iovine was succeeded by John Janick.
James Iovine is an American entrepreneur, record executive, and media proprietor best known as the co-founder of Interscope Records. He became chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M, an umbrella unit merged by the then-newly-reincarnated Universal Music Group in 1999.
Aftermath Entertainment is an American record label founded by hip hop producer and rapper Dr. Dre. It operates as a subsidiary of, and is distributed through, Interscope Records.
Jayceon Terrell Taylor, better known by his stage name the Game or simply Game, is an American rapper. Born in Compton, California, he initially released a series of mixtapes under the wing of fellow West Coast rapper JT the Bigga Figga. After releasing his debut independent album Untold Story in 2004, he was eventually discovered by record producer Dr. Dre and signed to his Aftermath Records label imprint. The Game rose to fame in 2005 with the success of his major-label debut album The Documentary and found continued success with the 2006 follow-up Doctor's Advocate. The Recording Industry Association of America certified The Documentary Double Platinum in March 2005.
2001 is the second studio album by American rapper and hip hop producer Dr. Dre. It was released on November 16, 1999, by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records as the follow-up to his 1992 debut album, The Chronic. The album was produced mainly by Dr. Dre and Mel-Man, as well as Lord Finesse, and features several guest contributions from Hittman, Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Xzibit, Eminem, and Nate Dogg.
"Still D.R.E." is a song by American rapper-producer Dr. Dre, featuring fellow American rapper Snoop Dogg. It was released on November 2, 1999, as the lead single from Dre's multi-platinum second studio album, 2001 (1999).
Doug Pray is an American documentary film director, producer, editor, and cinematographer who often explores unique subcultures in his films.
Philip G. Atwell is an American music video, television commercial and feature film director. Starting out as a music video producer, he took up directing in 1999. Often co-directing with Dr. Dre, he has helped out with many music videos for Eminem and other hip hop artists.
Paul D. Rosenberg is an American music manager and former entertainment attorney.
"Bitch Please", also known as "Trick Please" for the amended radio version, or "B**** Please" and "B Please" for clean versions, is a song by Snoop Dogg featuring Nate Dogg and Xzibit from his fourth album, No Limit Top Dogg. Its music video was directed by Dr. Dre and Phillip Atwell. A sequel song, "Bitch Please II", was for Eminem's third studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP and featured all previous artists in addition to Dr. Dre and Eminem.
The Up in Smoke Tour was a West Coast hip hop tour in 2000 which was headlined by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, also featuring artists and disc jockeys Ice Cube, Eminem, Proof, Nate Dogg, Kurupt, D12, MC Ren, Westside Connection, Chilldrin of da Ghetto, Mel-Man, Tha Eastsidaz, Doggy's Angels, Devin The Dude, Warren G, Crucial Conflict, TQ, Truth Hurts, Xzibit, The D.O.C., Hittman, DJ Crazy Toones, Six-Two, Ms. Toi, & DJ Jam.
"Bitch Please II" is a song by American rapper Eminem, featuring guest vocals from Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, and Nate Dogg, and is the fifth and final single from The Marshall Mathers LP.
And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop is a five-part documentary series directed by Richard Lowe and Dana Heinz Perry, written by Bill Adler, and released by VH1 in 2004. The series recounts the development of hip hop culture from its birth in New York City in the 1970s through its flowering into a global phenomenon in the 21st Century. It was nominated for an IDA award in 2005.
Compton is the third studio album by American hip-hop producer and rapper Dr. Dre. It was released on August 7, 2015, on Apple Music and the iTunes Store, with the physical editions released on August 21, 2015. It is the follow-up to his second album, 2001 (1999), after the cancellation of the premeditated album, Detox.
The Super Bowl LVI halftime show, officially known as the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show, was the halftime entertainment of Super Bowl LVI, which took place on February 13, 2022, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The show was headlined by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar, and included guest appearances by 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak. It is the first Super Bowl halftime show to be centered entirely around hip hop music, as well as the last halftime show to be sponsored by Pepsi, with Apple Music taking over the sponsorship beginning with Super Bowl LVII. The show was televised nationally in the U.S. by NBC.
BODR is the nineteenth studio album by American rapper Snoop Dogg. It was released on February 11, 2022, through Death Row Records, as his third studio album released on the label following a 26-year lapse since Tha Doggfather (1996). The album was distributed by Create Music Group. It features guest appearances by Nas, T.I., Sleepy Brown, Nate Dogg, The Game, DaBaby, Uncle Murda, Wiz Khalifa and Lil Duval and production by Battlecat, Bink, DJ Green Lantern and Hit-Boy, among others.
"From the D 2 the LBC" is a song by American rappers Eminem and Snoop Dogg. It was released on June 24, 2022, as the second single from Eminem's second greatest hits album, Curtain Call 2 (2022). The song was produced by Eminem and was written by Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Luis Resto. It marks the first collaboration between the two rappers in over 20 years, having last appeared together on the track "Bitch Please II" from The Marshall Mathers LP (2000).