Highly recommend this 4-part documentary, following the careers of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre. Tons of interviews, with details on recording by Springsteen, U2, Patti Smith, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, NWA, Snoop Dog, Eminem, Dre, and likely others.
I just watched the last 15 minutes of episode 4 last night. It was really interesting.
I went and turned “on” HBO for Game of Thrones, coming on Sunday, and caught the tail end of the episode.
I’d like to see the whole series. The Chronic album dropped when I was in High school and it was a firestorm through our local schools and everyone had the album as did I. So I’d be interested in seeing the whole series.
I have all 4 episodes DVR’d for when get some time for myself.
Good Rec, will check it out this weekend.
Binged it. Well constructed and interesting. Both are mythologized, but given their careers in music, they have a pretty rich mythology.
Dee Barnes is interviewed and Dre is clear in his attempt to own what he did when he drunkenly beat her. It should’ve been in the movie, but at least it’s here. They also spend a ton of time on Suge Knight and Tupac - neither come off great. Iovine discusses the need to stand up for free speech, but Dre tries to avoid discussing the beatings and shit he saw on Suge’s office, and Iovine states he spends hundreds of hours helping Knight build Death Row, so he (Iovine) clearly knew exactly what was going on that had nothing to do with “free speech.” It’s an ugly business and they both got their hands dirty, even if they get to wipe them off on fine lace now.
The various talking heads were good. When Suge throws down a gauntlet back in the legendary Source Awards event, they cut back to Puffy in the present day. His look and silence is priceless. Suge comes off like bad muscle, and Tupac comes off like the aggressor is talking shit against East Coast rappers. It shouldn’t have lead to violence, but he was actively trying to push their buttons and comes across more like a douchebag than some visionary artist.
Iovine sure knew what mentors to pursue - Jon Landau, David Geffen, Steve Jobs - eesh.
I watched it. Thoroughly enjoyed it! It was nice because it didn’t seem rushed or glossed-over. There were points and counter points.
I think it was important to have Dee Barnes in there. A lot of America’s heroes get a pass for abuse in their history because they have done something the public deems great (see: NFL). I think that Dre being forced to talk about it and apologize for it, again, on camera, in a timeframe removed from the situation, is important. He’s got more than one abuse accusation to his name, too.
Dre’s had a lot of loss in his life though, damn. A lot to feel sorry for him, and they didn’t even mention the death of his son in 2008.
Last weekend I binged on Hip Hop Evolution on Netflix. This was a nice follow-up piece to that, for sure.