The Defiant Ones (2017) s01e04 Episode Script

Part. 4

1 (voices chattering) (chattering continuing) Jimmy Iovine: Dre changed my life.
He changed my family's life.
He made Interscope what it is.
We've been through a lot together, and we developed this bond.
And I never felt a guy behind me at Interscope, during the most difficult time at Interscope, that I never had to blink, never once thought about it.
Instinctively, I knew who he was.
Got me in a lot of trouble.
I do ten depositions a month - (laughter) - still.
And I'll tell you what.
He's been makin' me look like a fuckin' genius - (laughter) - for 12 years right now.
And, you know, what can I say? Dr.
Dre, you're the greatest that ever lived, and we've only just begun.
- All right.
(laughing) - Nicole, I love you.
Woman: We're all drinking.
(applause) (cheering) Dr.
Dre: Reinventin' yourself is one of the most difficult things you could possibly do, especially if you're talkin' about the music business.
Nicole Young: Oh my goodness.
This is a lesson to the boys.
Vicki Iovine: If everywhere you go you're bringing your past with you, you never can take the next step.
And I think Jimmy wanted to be the person to help Dre do that.
Dr.
Dre: You go through the worst times of your life before you get to the best times.
And by the power invested in me by the state of Hawaii - to pronounce you - (cheering) Dr.
Dre: I think it takes age and experience to realize that.
I guess I'm a grown-up now, you know.
That's basically it.
So, when I decided to leave Death Row, I started my new label, Aftermath.
Just a brand-new, real, fresh start.
- I been there - Been there - I done that - Done that - You got guns? - Yo, I got straps Dr.
Dre: I'm workin' on my health.
I'm workin' on my family.
And married for the first time.
New company.
Peter Paterno: He made a nice label deal, and he had a true 50/50 partnership with Interscope.
And it was Dre controlling it, Dre running it, Dre's in charge.
Iovine: Aftermath was Dre's label.
I started it with Interscope.
I just thought he was getting his footing.
Dr.
Dre: I was tryin' some things.
I'm with an entirely new group of people.
I'm just experimenting, and, um - So - And, um You know.
That album didn't do well.
It did terrible.
Been there Dr.
Dre: There's nothing more humbling as puttin' out a fuckin' flop.
Everybody that's been ridin' with you for all these years, that shit flips.
And then, another flop.
It was a fuckin' disaster.
Paterno: Because the tracks weren't hitting.
It was got to be a big, big number that that he was in the hole.
I was getting a lot of pressure, corporately, to get rid of Dre.
I said, "Well, we could do that.
"And then you save my salary as well, because I'm goin' with him.
" (helicopter whirring) Oh, shit.
Dr.
Dre: The record business, exactly what it is record, business.
And you have to take care of both.
It is a job.
It ain't about who has the most jewelry.
It's about saving.
I want my kids to start on another level.
I don't want 'em to start in the projects.
But no matter how hard you work in the studio, you don't know if people are gonna dig it, and I found that just recently, you know.
I put out the record, and it's not selling as fast.
But it's time to move on and come up with some new shit.
Back in those days, I didn't have an artist to work with.
I would go to Jimmy's house, and we'd have listening sessions.
He was tryin' to help me figure out where I was gonna go with my music.
And he would take me down to his garage.
There was cassette tapes everywhere.
And I remember him pickin' up this cassette tape, he pops this in, and I was like "What the fuck and who the fuck is that? Rewind that.
Play that again.
" Ha ha ha ha All right, bust it, ha ha ha ha ha One, two, ha ha ha ha All right, look I'm-a tell you this for your own benefit Your shit was dope as hell Especially when you wrote 90 percent of it What you need to do is practice on your freestyles Before you come up missing like Snoop Dogg's police files This type of literature that I'm spittin' be hittin' You gonna swear to God this shit was written, but it wasn't I'll kill a dozen rappers when I'm buzzin', guzzlin' Beat your ass like a jealous husband (wind chimes tinkling) Great can come from anywhere.
When the intern in my office says to me, "I saw this guy at the rap battle last night.
" I said, "If you get me a CD, I will give it to Dre.
" Wipe this bloody video screen off Stop, stop! Give me that motherfuckin' mic! Dr.
Dre: Boom.
In comes my Caucasian partner.
Let's cut to the fuckin' chase, man.
Man: Let's cut to the chase.
Put me in when you first meet Dre.
What happens? Um I just want to be known as a legitimate MC, and that's all I could've ever hoped for.
You know, to put food on the table, doin' what I love to do would be the ultimate goal.
Any rapper say you know this kind of rhymes In this day and age Eminem: I remember I would just take different trips to anywhere I could, just tryin' to make any kind of name and pass out my cassettes.
I was just really down that I had got all the way to the end in Rap Olympics and lost.
And this kid came up to me and he was like, "Hey man, can I get one of your tapes?" And I think I probably just "Here," you know.
Whatever.
Okay, so fast-forward to Holy shit, I'm in the Interscope office.
Holy shit, this is Jimmy Iovine.
Holy shit, Dr.
Dre just walked in.
Holy shit, I just shit myself.
I'm pissing myself now thinking about it.
Man: It all happened like that? Yeah, I'm pissing right now.
So Eminem comes in, in this bright yellow fuckin' sweat suit, hoodie, pants, everything.
It's bright fucking yellow, you know? And I'm like, "Wow.
" I'm lookin' at Dre like, "Dude, I see you on TV all the time.
You're one of my biggest influences, ever, in life.
" I'm like, "Man, listen, "I think this shit is fuckin' incredible, and I would love to work with you.
" And I had a studio in my house at the time, and I had went in and put some samples together, did a couple of things in the drum machine, and I invited him over.
Man: Dre, you do a lot of recording here? Yeah, yeah.
Most of the recordin' is done here.
Nothin' more comfortable than home.
Dr.
Dre: I was like, "Man, listen, I put this sample together.
Tell me if you like it.
" - You wanna hear one of my joints, man? - Yeah.
Dr.
Dre: And I hit the drum machine and maybe two or three seconds went by and he just went Hi, my name is - What? - My name is - Who? - Like, yo.
Stop.
Shit's hot.
That's what happened our first day in the first few minutes of us being in the studio.
Stop the tape, this kid needs to be locked away - Get him - Dr.
Dre, don't just stand there, operate Dr.
Dre: So, he starts singing this hook, and I'm in love with it.
All of the sudden, I'm like, "Okay, I gotta go through my recording process.
" I think some cuts over the hook - Eminem: Yeah, yeah - just to make it sound like it's a hook.
Eminem: This is the greatest producer.
I'm at his fucking house, recording.
I don't know shit about nothing.
I just wanted to make sure that every beat that he played for me, I had a rhyme ready to go.
(singing along): Hi kids, do you like violence? Wanna see me stick Nine Inch Nails through each one of my eyelids? I'm seein' this is getting a reaction out of Dre and he's laughing.
He's not discouraging me from pushing buttons.
My brain's dead weight, I'm tryin' to get my head straight But I can't figure out which Spice Girl I want to impregnate Dr.
Dre: I'm blown the fuck away.
It's just one of those things when you just know something special is happening.
I was smilin' Dr.
Dre: I'm rushin'.
I'm trying to get this thing recorded, because sometimes, as a producer, you can feel when the magic is happenin', and you don't want the artist to lose this.
I don't wanna lose this momentum.
Iovine: What I think happened, I think Dre saw himself as different.
When Eminem came in and he heard that same angst and that same attitude - Both of us - Iovine: and he said, "Oh, that's what I do.
" it was fuckin' magic.
Stole my heart Dre called me up, and said, "I got this kid.
We gotta sign him, like, today.
" Now, in the record business, generally, contracts take two months.
Dre goes, "I don't wanna lose this guy.
He's unbelievable.
We gotta get this guy signed.
" Dr.
Dre: My gut told me, Eminem was the artist that I'm supposed to be workin' with right now.
But I didn't know how many racists I had around me.
Everybody accept me.
Here I am.
Please accept me.
I'm begging for acceptance.
This is Eminem.
Please.
Eminem: Comin' up in the scene as a battle rapper, I had been through a lot of moments that were like this and ended up being like this.
Because, you know.
And everyone was tellin' him, "Don't fuck with him.
" Dr.
Dre: Everybody around me, the so-called execs and what have you were all against it.
The records that I had done at the time, they didn't work.
They wanted me out of the building.
And then, I come up with Eminem, this white boy.
Me, Slim Shady.
My general manager had this 8x10 picture and was like, "Dre, this boy's got blue eyes.
What are we doin'?" Iovine: We weren't looking for a white, controversial rapper.
We were looking for great.
Eminem: I go back to Detroit.
I'm fuckin' bummed out, and I remember just thinking, this is probably not gonna happen for me.
I had just got evicted from my house with nowhere really to live.
Dr.
Dre: The timing of this was so fuckin' crazy.
Both of us were in really bad situations, and not only did we click with the music, we became friends.
He's my friend.
He's really my friend.
- He - (laughing) He's pretending, but he's my that's my friend.
Iovine: I thought he was really clever.
I thought he was sayin' some crazy stuff, you know.
The stuff he was sayin' was just so out there, you know, but I trusted Dre.
Dr.
Dre: It's just like, "Okay.
"Fuck it.
I'm throwin' the dice.
I'm bettin' all the marbles on Eminem.
" Eminem: I knew he was taking a risk, but I just didn't know how much internal shit he was fighting.
You know, I owe him my life for that.
No bullshit.
Like, I know you risked it all for me.
And the winner is Eminem "My Name Is.
" (cheering, applause) I wanna thank Dr.
Dre, everybody at Interscope Records for makin' this possible, and Paul Rosenberg.
Dr.
Dre: We just came back from somewhere in the south of France.
(man laughing) - That's how much fun you was having.
- You know.
I don't even remember what day it is right now.
You know what I mean? I'm havin' a blast out here.
Eminem: After my first album came out, Dre would always say things to me like, "You've gotta work hard to get it, and you've gotta work twice as hard to maintain it.
" Dre always says, makin' a hit record is the easiest thing in the world to do.
At the same time, it's the hardest shit you'll ever do.
I don't know.
Ask him.
Lose yourself in the music, the moment, you own it You better never let it go, go You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime Dr.
Dre: I've been fortunate enough to work with pure genius in the studio in several occasions.
And when the Slim Shady LP came out, I was so excited because it was somethin' that was brand-new and it worked.
I'm getting this new, fresh energy, like, I'm startin' over.
Chronic 2001 comin' out.
(cheering, applause) (loud cheering) Eminem: London put your middle fingers back up in the air, yo.
As a matter of fact, put your motherfuckin' W's up in the air.
Dr.
Dre! Y'all know me, still the same OG, but a bit low-key Hated on by most these niggaz with no cheese No deals, no G's, no wheels and no keys No boats, no snowmobiles, and no skis Mad at me 'cause I can finally afford To provide my family with groceries Got a crib with a studio and it's all full of tracks To add to the wall full of plaques Hanging up in the office In back of my house like trophies Did y'all think I'ma let my dough freeze? Ho please! You better bow down on both knees Who you think taught you to smoke trees? Who you think brought you the oldies Eazy-E's, Ice Cubes, and D.
O.
C's, The Snoop D-O-double-G's And the group that said "Mothafuck the police!" Chronic 2001 was our graduation, and we were all back together, so he had a super group.
So fuck y'all, all of y'all If y'all don't like me, blow me Y'all are gonna keep fucking around with me And turn me back to the old me Eminem: Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got something to say But nothing comes out when they move their lips, just a bunch of gibberish And motherfuckers act like they forgot about Dre Katie Couric: Now, a young man who's exciting millions of kids with his music.
While you've probably never heard of Eminem, there's no doubt your kids have.
Newsman: He is the biggest single artist in America at this moment.
Is somethin' funny, man? If somethin's funny, goddammit, I wanna know.
Iovine: Eminem, he's the most controversial thing we'd ever be involved in.
He went places that most people wouldn't go.
Newsman: His own mother is suing him for defamation.
Fuck you too, bitch, call the cops I'm-a kill you and them loud-ass, motherfuckin' barkin' dogs Could not be more despicable.
Rosenberg: It gets to a point where people don't understand the art aspect of it.
Eminem: There's always a deeper meaning people think behind when I say, "Fuck you.
" But it's not.
It really means, "Fuck you," - when I say, "Fuck you.
" - (crowd laughs) Rosenberg: You know, they created a monster.
I had a good teacher, you know.
Forgot about Dre Eminem: And through all that controversy and shit, Jimmy was like, "Let him be him.
" And I don't give a fuck what anybody thinks.
Man: Why? When you're a racehorse, right, the reason why they put blinders on these things, 'cause if you look at the horse on the left or the horse on the right, you're gonna miss a step.
Compton So that's why those horses have fucking blinders on, and that's what people should have.
When you're running after something, you should not look left and right.
What does this person think? What does that person think? No, go.
- Go, go.
- Go, go - Go, go.
- Go, go - Go, go.
- Go, go Go shawty, it's your birthday We gonna party like it's yo birthday We gonna sip Bacardi like it's your birthday Stoute: Dre was steady cookin'.
Dr.
Dre: The Aftermath became so fuckin' successful.
50 Cent: Do I think Eminem and Dr.
Dre is responsible for a lot of my success? I'm gonna say hell yeah.
Dr.
Dre: There was the 50 Cent album that came, The Game album that came, a couple of Eminem albums that came.
Howard King: And of course, the Chronic 2001 sold more than ten million copies, so Jimmy was vindicated.
It just blew up.
Well, his whole thing was always about trying to put people in the room with other people that would be unexpected.
I need everybody to move out the way, okay? Teddy Riley's comin' through.
Have you met Teddy? Teddy, would you like any cookies? It's not seeing around corners.
It's a sense of clarity that he can see things.
He's like, "Oh, this thing is great, "and this thing is great.
This thing is gonna lead to" Let's get retarded in here "Put her in the group.
Sign her to your label.
" "I don't have a label.
" "You do now.
" Whoo-hoo! Let's get retarded ha! Let's get retarded in here Will.
i.
am: "Great.
You hit it out the park.
I think you need three more.
" So, we turned in "Where Is the Love?" "Hey Mama," and "Shut Up.
" And he still told me, "You need three more.
" "You're not done.
" "You need another one like this.
You need another one like that.
" "Oh, this thing is great.
And this thing is great.
This thing is gonna lead to" Few times I've been around that track So it's not just gonna happen like that 'Cause I ain't no Hollaback girl Stoute: "Oh, this thing is great, and this thing is great.
This thing is gonna lead to" If you see us in the club, we'll be acting real nice If you see us on the floor You'll be watchin' all night Luke Wood: Jimmy was on a roll.
Nelly Furtado, Timbaland, Pussycat Dolls, Gwen Stefani, Black-Eyed Peas.
I mean, it was the biggest label on the planet.
But right when I got to Interscope, Jimmy said to me, "The business is in crisis.
" (wind blowing) (crickets chirring) Newsman: In the past, the music business has been able to exploit new technology.
Man: This time that's not working.
Newsman: The Internet has changed the equation.
By every measure, there's a crisis in the music business.
(modem beeps, drones) We explained to Dre what Napster was, and he goes, "Just show me.
" You entered "Dr.
Dre," and, like, 400,000 songs of his came up for free.
Iovine: Oh, wow.
This is free? It's people trading music one song at a time.
And from there, I realized how toast we really were.
Then he went on a kind of anti-piracy crusade.
And I immediately called Doug, I said, "Doug, we are so screwed.
You have no idea.
This party is over.
" "No, it's not.
No, it's not.
" I said, "Yes, it is.
Yes, it is.
" Newsman: The industry sold more than 100 million fewer CDs and cassettes than it did two years ago.
He predicted it.
Starfuckers Starfuckers Incorporated Oh, here they come Iovine: I saw music, the distribution of it, the elegance of it, the album, the art, the CD, just kind of disintegrating.
Steve Berman: It made him crazy watching everything that they had been through, to create, fall apart with technology.
Every artist is being ripped off.
If anybody says anything other than that, it's nonsense.
It's piracy, and it's affecting anyone that's involved in music.
That kind of sucks for the artist, but that's I mean, that's just the reality.
Stoute: So, Jimmy had a meeting with Intel.
He wanted to understand how to fix the problem, and this guy's response to Jimmy was, "Not all businesses are meant to last forever.
" Iovine: So, I said to Doug Morris, I said, "Man, I do not want to be the guy that sold the last CD.
" We have something really exciting for you today.
Morris: Here's a guy who presented a complete idea Jobs: You can download an entire CD into iPod in five to ten seconds.
Morris: and showed us how we could make money again.
First call I made, "Jimmy, you got to meet this guy.
This guy's like no one you ever met.
" Iovine: So, I went up there, and I met him.
and it gave me a feeling of when I first got in the record business.
Like, "Oh! This is where the party is.
The party's at Steve's house.
" Bono: He would see Steve Jobs as a creative person, one of those people he'd always looked up to, admired and wanted to work with.
He's like, "I need that kind of person.
" Iovine: I wanted to learn from this guy, and understand how and why they do what they do.
Morris: And they both were workaholics.
If there was 25 hours in the day, they would try for 26.
They never stop going for what they're trying to do.
(line ringing) Gwen Stefani: Hey, Jimmy.
Jimmy (on phone): There you are! How was the tour? I just landed.
I'm in the car.
I'm just gonna go home.
Well, I have a studio booked with Pharrell right now, and if you wanna work with this guy, you gotta go down to the studio now, Gwen.
I'm so tired! I need to sleep is what I need to do right now.
I'm gonna do it, but I gotta get inspired.
(playing chords) What an amazing time What a family (playing chords) How did the years go by? Dr.
Dre: You know what? When it comes to release dates, I think release dates are the enemy of creativity.
You know? You never know when you're gonna be inspired, what's gonna inspire you, and you can't put a time limit on creativity.
You know, I don't know if the idea that I have today is the good idea.
You don't know.
You know what I mean? Huh.
Dr.
Dre: We're artists.
We're just being creative.
So it's like, man, shut the fuck up and let us do our job.
(playing classical music) And then, we'll give it to you and you can make your money.
And every piece of music that I do or create, it isn't for the public.
Oh, shit! Fuck outta here, Charlie.
(laughing) Iovine: What frustrates me the most about Dre is easily what he considers perfection.
And I think what he's calling perfection is really something else disguised as perfection, you know.
So I don't wanna psychoanalyze him 'cause that is a door I don't wanna walk into.
So, let's see what we can do on this verse.
Snoop Dogg: You can't smoke no regular blunt when you come see Dr.
Dre.
So I gotta come right or I don't come at all.
- Playback.
- Rosenberg: Time is not a factor in anything Dr.
Dre does.
It doesn't exist.
Man: If you wanna see a master at work, go in the studio with Dre.
Just watch him.
I-I've never seen anybody do it like him.
How the fuck's he doing that? What's your approach? Luke Wood: Dre's not just an engineer, which is an incredibly technical craft.
He's not just an artist, not just a mixer.
He's a producer and a songwriter.
I don't know whatever that word is in Latin, but he's that threat.
Man: He operates only for the sake of what he's creating.
Eminem: That's why his sound is like it is.
Nicole: Because he has put every bit of himself into it.
But somewhere along the line, I don't know what it was, but whenever we got in the studio, he would play me shit and I'd be like, yo, that's fuckin' crazy.
And he'd be like, "I-I "I gotta change this line and I gotta change that line.
I don't like the snare drum on this.
" Take the snare drum out of the roll.
- "I don't like the way this beat sounds.
" - (grunts) "Do it again, do it again, do it again.
" "I like this part of the beat, but I don't like this part of the beat.
" (humming melody) Stick! Oh, fuck Bruce Springsteen: When you're trying to push the boundaries on things, when you're moving into different types of, you know, frontiers that hadn't been tested before, sometimes you need to be indulged.
Snoop Dogg: Detox.
Rosenberg: Detox.
Dre was working on Detox for a long time.
Snoop Dogg: I dropped five albums since the day Detox supposed to come out till the day it didn't come out.
Five albums.
Iovine: Everybody was waitin' for Detox.
Snoop Dogg: But his standards wouldn't allow him to put it out.
"Nope.
Nope.
" Over and over and over again.
Eminem: I don't know what he's lookin' for.
I don't know if he knows what he's lookin' for.
I been through writer's block and I've also been through many, many times where I'm not sure of myself.
But my shit was garbage.
That's not garbage though.
Nicole: Everything for Andre is based on what he feels.
If it doesn't feel good, it's not happening.
If he's feelin' it, you cannot stop him, you know.
It's like blood running through your veins.
That means a lot of time spent away in a head space.
Searchin' for the notes, the sounds and stuff.
That's a constant for him.
I respect his creativity.
I respect the music.
We know what he's doing, we know what it takes.
But, you know there have been certain times, when I wasn't sure if, you know, we were gonna be able to make it through.
Vicki: Look, this is what we married.
If you're gonna say, "I want an ordinary husband," well, then, you can't marry a genius.
A lot of extremes because genius needs to feed itself.
It needs to make its own hours.
It needs to not talk to you when it doesn't want to.
It needs to be the sickest in the house.
I didn't wanna get a divorce until I did.
Iovine: You know, it's it's I would imagine that it would be very hard to be married to me, because I was so focused on what I was trying to accomplish.
Vicki: He had always been that much of a firebrand, and that intense, but I could take it.
We could've said to each other, "Hey, big shot, take it down a notch.
" But neither of us really wanted to take it down a notch.
We wanted to be exactly who each of us had become.
Larry Gordon: Once Vicki was really out of his life, a wife who had planned everything, he needed help, because his father may have been a longshoreman, okay, but he was a prince.
So now it took about 40 of us to fill up that that void, including Dre and Nicole.
Iovine: I was frustrated with the music business.
I was frustrated that I'd just got divorced.
And I had no center.
And whenever I get sad or I get scared or I get in trouble in any way, I wish I knew other therapeutic ways of doing things.
But the only thing I know how to do is completely bury myself, to a point of absurdity, into my work.
Dr.
Dre: I was here at my beach house, and I decided just to walk out on the balcony to get some air, and Jimmy Iovine, he was walkin' up the beach.
"What's up?" He's like, "Oh, I'm gonna come up.
" So he comes up the stairs.
We have a sit-down right here.
So we're just sittin' down, shootin' the shit, and I told him about my lawyer approachin' me about There's a sneaker company that wants you to endorse something.
And I'm like, "Man, listen, I don't know anything about fashion or anything like that.
" Andre put his name on two solo albums in two decades.
He treated products the same way.
He turned down dozens of endorsements.
Iovine: You ask Dre to do somethin' like that, his first response is no.
- No, no, no.
- No! Then he breathes.
Hell, no! I wear the same shit everyday.
You know? I wear the same sneakers every day.
So, I'm tellin' Jimmy this story, and out of the blue, he's like, "Dre, man, fuck sneakers.
" No, you don't sell sneakers, you sell - Speakers.
- Fuck sneakers.
You should do speakers.
All kinds of different speakers.
Speakers and headphones.
And he said, "We can do that?" I said, "We can absolutely do that.
" And I'm like, "Yeah, you know what, we could call it Beats.
" He's like, "That's it," and he just got up and left.
I think from the moment he walked up to the moment he left, maybe ten minutes.
A few days later, he calls me up to his office.
Next thing you know, I'm sittin' there, lookin' at a hundred different pairs of headphones with all these designs, and that's when I knew, "Okay, we're really doing this.
" Iovine: We realized that all headphones sounded boring and looked like medical equipment.
Man, they ugly as fuck.
Iovine: We wanted more bass in these headphones to exaggerate all of it.
We wanted to put it on steroids.
The Bose headphones they were advertising noise canceling, total quiet.
Jimmy says, "Noise canceling?" (man snoring) Yeah, they're the headphones if you want to go to sleep on a plane.
Our headphones are the "Where's the party?" headphones.
Iovine: So we found Robert Brunner, this incredible designer, and we also hooked up with Monster, which was owned by Noel Lee, who's an audio engineer.
I went to Steve Jobs, and I said, "Steve, I wanna make a headphone with Dr.
Dre.
" He said, "Well, Jimmy, you can get killed in hardware.
It's not as easy as it looks.
" Wood: It's a different kind of business.
We had to learn to be a complete sandwich shop.
We couldn't just come up with the recipe.
We had to actually cut the pastrami.
Everyone felt we weren't gonna be able to sell headphones 'cause they were given away for free with all the phones.
But I figured, if we can get them on the right musicians, then kids will try 'em.
And once they hear them, I know they'll never go back to somethin' that sounds crappy.
So everywhere I'd go, I'd put the headphones on people and I'd take a picture.
Morris: You walked in his office, you were getting hit with a flash.
It was the constant, "What do you think of these? What do you think of these?" Iovine: I got to be obsessive about it.
Step Johnson: You was not gettin' outta that office unless Jimmy could take a picture.
Click, click, click.
And if you refused to put the Beats in your videos Oh, shit.
Jimmy might cut your budget.
(laughing) Thinking of a master plan You know anything you need, baby Johnson: You got to remember, Beats went big over in the urban community.
Once we made it hip, it was a fashion statement.
It was like the hood thing.
It was like, "This is what we do.
" But Jimmy and Dre created this thing out of nothing.
"Hey! You guys wanna wear Dre's headphones? "Dre loves you.
He's gonna send you some.
"Okay, thanks, Katy Perry and whoever the fuck else I call.
" Ma ma ma ma Ma ma ma ma Ma ma ma ma Iovine: Lady Gaga walked into my office with brown hair, Italian girl from New York, and started tellin' me about Andy Warhol and dance music, but yet, industrial, and paintings.
And I don't know.
She confused me so much that I signed her, you know.
(crowd laughs) Wood: No one at Interscope in the executive level believed that Gaga could be as big as it could be.
It felt still like house music, dance music, disco.
But Jimmy said, "I was at a club with Timbaland, "and I saw the room move.
"It felt like pop music.
It felt like it could break through.
" - Hey.
- Lady Gaga: Hi! (laughs) It's good to be the headliner, right? Oh oh (crowd cheering) Can't read my, can't read my No, he can't read my poker face - Let's go! - She is gonna let nobody Can't read my, can't read my No, he can't read my poker face - Let's go, Coachella! - She is gonna let nobody Po-po-po poker face Iovine: Beats and Lady Gaga both got transformed through music videos into relationships.
Not around the culture, not over the culture, but in the culture.
- This is for you guys.
- What did you do?! - What are these? - Beats by Dr.
Dre.
- What are these? - They're the best headphones in the world.
- Oh, you're kidding! - Stop it! Yeah, I love them.
Paterno: They went from 27,000 to 1,600,000 headphones in one year.
Wood: We started with artists.
quickly moved to athletes, The marketing was natural.
And athletes embraced Beats, because music is part of the ritual of training.
Iovine: The 2008 Olympics in Beijing, there's the American basketball team coming off the plane in Beijing, wearing our headphones.
When we saw the explosive response to the LeBron thing, we started to realize that this original vision of culture and product was happening before your very eyes.
She is gonna let nobody Wood: We said, "Music's about identity.
So let's make every country have their own product.
" Newswoman: It's a big controversy.
They're not supposed to wear anything that's not one of the official sponsors.
And so now they want the athletes to take them off.
That should be a course at Harvard.
I'm tellin' ya, it was so brilliant.
Newsman: The FIFA World Cup has banned players from using the popular Dr.
Dre headphones.
The most popular selling headphones have been banned from the NFL.
Newsman 2: The speculation is Beats loves this.
That's the purpose behind Beats doing that, right? Doug Morris: Now, no one's gonna be able to do that again.
That trick is done.
Nobody's better at marketing than Jimmy.
Nobody's better than that guy, and just relentlessly.
The only person that does it better than him is me.
He's got good instinct, and he is shameless, you know? They're like the Jordans of headphones.
But fuck this Beats thing.
Seriously, honestly, fuck this Beats thing.
- Man: What?! Seriously?! - That's No, no, no.
I'm telling you.
I'm telling you what I thought.
This is absolutely what I thought.
I was like, "Man "I want Dre to make an album, and he's talking about headphones right now.
" - Hello.
How you guys doin'? - (applause) All right.
I've been tuning speakers for my house and my studio and my car for over 25 years now, and I'm almost there.
- I think I've almost got it right.
- (crowd laughs) But a lot of people either don't care or just don't know about quality sound.
And that's why we're here right now.
We're here to do our part to try to change that.
Verna Young: You know, many years ago, he said, "I'm not a businessman, I'm a music man.
" But I would say that he has grown in the business.
This is Brentwood.
Wouldn't you know, the house that I fell in love with is in fuckin' Brentwood.
This is the school right here.
That was the school that O.
J.
went to for the recital the day of the murders.
It's crazy, huh? My neighbors are gonna be like, "Ah, fuck.
"Another black guy's movin' to the neighborhood.
Who the fuck is he gonna kill?" Me and my niggas tryna get it, ya bish Ya bish Hit the house lick, tell me Is you with it, ya bish Dr.
Dre: Told my wife we should call this place Folsom.
This is it.
This is the last place we're ever gonna live, so, we're trying to make it perfect.
Yeah, yeah.
And the studio's down there.
So, yeah, this is the control room.
Mic booth, which I don't know what I'm gonna do with this, because I hardly ever use a mic booth anymore.
There's a certain intimacy that goes on with the artist when you can reach out and touch 'em and there's not a glass separating you.
You know what I mean? So I prefer to do it where everybody's in the same room.
This is gonna be the first studio that I've ever been in that was perfect for me.
I've never been in a studio that was perfect and everything was right.
This area is the master bathroom.
Snoop Dogg: He's an owner now.
He's in the owner's box.
And when you become a owner, you have to become sort of distant and sort of to the business and not so to the entertainment side.
(engine revving) (siren wailing) I didn't do it.
I don't speed anymore.
Newsman: To Minneapolis now and the potential battle brewing over Prince's $300 million estate.
Family members head into court tomorrow Reznor: When I was growin' up musicians were superheroes.
You didn't get to see them all the time.
You read into what they did.
They were larger than life.
And I'm not against change, but as music's kind of gotten co-opted to something that isn't the primary attention thing, it's the thing that happens while you're doing something else, and it's a way to sell you ads now.
It's tough as a musician not to feel a bit beat down.
Eminem: I don't know if Dre's vision was like, "Jimmy's with this.
" But there would be some times where we'd be shootin' a video till, like, 6:00 in the morning and we had to do one more take with me or somebody in the video wearin' some goddamn headphones.
I'm like, "Man, are you fuckin' kidding me?" Every time we did something, it was like, Jimmy with the Beats.
And I remember thinking, like, "Why is this so important?" But I had no idea what the Great Gazoo was doing.
Great Gazoo: You doubt the power of the Great Gazoo? Reznor: I knew he was frustrated.
And Jimmy and my own interests align around some ideas that we think are pretty fucking good, you know, and could tick music up a notch again, make it important again.
And that sounds pretentious, and it is pretentious.
But I think it's also I think it's fuckin' feasible, you know.
Iovine: From 2003 on, I always wanted to be in the streaming business, but I tried to get other people to do it.
I wanted Apple to do it.
So I used to go to Eddy and Steve all the time and say, "Let's do streaming.
" And they would say, "Too early.
" They just felt it wasn't right for Apple at the time.
So I said, "Man, nobody's gonna do this for us.
Let's do it ourselves.
" So we built Beats Music.
It's not just the speaker.
It's also, how do people consume music.
Morris: And that's Jimmy's new thing.
Changing the habits of people from buying to accessing.
And if there's anyone who can do it, it's him, because of his reputation, his connections.
Iovine: But Trent and I knew that streaming could not scale without a company like Apple behind it.
We made some headwinds, but the truth is we weren't sophisticated enough, at least I wasn't, to understand technology wasn't there yet.
But Apple was a place we thought we could really tie it all together with a culture that we really could connect with.
Morris: Beats Music doesn't have the resources of an Apple and the 850 million credit cards and the $150 billion in the bank.
So Jimmy's faced with, "Uh-oh.
I gotta make this thing work.
" Will.
i.
am: Apple.
The biggest company on Earth.
They got more liquid money than the American government.
That's beyond ballin'.
Stoute: So now you gotta look at it from both sides.
Beats is a very profitable headphone company, and it has marketing contracts with some of the finest musicians and athletes in the world.
Will.
i.
am: Somethin' you can't spend no amount of money to create.
Culture.
Music.
Content.
And a relationship with hip-hop.
Stoute: Plus they got Jimmy Iovine to bring that kind of marketing and insight to their future success in music.
Apple is music.
The core of Apple is music.
It's part of what drove Steve and his company.
And eventually, one day, Tim called me in with Eddy, and Tim said to me, "You know what? We're ready.
" How about Dr.
Dre? Newswoman: Hip-hop mogul, Dr.
Dre, seeming to confirm the reported deal.
Newsman: A $3 billion deal to acquire Beats.
The biggest deal in Apple's history.
- This is great for Dr Dre.
- Oh, it's amazing.
This is just about us continuing to invest in music.
And this is the first music subscription service done right.
Woman: Are you gonna really leave the record industry? I did.
I'm a retired record executive.
- (dings) - That's me.
I'm so excited, man.
The new beginning of my new life.
You hear that? I clean up nice.
Dr.
Dre has been my primary care physician for over 15 years.
Jimmy Iovine has been that little voice inside my head.
Both guys from the streets who built everything they have today - by betting on themselves.
- (applause) Doot, doot, doot, doot.
Hey, Mr.
Big Stuff.
(Verna laughing) I said, "I heard about your little business venture, and I said, 'That boy is smart!'" He said, "Sometimes.
" Steve Berman: Um The journey isn't done yet.
You promised Detox.
Nigga is it gonna ever, ever, ever come out.
Dr.
Dre: What's, what's, what's peace? Peace is when you sleep with open windows on the beach Peace is when you clear $100 million tax-free Peace is when you're fuckin' with me (grunts) Yeah.
Word on the streets Peace is when you get locked up And you get released Peace is when some shit pop off And you got your heat (laughing) Man, fuck stress.
Detox, I never had any connection with it.
It didn't work.
I had to have a reason.
I'm never gonna do that again.
I wanna be inspired.
I'm always gonna produce and find young talent, but I'm 30 years in, I'm 50 years old.
It's so fuckin' difficult, because makin' music is a young man's game.
Kendrick Lamar: Is it a young man's game? I mean, I was born in '87.
I don't know where I'll be 15 years from now, but I know right now, when he say, "Young man's game," all I wanna do is write.
The classic board.
Chronic, The Marshall Mathers LP.
I did half of Good Kid on here.
I was nine years old the first time I met Dre, first time I met 'Pac, and they was at the Compton swap meet on Rosecrans.
I was one of the kids out there on my pop's shoulder, watchin' him go up and down my city, his city, rappin' these rap lyrics.
Dre didn't know he met me, but I met him.
Fifteen years later, I was in the studio with him.
Poof! Blew my mind away.
Oh, that's sick.
Woman Announcer: Please welcome Kendrick Lamar.
(cheering) Believe that.
N.
W.
A.
, man.
It was dubbed gangsta rap, but for me, it was an intimate look at what was actually happenin' in our community in Los Angeles, and in Compton in particular.
I can feel the changes Lamar: I feel like each and every single one of them was black superheroes where I come from.
Dr.
Dre: Back then, we weren't thinkin' about fame or fortune or anything like that.
We were just some kids in the studio havin' fun recording.
And I'm quite sure, everybody in the music industry, especially those that make music, understand how precious those times are.
Lamar: Recognizin' the moment, just appreciatin' the moment, you know, that's the hardest thing to do, especially in the music business.
Iovine: I think we just came up with great ideas for retail.
But here's the problem with the messaging, no one knows what we're talking about.
I have people that I hang out with on the weekends that still don't use this thing.
What are we gonna do to get people to come in to Apple Music and sign up? Just telling them, "It's there" is not enough.
We don't even know if advertising works.
Lamar: Whatever you gotta do to make it connect, you gotta go for.
And how you do that? Completely remove the motherfuckin' ego.
Jimmy told me that, "Remove the ego.
" And by the way, I don't know how to figure it out.
Mormile: When he first started in the business he said, "I'm gonna make a killing.
I'm retiring at 40.
" Then he said, "Around 50.
" That is so not him.
He'll create something else.
Iovine: When we started Beats, we tried to hire people, and we would get either engineers or people from the creative community.
There weren't people that understood both languages.
I said to Dre, "Why don't we start a school that teaches kids how to combine all of it?" - Iovine Young Academy.
- There you go.
Iovine: We're on our site where they're gonna build our building for our school.
- And it ain't cheap.
- (Dre laughing) Lamar: We didn't have nobody puttin' money in our city.
So to give back to the city of Compton, knowin' where we come from, that is the ultimate goal.
All he knew was just gangbangin', you know what I'm sayin'? That's all there was.
But we recognizin' our potential now.
Recognizin' the gifts that we have in the city, rather than just focusin' on the negativity.
But the gang culture is always there.
I can't I can't sugarcoat that.
Dr.
Dre: Me and Cube were out in Compton.
Kendrick Lamar's there.
Game is there.
All of these people.
We're tryin' to bring some love and some hope back to the city.
We're talkin' about doin' some positive things for Compton.
We're talkin' about puttin' some money back into the city, bringin' the city up.
And then this stupid-ass motherfucker comes through with the bullshit.
Just jumped in his car and backed over Terry Carter and killed him.
This man died.
This was a good brother.
He had a wife.
He had kids.
He was responsible for takin' in, like, 12 foster kids.
This is a good guy.
And all of a sudden, boom, we got bad news all on TV, and Compton's lookin' fucked up again.
Man: Yeah.
Yo, Suge, what was what was the fight about, man? Can you say anything about the allegations against you? Newswoman: One of the biggest names in rap music is in jail this morning.
We've just learned, minutes ago, that producer Suge Knight was arrested.
He's being held on $2 million bail.
He is a pioneer in his field, working with artists like M.
C.
Hammer, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac Shakur.
But now, he could face murder charges after a deadly hit and run - Dr.
Dre: Hey.
- Nicole (on phone): Hey, babe.
Dr.
Dre: What's up, love? - Yeah.
- Where are you? I'm here at the beach.
Right.
About to do some recording upstairs.
That sounds good.
I love you.
I love you, too, baby.
All right.
Snoop Dogg: If he could tell his whole story through music, he would rather that than to have to talk about it.
- Man: That's cool? - Dr.
Dre: Check, yeah.
Yeah, that's good.
Check, check, check, yeah.
That's money.
I'm really wonderin' if (sighs) There's somethin' I wanna say before the first verse starts, um, and I'm still tryin' to figure it out.
Let the let the track play real quick here.
Oh! As I talk about the pain, as I Um (sighs deeply) I remember when I got started, my intention was to win But a lot of shit changed since then Some old friends became enemies In the quest to victory But I made a vow Never let this shit get to me I let it pass, so I can (hisses, exclaims) All right, let's slide that to the right.
Mmm! I let it pass so I consider that part of my history All right, stack those up.
Can you take some bottom out of that? Sounds like it's comin' in a little bit too heavy.
All right, next part.
Saw a new house for my moms that's special I let you go on shoppin' till your feet get tired And a new Benz just for you to ride in When I didn't have it, you provided Mmm.
That could be better.
Now I'm gonna come over here for a second.
I used to be a starvin' artist So I would never starve an artist It gets the hardest when I think about the dearly departed Ah, shit, almost.
Little bit to the left.
I know Eazy can see me now Lookin' down through the clouds Cube in the corner writin' Where Ren at? Damn, I miss that I'm just talkin' to my diary All right, let me slide high to the right, just a little bit more.
I'm just talkin' to my diary Shout out to my nigga, DJ Yella (sighs) Let me hear that again.
Let me hear that.
I don't know how I'm gonna end this shit.
I gotta figure that out.
Yeah, let me just, uh This is gonna be a couple of hours.
All-nighters, you in the booth, all-nighters Man: Are those gonna be wider? Those are gonna be wide, like, three and nine.
- Mm-hmm.
There it is.
- Okay.
I'm just, I'm just, I'm just I'm just, I'm just, I'm just Yeah.
Huh.
Yeah, that that's definitely it.
Let's listen.
There's a lot more to be done with the stacks and the ad libs and the verses and shit, but I don't feel like doing it right now.
I just wanna live with it for a second and, um wake up and see if I see if I'm in love with what happened tonight.
You know.
Then we'll go from there.
Dr.
Dre: We've been together 21 years, so we know each other.
I'm the kite and she's the rock.
Iovine: When I was younger, I was scared to death.
I didn't know where my life was gonna go.
And then I met Roy Cicala and John Lennon and they gave me a shot.
And then I worked with Bruce and Patti.
And that was my college education.
And I felt freedom.
I said, "Okay, I'm free from what I don't know.
" In 2012, yeah, I was successful, but I was alone.
I was scared again.
And then I met Liberty, and I got that same feeling of direction, and I felt freedom again.
Man: to be soulmate? Yes.
Gordon: Liberty was a Jimmy Whisperer.
She made him stand up on both feet and be mature.
Sean Combs: Everybody, give it up for Jimmy and Liberty Iovine.
(cheers and applause) Now, y'all know that this is the blackest wedding (laughter) that a white Italian man with a rabbi has ever had in LA.
(applause) And we about to party, so meet us on the dance floor.
Let's give it up for Jimmy and Liberty Iovine.
Whoo! Jimmy is one of the two or three greatest inventors that I have known.
But what was his invention? His invention was Jimmy Iovine.
There's only one of him.
That's the melody, man.
I didn't even think about doing that.
Eminem: The innovator and the levitator.
But Jimmy Iovine is the levitator.
Dre is the innovator.
Dr.
Dre's releasing his first new album in more than 15 years.
I'm just, I'm just, I'm just I'm just talkin' to my diary, I'm just Newswoman: It's inspired by the movie Straight Outta Compton.
Dr.
Dre also revealed that he has shelved his long-awaited album, Detox.
This is fuckin' insane, man.
Newsman: Take a look at Compton High School while you still can.
The plan is to tear it to the ground and rebuild it, including a new performing arts center, paid in part by Dr.
Dre.
(cheers, applause) We have some really exciting things planned for Compton High in the future, and I just wanted to stop by and say congratulations to you all.
Newsman: Residents passed a $350 million bond measure to rebuild the entire complex, and Dre, who has helped the district out in the past, is helping out once again.
Micah Ali: We're talking about transforming a community that's been starved economically for years.
And we have not seen a new high school in well over a hundred years.
And the new performing arts center is on that end.
We really wanted to put that in a very prominent position in the community, right on a major thoroughfare.
Man: This facility will be available to the community, weekdays, as well as weekends, as much as it wants, and needs to be used.
Dr.
Dre: I was terrible in high school.
I struggled.
I didn't like it.
You know what I mean? I didn't feel comfortable.
You know? How many kids are excited to go to school? None where I'm from.
It's really important to have a place where kids are actually excited to go.
A community of like-minded people that are just out to create and learn how to create.
And hopefully, it can take away some of the negative stereotypes of Compton, you know, that, you know, in a funny way, I feel like I was a part of.
Now, we're just not focusin' on the streets.
We focusin' on music.
We focusin' on books.
And we talkin' about a dude from our city.
That gives everybody hope.
I don't care what you're doin'.
Verna Young: If I had had a crystal ball, when I was 15 and Andre was born, and I was searchin' for nickels and dimes between cushions, cryin' because I didn't know how I was gonna make a meal, this little chubby baby started pullin' hisself up at nine months old.
And he let go and he took off.
And I go back and I start thinkin' about all the steps.
You know, who would've thought? Stoute: Everybody understands the story of, "I got nothin' and I want somethin'.
" Crazy.
Stoute: You know, that's what it was and that's what it is.
Ooh! Bruce Springsteen: If you want to accomplish something that hasn't been accomplished, you have to be relentlessly and unapologetically determined.
The D.
O.
C.
: Be true to yourself.
Be true to your art.
Never take it for granted.
Ice Cube: You don't have to conform.
You can be as raw as you need to be.
Don't ever change who you are.
You can't please everybody.
Deliver quality.
Will.
i.
am: Do more.
Do more.
You are the underdog.
Do it again, do it again, do it again.
Stay in the fucking saddle.
Treat everything like it's your first opportunity.
- Quit fuckin' around.
- And that's it.
Don't forget that.
- Go.
- My pleasure.
- That is a wrap.
- Come on, let's have some lunch.
Gwen Stefani: Cool.
I hope you guys got something.
- Cool.
- Cool.
- Is that it? - Man: Yeah! Now will there ever be a day that my niggas won't ride for me? Now will there ever be a day that your bitch won't slide with me, homie? And will there ever be a day that your hands ain't up When the nigga on stage ever wrote in a page In the studio for days just to work four ways Now I'm all fuckin' paid in this motherfucker Cool, got a hit just like this, and got heart and rich like this Never fail, 20 years, and I still got grit like this And got kids with a super hot bitch like this You spendin' time tryin' to get like this I wrote a script like this, I'm on some shit like I'm at home on the track, nigga, this my shit Try to split my clique, you might get hit, and diva, I did Kill shit, I'm-a talk about it Laid out with the chalk around 'em Came back as kings, came back with rings What if we fall and we thought about it, nigga Gunfire, gunfire No, no, no Run at ya, run at ya No, no, no We come for ya, come for ya No, no, no Set fire to my enemies Fuck all rides, we ride for our enemies We got few tales worth 100 G's Them say they won't run, we say, pussy please Pussy, why never worry, leave It's out on the streets Now child, the police want me Only kids in these streets Pushin' wine, now I walk with weed Kill shit, I'm-a talk about it Laid out with the chalk around 'em Came back as kings, came back with rings What if we fall and we thought about it, nigga How you spell CEO D-R-E, what a nigga dreamed he could try to be Even though I'm from a place where a nigga got text, don't mean technology Go around Blood, niggas real camaraderie Plus Crip niggas on the other side of me But I'm the only nigga that ever tried to be winnin' ever since You know these niggas tired of me Now, do it if you want, crap shootin' in your home - Where a nigga came from - My life changed 'Cause a nigga made hits while my homies get rich - Glad that they here - Can't complain Try to survive, nine to five You in the life of dreams, not willing to die The low to low, the high to high You do or you don't, you fall or you fly I mean, you ride or die, nigga Oh, shit, I'm-a talk about it Laid out with the chalk around 'em Came back as kings, came back with rings What if we fall and we thought about it, nigga Gunfire, gunfire No, no, no Run at ya, run at ya No, no, no We come for ya, come for ya No, no, no Set fire to my enemies
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