DOCUSERIES REVIEW: The Defiant Ones (HBO, 2017)

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In a year where there has already been a number of music documentaries come through to flood the market, including the P. Diddy — who is featured fairly heavily in The Defiant Ones — documentary Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Allen Hughes’ (Menace II Society, Broken City) HBO docu-series The Defiant Ones has risen to the top of the heap by deconstructing the relationship between iconic producers Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, who have been at the forefront of industry for generations.

We see the people gracing the stage and entertaining us, the front-men and guitarists, the rappers and singers, the stars of the music videos, but we often find that we aren’t privy to the more interesting aspects of the industry — the producers and the innerworkings of the back rooms and back channels. Hughes’ docuseries gives us that.

While it goes in-depth about both Dre and Iovine’s upbringings and their early days in the business, the most interesting part for me was how they navigated the waters and helped guide us into one of the most controversial eras in music history. With Tupac, Marilyn Manson, and Nine Inch Nails — among others — leading the charge for a musical revolution during a socially-turbulent time in the world, using clashing styles to formulate politically-driven/in-your-face/reactionary sounds, beauty was created. The energy was insane and chaotic, and it was a direct result of the times. Art thrives in those types of environments.

Down below is my favorite montage from the film, but it perfectly encapsulates what it was like during the early 90s.

The Defiant Ones is a talking heads documentary, but the heads are the exact ones you want to hear from instead of the ones your normally have to settle for in lesser documentaries. Hughes put together a who’s who of the music industry from the 1970’s until now, and the number of people they influenced is countless. Even when it lists off some of the songs and albums they helped create, you can’t help but feel a hit or two had to be left out.

These were people who searched out talent from wherever they could find it, and they had no model or design for which they looked. Eminem was the furthest thing from what a rapper looked like in 1999, but Dr. Dre gave him a shot to monumental success, and the same could be said for Lovine and Lady Gaga. This is a documentary about the people who strove to make something different.

The only real issue I had with The Defiant Ones is that it sort of drags about halfway through the fourth and final episode, and even that could have been more on me than the piece since I was binging them all into the wee hours of the night. It’s a long journey (over 4 hours), and if you have no interest in music history at all, it may be too much of an undertaking.

As far as documentaries go, you’ll be hard pressed to and a more compelling series that’s as entertaining and informative as The Defiant Ones. HBO has put out some fantastic documentaries over the years (Paradise Lost, Beware the Slenderman, and Going Clear), and this falls right in line with the best of them.

The Defiant Ones is a comprehensive feat, and it’s on up there in terms of documentaries I’ve seen, but it’s weighted down by its information. If they had trimmed just a little bit of fat, it would be an easy 5/5, but as it stands now, it falls just shy.

Rating:★★★★ ½