(waves lapping) (seagulls cawing)
(footsteps)
Bono: There's something in him that's attracted to rage.
That's the thing, I think, to explore.
Man: Oh, the bear, Jimmy.
What is it about the bear, by the way?
I like-- I like bears more than I like, probably...
It's my favorite animal,
because... not only can it get you on land,
if you go in the water, it will come for you there,
and it is faster than you on land and in water.
And it's big as all hell.
That is the ultimate machine as far as I'm concerned.
(loud bang)
God got that one really right.
♪ ♪
Snoop Dogg: Jimmy "Eye-oh-vee-nee."
That's how you say his name in Italy.
Jimmy is "Italioni."
That's why they can't really fuck with him
like they really want to. You know what I'm saying?
Overplay the fettuccine.
Iovine: My mother was very intense.
Mormile: She felt that everyone was taking advantage of him.
She was always looking at the angle that someone might have,
and Jimmy picked up that.
Iovine: She loved me, but she worried a lot.
That just... made me twitch, literally.
(laughter)
In my neighborhood, (bottle shatters)
either you could punch good,
duck good, or have a great sense of humor.
I was the latter.
I was nowhere near a tough guy,
but there were sure a lot of tough guys around.
Everyone in the neighborhood, they wanted to--
to earn a few extra bucks.
As a longshoreman, my dad used to tell me
there were extra things lying around the pier.
He'd bring home 12 catcher's mitts.
And I said, "What am I gonna do with 12 ca--"
My uncle would bring things home,
my next-door neighbor would bring things home,
and they would trade them, and that was the culture.
Steve Stoute: So you're dealing with Italian,
short-man complex from Brooklyn.
You're dealing with a lot of energy,
and he took that into the record business.
Tom Petty: Jimmy's one of those guys
that if you think you killed him,
you better go back and shoot him again,
because he'll get up. (laughs)
♪ ♪
It's opera.
Italians love the opera.
Big emotions. Violence. (crowd cheering)
That energy, that rage.
He has it. He just doesn't come off as angry.
But under the skin of it... (screaming)
(thunder rumbles) ...he likes blood and bones.
(seagulls cawing)
♪ ♪ (car honking)
(people shouting)
And they looking for that rock. (laughter)
♪ ♪ (people chattering)
(phone cameras clicking)
(chattering continues)
Nigga used to want to shoot at me. Now he wanna rap with me.
Dr. Dre: The first time I heard Snoop,
a friend of mine had a bachelor party.
♪ Swing down, sweet chariot stop and let me ride ♪
Dr. Dre: I met Snoop before that. He was selling drugs.
And my step-brother Warren G popped this tape in.
Snoop Dogg: ♪ Rolling in my six-four ♪
I'm like, "That's Snoop?"
I'm like, "Man, this is a fucking diamond in the rough,
and we need to polish it up."
So, it went from that to me receiving a phone call.
I hung up. Like, "Nigga, this ain't no motherfucking Dr. Dre."
Nigga called back like, "Nigga, be at the studio Monday."
Dr. Dre: So, Snoop comes in the studio,
I put this track up for him, and he's just freestyling,
and this shit was super sick.
And then the thought of my solo album started becoming a reality in my mind.
Had Snoop, Warren G, had D.O.C. to help out with the lyrics,
and that's a great beginning.
♪ Creeping down the back street on deez ♪
♪ I got my Glock cocked 'cause niggas want these ♪
♪ Now soon as I said it, seems I got sweated ♪
♪ By some nigga with a TEC-9 trying to take mine ♪
♪ You want to make noise, make noise ♪
♪ I make a phone call, my niggas coming like the Gotti boys ♪
Dr. Dre: I had just got a new house in Calabasas,
completely empty with the exception
of my bedroom and downstairs studio.
So, we downstairs making song with no furniture.
Some nights it would be me, him,
and then some nights there would be about a thousand motherfuckers in there.
♪ Sweet chariot stop and let me ride ♪
A lot of people have come out-- hold up, baby.
Dr. Dre: Kurupt stayed there. Snoop lived there,
Daz, Nate Dogg.
It's just full of really creative people.
We would party for a while. I hear somebody go,
♪ With my mind on my money, and my money on my mind ♪
"Bam. Yo, hold that.
Let's go in the studio. Let's lay that."
♪ Hop back as I pop my top, ya trip ♪
Snoop Dogg: We created some great fucking music.
♪ Commence to pop, pop, pop, yeah ♪
But it was domestically dysfunctional. You know what I'm saying?
Dr. Dre: People fucking in the bathrooms.
People fucking anywhere except my room.
(music slows, stops)
♪ ♪ Snoop Dogg: But we was just happy
to be outta the 'hood, working with Dr. Dre.
I was on house arrest.
Snoop Dogg: This was one of the baddest motherfuckers to ever do it.
I mean, his ear is different. You can't really say,
"Why did he pick me out of all of the rappers that was rapping in the '80s
and say, 'Well, I'mma put you down with me?'"
I don't know why, but he always put me up.
Hey, Snoop Doggy Dogg, welcome to Yo! MTV Raps.
Was up, Fab?
Fab 5 Freddy: Snoop really was a street guy,
but he was the personality I had not seen in rap.
It was a whole other flow.
Snoop Dogg: My thing back then was freestyle.
Like, I didn't know how to write, but D.O.C. was my teacher.
He was the one who showed me, "Do this like this,
and that, and this, and, uh..."
He gave me that line. You know what I'm saying?
And then it was some white boys, and they had a truck.
And motherfucker had... some sort of device, mechanism.
He was like, "This is--
Dude, this is the hydroponic.
It's hydroponic, man."
Nigga, we just smoking. Niggas was getting fucked up.
I'm becoming a hippie. I'm becoming a stoner.
By the end of the night, niggas was like,
"Nigga, that hydrochronic, nigga.
Nigga, that hydrochronic is the shit."
We fucked around and fucked the whole name up.
Yeah, he like, "Nigga, your shit is bomb, nigga.
Your album should be called The Chronic , nigga."
And I was wearing that white hat with the green leaf on it.
It was like everything was coming together like magic.
(exhales) (chimes tinkling)
♪ Free your mind and come fly ♪
(man shouts) ♪ With me, it's hip ♪
I love you, Mommy. Vicki Iovine: I love you too.
Iovine: Here we go. Let's go.
Iovine: In 1989, I wanted to stop producing records.
I didn't wanna be out all night producing records and not seeing my kids,
so I went to a couple of friends,
I went to David Geffen, seek their advice, you know.
Allen Grubman: Geffen, Geffen, Geffen.
Let me get you to understand this properly.
You don't have to say Madonna's last name.
You don't have to say Cher's last name.
You don't have to say Bono's last name.
You don't have to say David's last name. Got it?
Jimmy used to sit on his knee
and learn from David.
My first impressions of Jimmy
were that he was a sponge,
that he picked up everything he heard or saw.
Iovine: David had a record company,
and it was really successful, and I always admired David,
so I said, "Wow, man, maybe I could start a record company."
He wanted to make a lot of money,
and, uh, record producers don't make that much money.
People talk about those things.
Iovine: David taught me the art of business in music,
and I was going in not knowing anything about business.
And because David sold Geffen Records,
everybody wanted to get in the label business,
and it was incredible competition.
So then, there was a guy named Ted Field
who was starting a record company, and we really hit it off.
David: Ted Field was the renegade
of the very wealthy Marshall Field's family.
He didn't want to take over any of the family businesses,
and he had a passion for entertainment.
Iovine: So, we decided to do this together,
and I brought along Doug Morris from Atlantic.
I said, "Jimmy, you wanna start the label.
You know, I'm in for half if you want it."
I was always in for half.
Iovine: And that's how Interscope came about.
And naturally, because Atlantic's our partner,
they brought along Time Warner,
'cause Time Warner owns Atlantic.
You get a guy you know is gonna get hits,
you make him the boss. He's gonna bring in the music.
And the other people who do the other stuff...
they do the other stuff. Iovine: Everyone thinks
that I'm gonna come in and do rock and roll,
'cause I came from U2, and Tom Petty, and Springsteen, and all this stuff.
But I came in and wanted a hit,
so I came back from lunch one day with Ted,
and all of the secretaries are looking at this video,
and it was in Spanish.
They said, "Oh, we love this guy. He's so beautiful,"
and they're all singing this "Rico Suave."
♪ ♪
♪ Rico ♪
♪ Suave ♪
"Man, fuck it. We're gonna sign this."
"What? This is gonna be our first signing?"
♪ Rico ♪
"This what we're going
to be known for as a record company?"
He goes, "I don't care. We're just signing it."
(rapping in Spanish)
Whalley: I said, "Well, if we're gonna sign this,
"I'm gonna go find something that is so out there
that people won't know what the heck we're doing."
So I hit the road, and I end up finding a group called Primus.
♪ Hello, Mr. Krinkle ♪
♪ How are you today? ♪
♪ Seems the rumors are about your team might move away ♪
Whalley: The odd part was Primus liked odd things in the world,
and one of the reasons they signed with us is
because they thought it was the coolest thing
that we had a company that had "Rico Suave."
♪ Rico ♪ Whalley: Go figure.
I didn't know Gerardo would be a hit, but it was.
Huge hit. Put us on the map.
♪ Suave ♪ So next thing you know,
it felt like everyone wanted to be with Interscope.
Iovine: It was a complete free-for-all.
Primus, Helmet, 4 Non Blondes.
Tupac was signed by Tom Whalley,
and then Mark Wahlberg,
who was known as Marky Mark,
with his brother, Donny.
And No Doubt.
Woman: What's your name?
I'm Gwen. Woman: Gwen is now going to glue her costume.
♪ ♪
Follow me. Okay, here we go.
Man: Is it true that you wanna be a big star
and tour the-- the world?
Yes. I wanna be a star. Yeah.
♪ ♪
♪ Sometimes ♪
Stefani: The first time I met Jimmy was at a showcase.
Probably '91. I had no idea what Interscope Records was.
I didn't know who Jimmy Iovine was.
♪ I chose a road when I was young ♪
♪ In search of fun, temptation won ♪
♪ And all my soul I did surrender ♪
Stefani: It was just them there and us playing,
and there was no audience.
And we knew that these were, like,
guys that can help us make a record,
but I was super naive.
I didn't know anything about getting signed.
I just sang and wrote songs and made clothes.
♪ ...somewhat ♪
♪ Like a bulb behind a shade and... ♪
Stefani: But I remember Jimmy came up to me
and kind of pulled me aside, and he said to me,
"You're gonna be a star in six years."
♪ Because my eyes are closed too tight ♪ And I was like...
"Okay, first of all, I'm gonna have, like, 10 kids
"by the time six years comes around,
"and I won't be doing this still.
"And, um, who are you? And why six years?
That's a weird number." You know, but he was right.
I hadn't gone through what I needed to go through
to write the record that was gonna
actually make a difference and touch people, you know?
And so he bought us an 8-track recorder,
we built a studio in our garage,
and we went in there, and we learned how to write music.
But we write, like, a few songs and be like, "Okay, let's go play it for Jimmy."
And it would always be, like, a bit of a, like... (sighs)
"Write another song. Write another song. Write another song."
And it's a frustrating relationship,
because when you're an artist, you think you're done,
and in his mind, you're never done.
We had very few releases in '91.
And Jimmy was a renowned producer, very creative,
but he wasn't renowned as a business man.
Iovine: So, you know, I didn't feel comfortable around executives.
I felt comfortable around artists and record producers,
because they know how to get the best out of artists.
And then I found my niche.
I said, "Okay, I gotta find great producers, and I produce them."
♪ ♪
♪ Why are you doing this to me? ♪
♪ Am I not living up to what I'm supposed to be? ♪
Cohen: Our first real adventure was getting Nine Inch Nails.
♪ I think you owe me ♪
♪ A great big apology, terrible lie ♪
1991 was when Jimmy first got a sniff of Nine Inch Nails.
♪ Terrible lie ♪ Holy shit, this guy's incredible.
Every day conversations about, "We gotta get Nine Inch Nails."
♪ Terrible lie ♪ But it wasn't just a band on the free market
that everybody was trying to sign.
They were signed to a label... ♪ Terrible lie ♪
...and they fucking hated that label.
TVT was just a collection of shit.
Berman: And the guy who ran that label
wasn't gonna make anybody's lives easy.
Trent and I began to have a little bit of... difficulty.
Berman: He had 'em signed for seven albums,
and everybody in the business knew they wanted off the label.
This is what, personally, I'm looking for,
that next guy that can write these lyrics and have this attitude,
and he had the stage presence.
He produced those records himself.
He had every ounce of it.
♪ I want so much to believe ♪
Reznor: You know, the thing--
I mean, the thing that was so frustrating to me at that time was,
my whole life I knew I wanted to be on stage doing this.
And I remember it was this slow build,
where each little moment you could savor,
like, hearing my song on college radio first time.
"Holy shit!" You know, that was, like,
the greatest thing in the world.
I'd finally, through a combination of hard work and luck,
cracked the door open, signed to TVT.
Then I recorded a collection of songs
that we felt proud of, turned it in to Gottlieb,
and then he said, "Well, this record's an abortion."
And that's a blow coming when you've never made a record before.
"He's put records out. Maybe he knows more than I do."
And he said, "You fucked up
what could've been a good career."
But that was the album, and we put it out,
and we just toured.
And as each small tier
of success started happening,
the record started to sell.
And I thought that would result in Gottlieb saying,
"Hey, you did know what you were doing."
But instead, it was,
"If you sold a million copies of this album,
then we need to sell four million on the next one."
Um, I didn't see it that way.
And I knew he wasn't going to get out of the way.
Trent would not be the first artist who-- who thought,
"Gee, now I'm having a taste of success.
Wouldn't it be nice to be off an independent label and on a big label?"
Whalley: Pretty much every major label were all willing to fund a lawsuit
to help them get out of their contracts,
'cause they think Nine Inch Nails is that great.
This is the first time I saw Jimmy thinking, like, kind of three-dimensional.
He said, "We won't win if we go down the lawsuit route.
Everyone else is gonna do that, so we gotta do something different."
Iovine: The only way to really facilitate this
is somebody goes and convinces the label to take on a partner.
I said, "Well, how are we gonna do that?"
Bono: The phone. That is his theater of war.
That's where he is deadly.
Berman: He started to speak to Steve Gottlieb
every day for one year straight.
He lived in the bathroom for a year, on the phone.
Iovine: Every morning at six o'clock,
I'd call everybody involved.
And he'd sit on this director's chair, feet up like this.
At the same time signing Nine Inch Nails,
at the same time working TVT,
treating both of 'em in a way that he could see
the resolution. They couldn't see it.
Iovine: The lawyer, Steve, Trent's manager.
And he used anger, charm, guile, deviousness.
He had a red-hot focus. It was nuclear.
I'm just gonna sit in here. I can outlast anybody.
Vicki: He did not come out of that bathroom for one year.
The kids-- I just kept saying, you know,
"Daddy's living in the bathroom."
It was painful. Jimmy wouldn't give up.
Whalley: And when Steve realized that he was not going to win this battle,
he agreed to sign over the contract to Interscope.
Anybody knows Steve Gottlieb,
just getting him to that point
was something that only Jimmy could do.
♪ ♪
Empathy.
Um, I think his... his ability
to take the other person's point of view,
and to understand it and appreciate it
and put himself in those shoes.
That also informs...
why he's so good
as-- as a marketer...
um...
you know, in terms of his being able
to understand people and really think about,
you know, their primal motivations, their desires,
and really try and-- and have this kind of...
Vulcan mind meld of what is gonna, uh, move them.
♪ ♪
Iovine: So after all that, I still hadn't met Trent in person.
By that time, he was completely allergic
to record company executives.
Reznor: It was in a hotel room,
and I purposely turned the lights down.
And I just thought, "I'm gonna have to portray myself
as not someone that you want to deal with."
Iovine: I went into this room. It's dark, and there's candles.
I mean, it was like a meeting with Dracula.
Reznor: You know, he kind of said, "What do you want?"
And I said, "Well, I'd like you to give me an advance for an album,
"and then just leave me alone.
"And I'll give you the album, and I'll give you singles,
"and I'll give you the artwork.
"But I don't want someone sitting in the studio.
"I have an idea. Please don't ruin it
as it's trying to come out of me."
"Okay, what else do you want?"
♪ ♪
"Um, well, I'd like to have a record label
where I could sign other bands if I felt like that."
"Okay, what else do you want?"
I couldn't think of anything else.
You know? So I said, "By the way, here's Broken. You can put that out."
Cohen: They actually gave us Broken as a free additional record.
It was amazing, because after all we had been through with them--
nobody really knew about it,
but we were sort of scrambling for cash for a minute.
Whalley: Interscope wasn't doing great at that moment,
and Jimmy had this mad, obsessed focus on the big picture.
(switches click) (machines whirring down)
♪ ♪
Iovine: The '90s were really volatile times in America,
and music was incredible.
It really had something to say.
And we wanted a record company
in the spirit of Atlantic Records
in 1970 when they had Ray Charles, Led Zeppelin,
Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones.
Those were the greatest artists of their time,
both from the urban world and from the rock world,
and that's what we were trying to do.
Berman: I walked into Jimmy's office one day.
He goes, "Steve, you know what your problem is?"
And he drew a straight line.
And he goes, "That's you."
He goes, "You know what we gotta bring into your life?"
And he squiggles. "We gotta get some of that."
(people yelling) (distant sirens)
Fuck the police!
We going to Westwood, Brentwood, Whitewood. All that.
♪ I can feel it ♪
Newsman: It began as a high-speed chase,
according to the California Highway Patrol,
and ended early Sunday morning with Rodney King
being brutally beaten by Los Angeles police officers.
♪ Tonight's the night I get in some shit ♪
♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Deep cover on the incognito tip ♪
♪ Killing motherfuckers if I have to ♪
♪ Peeling caps too, 'cause you niggas know I'm coming at you ♪
♪ I guess that's part of the game ♪ (siren blares)
♪ But I feel for the nigga who thinks he just gonna come and chance things ♪
♪ With the swiftness, so get it right with the quickness ♪
♪ And let me handle my business, yo ♪
Dr. Dre: During the making of The Chronic,
LA was literally on fire.
Niggas was coming in the studio with TVs, toasters and all kinda shit.
It was like a fucking swap meet in the mic booth.
Like, "Man, what the fuck are you guys doing?
We trying to work on a fucking record."
I personally was like, "Fuck that, nigga."
'Cause I went out looting and stole all kinda shit,
and brought it all back to studio. We even had deals.
"Yeah, get your ass in the car, nigga. Come on." (gunfire)
(alarm rings)
Newsman: A Los Angeles Times poll out today
says that California has had a breakdown of moral values
and a lack of economic opportunity
as the two leading causes of the Los Angeles riots.
Well, young rap musicians have some ideas of their own
about what caused the deadly violence.
Yeah, well, you know how dogs think that--
dogs is mainly, you know--
they cool as long as you don't fuck with 'em
or irritate 'em. Once you irritate 'em,
they react, you know, and that's how we are. You know?
We-- we cool and all, but, you know,
once something pop, everybody--
(barking, growling)
♪ ♪
Wow. New York. Just like I pictured it.
Skyscrapers. Everything. (laughs)
Snoop Dogg: Where the chicken place at?
The Chronic took about eight months to a year to make,
and then the part of shopping it,
that's a whole 'nother deal.
Where's that leg at?
Dr. Dre: This was that do-or-die album.
Put my body into this record, and my soul into it.
I had mixed it, mastered it,
did all the artwork and everything.
The way it is in the stores right now is the way I was shopping it.
I'm going to every record company
there is in Los Angeles, fly out to New York.
I'm playing it for everybody.
For some reason, everybody's turning me down.
(car honks)
There were so many companies out there that turned Death Row down
that didn't even wanna be dealing with that, coming off of the NWA situation.
Nobody wanted to deal with this gangsta rap thing.
Dr. Dre: Some of the companies was saying
they didn't wanna deal with the situation I was in
as far as Ruthless and the contracts.
And Eazy-E and Jerry Heller, they're trying to starve me out
to get me to come back in on my hands and knees.
But I started second-guessing myself.
Is it possible that what I think is good isn't good
because everybody is telling me it's not working?
Newsman: And this was what they were calling trash,
cassettes and CDs of rap they say is offensive.
Michael Fuchs: 1992, there was
tremendous hostility to the rap business.
The police were very sensitive to what had happened in Los Angeles,
and a guy named Bill Bennett,
with C. Delores Tucker, adopted this topic.
That's what gangsta rap is doing to our children,
turning them into gangsters.
Fuchs: It was a very high-profile war.
Newsman: ...protest with Dr. Dre.
Stoute: The record companies were scared.
Not because it wasn't making money.
They were afraid to deal with the people.
Iovine: We come out of the rock and roll world,
you know, so I wasn't really understanding hip-hop,
and I'm the first person to admit that.
But I had a lot of respect for John McClane,
and John came to me and said that he had
this record by this producer that was extraordinary.
It was the guy from NWA.
♪ ♪
I didn't know who Dr. Dre was,
but just like Trent Reznor,
there was three or four different lawsuits pending.
There's a lot of complications, a lot of weird stuff.
No one wanted to go near it, and it was a mess.
All I remember is that Dre and Suge came in to play us The Chronic.
♪ ♪
(woman sighs)
I said, "Dre, who... who recorded this for you?"
He said, "What do you mean?"
I said, "Well, who's the recording engineer?"
And he said, "Me."
"You produced it and you were the engineer?"
"Yes." I said, "Wow."
This guy will define Interscope.
Snoop Dogg: ♪ One, two, three and to the four ♪
♪ Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre is at the door ♪
♪ Ready to make an entrance, so back on up ♪
♪ 'Cause you know we're about to rip shit up ♪
♪ Give me the microphone first ♪
♪ So I can bust, like a bubble ♪
♪ Compton and Long Beach together ♪
♪ Now you know you in trouble ♪
♪ Ain't nothing but a G thang ♪ Both: ♪ Baby ♪
♪ Two loc'ed out niggas, so we're ♪ Both: ♪ Crazy ♪
♪ Death Row is the label that ♪ ♪ Pays me ♪
♪ Unfadeable, so please don't try to fade this ♪ ♪ Hell yeah ♪
♪ But, um, back to the lecture at hand ♪
Iovine: Dre's sonics were far superior
to any rock record being made or any hip-hop.
It just sounded better than everything else on my speakers.
Jimmy was unlike any other record exec that I ever met.
He wasn't talking about how many records we were gonna sell.
It was a conversation about the art.
Iovine: I said, "Wow, these guys remind me
"of when I first saw The Rolling Stones.
"They're the same as Mick and Keith.
They scare you, but the music brings you in."
♪ But now it's time for me to make my impression felt ♪
♪ So sit back, relax, and strap on your seat belt ♪
♪ You never been on a ride like this before ♪
♪ With a producer who can rap and control the maestro ♪
♪ At the same time with the dope rhyme that I kick ♪
♪ You know and I know, I flow some old funky shit ♪ Shh!
I said, "I'll tell you what, if you guys don't move on me
"and give me two to three weeks,
I can clear up all these lawsuits."
And Suge and Dre looked at me and said...
"Okay, that sounds good to me."
Stoute: I don't know any other white executive
who would've took on what Jimmy took on,
which was one of the biggest headaches
to come through the industry ever, probably.
Berman: I remember sitting in the meeting,
and the promotion guys are saying,
"We ain't gonna get radio to play that."
And Jimmy's like, "I want you to buy radio spots in the top markets.
"All of them. Get this hook played,
"because the hook is undeniable.
I'm the boss. Go do it."
♪ Like this, that and this and, uh ♪
92.3, The Beat.
Now what you wanna say to the East?
♪ And who gives a fuck about those? ♪
♪ So just chill till the next episode ♪
Nas: When The Chronic hit, it changed the world.
Musically, he's now left Earth--
funk, break beats, reggae.
The whole fanatic development, the ebb and flow,
the stories about the uprising,
the riots, coming out of that dark period.
Nas: And he delivered Snoop on a silver platter
with bullet shells around it.
♪ Falling back on that ass, with a hellafied gangsta lean ♪
♪ Getting funky on the mic ♪
♪ Like a old batch of collard greens ♪
♪ It's the capital S, oh yes, I'm fresh, N double-O, P ♪
♪ D, O, double-G, Y, D, O, double-G, you see ♪
Snoop Dogg: And Jimmy Iovine was like, "Snoop,
"I wanna get you guys on the cover
"of the Rolling Stone's magazine.
You guys are like Mick and Keith,"
I'm like, "Who the fuck is Mick and Keith, nigga?
"Fuck the Rolling Stone magazine, nigga.
"I wanna be on The Source magazine cover, nigga.
Do you know that is hip-hop supremacy?"
"No, no, the Rolling Stone magazine is the--"
I'm like, "Man, I don't even fuck with the Rolling Stones.
"I couldn't tell you one of them nigga's songs, man.
Fuck them." (laughs)
(explosion)
And that motherfucker blew up, nigga.
♪ ♪ That motherfucker was everywhere.
I started going on tour,
and it was just white folks
coming up to me left and right,
like, "Oh my God! We love you, Snoop Doggy Dogg!"
All around the world, like, "Damn, Jimmy Iovine.
"I ain't never had that many white people coming to me in my whole life, cuz,
"telling me how much they love me, cuz.
Thank you. I appreciate that."
We started having success right away,
so I put Suge and Dre, and Death Row Records
right next to me on the same floor.
Morris: Jimmy took Suge under his wings.
I mean, Jimmy used to have football games at his house.
He would have Suge over there every Sunday with the Kennedys.
All right, team! Go team!
Every Sunday, it was football at the Iovines.
How many people have a football field at their house?
Mormile: We would never know who was going to show up.
Wachter: Wayne Gretzky would show up, and Bon Jovi.
Gene Simmons. Tom Jones.
John McEnroe. Wachter: Eddie Van Halen played,
and it was an honest to goodness serious football.
You didn't! You blocked me the entire way up!
Man: Did not! Second down. No, no. No.
Second down. No complete. Third down.
Second down. Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy.
The ball's up there. Jimmy.
Wachter: Jimmy was very serious about winning,
but I gotta tell you, we were all serious about winning.
♪ Said Betty Boob to the Alleyoop... ♪ (people shouting)
Man: Hey! Hey! Yeah, Jimmy! Yeah, Jimmy! Yeah, Jimmy!
Cohen: The reason Interscope was successful
versus a lot of the other startups at the time
is Jimmy was an animal.
I mean, the most driven
and brilliant person at the same time.
He was never off, and he didn't understand
why everybody else wasn't the same way.
♪ If ya feel it ♪
Vicki: We were both in production mode.
I was producing kids and a family,
and he was producing his company.
We had the goal to make this incredible career.
Vicki's an attorney.
Vicki's just, you know,
she's very, very smart,
and Vicki ran their life.
Vicki: The vision was, we knew that Jimmy's thing
was going to be the thing that would change the world,
so it was worth it for me to make small sacrifices.
I mean, Jimmy used to talk to his artists
every single night.
Stefani: He would literally have panic attacks on the weekends
because it was the weekend, and he couldn't get ahold of people.
Like, he would just call, call, call, call.
Like, obsessive, because he didn't really care at all
about anything but hip-hop. Let's face it.
Johnson: The street game is about money,
getting that paper. Jimmy admired Suge.
They cared about each other.
They was making money together, winning.
But I don't think Jimmy realized
how deep the culture shock was
that he was getting ready to get into at the time.
♪ ♪ Man: Hey!
It ain't called "What's my name." It's called "Who Am I."
Woman: "Who Am I." Snoop Dogg: Yeah.
♪ Ei, yi, yi, yi, yi, yeah ♪
♪ The Dogg Pound's in the house, The Bomb ♪
♪ Ei, yi, yi, yi, yi, yeah ♪
Johnson: After The Chronic came out,
the most anticipated album--
not just in America but over in Europe, everywhere--
was gonna be Snoop's first album, Doggystyle.
♪ Snoop Doggy Dogg ♪ ♪ Tha bomb ♪
♪ Snoop Doggy Dogg ♪
♪ It's the bow to the wow, creeping and crawling ♪
♪ Yiggy yes y'allin, Snoop Doggy Dogg in ♪
♪ The motherfucking house like every day ♪
♪ Dropping shit with my nigga, Mr. Dr. Dre, like I said ♪
Johnson: I mean, it was laid out.
I mean, Jimmy and them had learned a lot
from The Chronic, great marketing plan.
Fuchs: And also music that converted to CDs.
And people didn't understand that it cost
a lot less to make a CD than it cost to make cassettes.
So that was the most lucrative time
in the history of the music business. (cash register dings)
♪ Snoop Doggy Dogg ♪
Johnson: We knew we was getting ready
to make a killing with this music.
Nas: Oh, it was crazy. But you know what that means
when that word "million" is hitting the street in the '90s,
street guys rapping about the streets.
Now we attach the word million to the name, it flipped the streets.
'Cause now everybody's muscling their way into rap.
♪ Now just throw your hands in the motherfucking air ♪
Freddy: In fact, what happened in the shooting in that video,
first morning, crowd gathers.
My assistant directors are coming over to me,
going, "Fab, we got a problem." I'm like, "What?"
"These guys are not listening to anybody."
They were trying to ask people to step back.
One fight breaks out over there. Another fight breaks out.
"Yo, fuck you. We ain't moving nowhere, cuz."
And Dre said, "I can't say nothing to them guys."
Next thing I know, police helicopters hovering,
so we shut down the shoot.
♪ Dog ♪ ♪ Nasty dog ♪
(siren blaring) ♪ Doggy Dogg ♪
Freddy: So later we went back to Dre's house and we huddled.
Dre said, "Look, Fab, if you can hang, you're welcome to stay here,
and, like, we will get this video done."
(people chattering) (piano music playing)
Freddy: That whole summer I felt like
I was living in the record, The Chronic...
The Bomb. ...because the sex, the violence,
the 'hood, it was a wild scene.
Man: Dr. Gin and Juice. Man 2: Chug, chug, chug.
Freddy: But I remember after three shoots
where Snoop didn't show up.
I was like, "Dre, man, when is Snoop gonna get here?"
And that's when Dre explained to me
that somebody had been shot and killed,
and that Snoop was on the low.
Newsman: It happened in this Los Angeles park.
Snoop's bodyguard shot and killed 24-year-old Philip Woldemariam.
Snoop didn't pull the trigger, but he, the bodyguard,
and a third man were all charged with murder
because prosecutors say they hunted down Woldemariam
after an earlier argument.
Snoop Doggy Dogg, whose real name
is Calvin Broadus, claims self-defense.
Newsman: This would be appropriately characterized
as a gang-motivated type killing.
Iovine: I remember Suge calling and saying,
"You're about to hear something on the news.
"Just know that our guys are all right,
and it's all gonna be okay."
Next thing I knew, cops everywhere, surrounding the building.
That was rough. You know, we'd never been involved in something like that.
The D.O.C.: That caught me completely off-guard,
but by that time gangbanging had showed up.
You know, and Suge would show up
with these big dudes, red everywhere,
and Snoop had his crew in blues,
and it was just nuts.
♪ ♪
(vehicle beeping)
Yeah, you know...
it was kind of exciting, because the environment was kinda thuggish.
It was Bloods on this side, Crips on this side,
and I'm hearing all these different war stories.
And I feel like it was something I needed,
because if I'm producing a record for a particular artist,
it's like you-- you have to get into the type of vibe that they're in
and understand the type of environment that they're coming from creatively.
And just, you know, you have to almost be that person.
♪ ♪
(music box playing)
♪ ♪
Morris: Marilyn Manson? Yeah, he was pretty rough.
Trent insisted that we sign him.
Reznor: He's a really smart guy
that I thought was making really compelling music,
you know, and believed it.
Were we both a hundred percent aware
that we were using mechanisms to shock people?
Yeah. Of course we did.
♪ This is for the G's, and this is for the hustler ♪
♪ This is for the hustler, go back to the G's"♪
Reznor: So we were looking at some houses to rent
to set up studio in a house, 'cause that's what we wanted to do,
just live and breathe and constantly make music and see what happens.
And one house in particular... (barking)
...which happens to be the cheapest, was on Cielo Drive.
Nice yard, beautiful view, you know, peaceful vibe.
Then to find out that's where the--
that's where the Manson-Tate murders took place.
(music box playing)
And thought, "Well, fuck it, let's rent that house."
(dog howls)
Iovine: So Dre had Snoop and Trent had Marilyn Manson.
And when you have great artists like that,
you want their message and what they're doing as pure as possible.
What you do is you give 'em the keys and you say, "Drive."
(revs) ♪ You let me violate you ♪
Dr. Dre: Back at that time, I loved fast cars.
I had a white Testarossa.
♪ You let me desecrate you ♪
Dr. Dre: I speed out on Wilshire Boulevard.
♪ You let me penetrate you ♪
Dr. Dre: A cop gets behind me. (sirens blaring)
Woop, woop! ♪ You let me complicate you ♪
I put it in gear, and I take off.
♪ Help me ♪ ♪ I broke apart my insides ♪
♪ Help me ♪ ♪ I've got... ♪
Dr. Dre: Somewhere between 100, 120 miles an hour,
I see more lights behind me,
so I decide I wanna go a little faster.
Now I'm in a high-speed chase.
♪ Help me get away from myself ♪
I don't know what he was doing.
It was ridiculous.
(revolver chamber spins) (gunshot)
♪ ♪
♪ I want to feel you from the inside ♪
♪ I want to fuck you like an animal ♪
♪ My whole existence is flawed ♪
♪ You get me closer to God ♪
(cheering)
(engine revving)
Andre got into the high-speed chase in that Ferrari
about a year into... us dating.
I suppose I was innocent and naive
about all of the stuff that has to do with Dr. Dre.
I loved that he was confident and yet humble.
It's such a great combination.
We were incredibly compatible.
But my family and friends were leery
because they only knew Andre through media.
They didn't know the Andre that I knew.
But I think a persona was connected to him
that wasn't true. They knew Dr. Dre.
Her family is giving her pressure about me,
because they're reading about a lot of the bullshit that was happening with me.
(sirens blaring) And the fucked up part about that is,
we just started dating when...
(helicopter whupping)
...had to turn myself in for five months.
(police radio chatter)
♪ ♪
(helicopter whupping)
Money.
Hey, hey. Corey Hawkins: There he is.
What's up with it? There he is.
How you doing, man? I'm good.
How you doing?
I don't know. It's bittersweet. (laughs)
Ah. Last night, huh?
Say hi to Mr. Young again. Hi. How you doing?
You coming to the party?
Hawkins: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dr. Dre: Yeah, yeah.
All right. (sighs) (door closes)
This is the last night of shooting.
I'm excited. Yeah, I told her,
"You're gonna learn a lot about dad." (laughs)
Man: What have you learned?
A lot. (laughter)
I might go to the studio tonight after the set.
Man: I might follow you.
(laughs) I have no idea what I'm doing.
♪ ♪
Man: People that inspire you
may not necessarily be the nicest people to be around.
Man 2: Yeah. Man: Mmm.
Yet they inspire you. Right?
It's a hell-- it's a hell of a motherfucking gray area.
Man 2: Yeah. Man: You know? And you gotta be vigilant about--
Dr. Dre (on speaker): What's important right now are the fills
at bar two and bar four. Okay.
Light ones at two, you know what I mean?
Okay, let me do a take-- Dr. Dre: And then stronger ones at eight.
Okay. (Dr. Dre vocalizes drumbeat)
Trevor: Okay. Dr. Dre: Or... (vocalizes drumbeat)
Trevor: Okay, see which one. Okay.
Dr. Dre (on speaker): Every now and then, switch it up. Trevor: Okay, okay.
♪ ♪
♪ You know, baby mama drama ♪
♪ I just need a little... ♪
Dr. Dre: I'm not feeling the snare drum sound yet.
♪ Record company motherfuckers asking... ♪
(Dr. Dre vocalizing tune)
Punch in a little bit later. ♪ Yeah ♪
(vocalizes tune)
Make me feel it, Trev.
What happened to that crash, Trev?
(on speaker) I need something a little bit more impressive!
♪ ♪
(music fades)
♪ ♪ (exhales, chuckles)
♪ I shall not fear no man but God ♪
♪ Though I walk through the valley of death ♪
♪ I shed so many tears ♪ ♪ If I should die before I wake ♪
♪ Please God walk with me ♪ ♪ Grab a nigga and take me to Heaven ♪
♪ Back in elementary, I thrived on misery ♪
♪ Left me alone, I grew up amongst a dyin' breed ♪
♪ Inside my mind couldn't find a place to rest ♪
♪ Until I got that "Thug Life" tatted on my chest ♪
♪ Tell me, can you feel me? ♪
♪ I'm not livin' in the past, you wanna last ♪
♪ Be tha first to blast, remember Kato ♪
♪ No longer with us, he's deceased ♪
♪ Call on the sirens, seen him murdered ♪
♪ In the streets, now rest in peace ♪
♪ Is there heaven for a G? Remember me ♪
♪ So many homies in the cemetery, shed so many tears ♪
♪ Ah, I suffered through the years and shed so many tears ♪
Iovine: Five years before he was on Death Row,
Tupac was on Interscope and did three albums.
In the beginning, it was a social class thing that he was confronting.
He really wanted
to represent disillusioned youth.
Tupac: This world is such a gimme, gimme, gimme.
You know, everybody's, like--
you're taught that from school--
everywhere, big business.
You wanna be successful?
You wanna be like Trump?
"Gimme, gimme, gimme," push, push, push, push,
step, step, step, crush, crush, crush.
I mean, can you imagine somebody having $32 million?
Thirty-two. $32 million.
And this person has nothing?
And you can sleep?
Whalley: It was the systems that prevented the poor
from finding opportunity in life that he was confronting.
And what made him great is that he was highly emotional.
But all of a sudden, things went strange.
Newsman: Shakur is no stranger to violence.
In November 1994, he was shot during a robbery
at a Manhattan recording studio.
$40,000 worth of jewelry was taken from him.
He also has a rap sheet as long as some of his songs.
This was his reaction after his latest conviction.
Nothing the court can do
can punish me more than I've been punished already.
Newswoman: In what way?
By being shot five times. Twice in the--
I mean, nothing the judge could tell me
could make me not want to carry a gun more than getting shot.
So I'm picking up, feel me?
♪ ♪ (guns cock)
(gun fires, cocks)
Morris: These kids were real. This stuff was really real,
and we were right in the middle of it.
♪ ♪ (gunshot)
Iovine: When you take those extremes
and you nurture them and not interfere
with what they're doing,
the potential is limitless.
And that's what Interscope was about,
empowering those artists.
Morris: And I tell you what we got from it.
We got some anxiety, we got a lot of laughs,
and we huddled in the, um, foxhole.
♪ And I don't want ya ♪
♪ And I don't need ya ♪
♪ Don't bother to resist or I'll beat ya ♪
♪ It's not your fault ♪
♪ That you're always wrong ♪
♪ The weak ones are there to justify the strong ♪
(whirs, clunks) ♪ The beautiful people, the beautiful people ♪
♪ It's all relative to the size of your steeple ♪
♪ You can't see the forest for the trees ♪
♪ And you can't smell your own shit on your knees ♪
Newsman: Marilyn Manson, the most controversial act
on the road today, coming to a sold-out arena near you.
Newsman 2: He is causing cultural fights all over the country.
Marilyn Manson, he's evil.
♪ Hey, you, what do ya see? ♪
Newsman: In every city, Manson's arrival
stirs protests and angry headlines.
I've always identified with the character of Lucifer in the Bible.
Man: We're here to worship Satan.
Criminal charges can be a career ender,
but not in the case of Snoop Doggy Dogg.
Some accuse the rapper of making crime pay.
Snoop Dogg: Murder scene? That's why people
do videos on sex and murder.
Cohen: From our point of view, everybody had the right
to say what they were saying as long as they weren't breaking the law.
If anything, we were always trying to calm things down.
It was just... impossible.
(men yelling) (crowd cheering)
♪ Hey, you, what do ya see? ♪
Some of y'all don't appreciate what we talking about,
but this is the only way we got to make money.
And if you don't let me make my money on the street,
I guarantee you, I will make money on the street.
Connie Chung: The rap star Tupac Shakur... (spitting)
...is free on bond tonight
after his arrest this weekend in Atlanta,
charged with shooting two off-duty police officers.
Newswoman: He has been criticized for anti-police lyrics.
Tupac: I don't gotta be a role model.
I don't gotta hold your hand. I don't gotta do shit.
♪ ♪ (shouting)
Newsman: Marilyn Manson's latest album recently went triple platinum.
Man: On the next page, the words go...
"It's not about East or West.
"It's about niggas and bitches...
power and money..."
♪ The beautiful people ♪
"...riders and punks."
(gunshots) "Which side are you on?"
Then there's the sound of a gun cocking and firing.
(shouting) (electricity crackles)
♪ Hey, you, what do ya see? ♪
♪ Something beautiful or something free? ♪
♪ Hey, you, are you trying to be mean? ♪
♪ You live with apes man, it's hard to be clean ♪ (shouting)
♪ The beautiful people, the beautiful people ♪
(shouting) ♪ The beautiful people, the beautiful people ♪
Tupac: Happy New Year to you too.
You did your job. I'm out of money.
I'm out of... all my resources.
You made me look like the bad guy in my own community,
and I appreciate it.
Man: "These niggas are still fucking talking.
You niggas still breathing. Fucking roaches."
(whirring)
(birds chirping) (vehicle whirring)
(beeping)
♪ When Puff roared out his name, oh! ♪
♪ Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea ♪
♪ And frolicked in the autumn mist ♪
Iovine: New York Times magazine section did a story on me,
and from what I understand, this guy Johnathan Leo
was at someone's house in the Hamptons, and they were saying,
"Who are the most disgusting purveyors of smut in the world?"
So this guy Johnathan Leo says, "Look what Time Warner's doing.
They just bought 25 percent of this guy's record company for $100 million."
So the next day in US News & World Report,
he wrote a story saying, "Time Warner buying 25 percent of Interscope
is like buying 25 percent of a mustard gas factory."
So I'm like, "Oh man. Here we go."
♪ ♪ (whirring)
Ted Koppel: There has never been a time in the history of the world
that so much sex and violence masquerading as entertainment
has been easily and readily available
to so many people. Never.
You do have a responsibility to assess the impact of your work
and to understand the damage that comes
from the incessant, repetitive, mindless violence
and irresponsible conduct that permeates our media all the time.
Bob Dole: A line has been crossed,
not just of taste but of human dignity and decency.
You don't have to degrade our women.
To kill people, to disrespect each other. Well, it's not all right.
Those pay who them have a responsibility.
The corporate executives who hide behind the lofty language
of free speech should understand this:
We will name their names and shame them as they deserve to be shamed.
Both: Time Warner. Man: Time Warner's the biggest.
Time Warner owns a company called Interscope...
The Death Row-Interscope coup.
Dole: ...which columnist John Leo called
the "cultural equivalent of owning half the world's mustard gas factories."
Joe Lieberman: To me, this music is the equivalent
of yelling, "Fire," in a crowded theater.
The fire starts. Meanwhile, simultaneously...
The media and entertainment industries
are buzzing over what may become
the third mega-media merger of the summer.
The deal would create the biggest media company in the world,
but both sides say there are still major issues to be worked out.
Because of the proposed merger with Turner,
Time Warner needs tremendous amounts of regulatory approval,
and want to be looked at with a great deal of favor.
Iovine: Jerry Levin called me in his office
in the height of the insanity,
and Jerry was a very decent man.
He was the CEO of Time Warner.
He said, "Jimmy, my son teaches with Tupac's lyrics
in Harlem. I get it." He said, "I got a problem.
"Dole has got the cable bill, I need his help,
and I gotta sacrifice something."
So I said, "That sounds reasonable."
But that's his problem.
Newsman: All this means continuing headaches
for new Time Warner Music Group chairman Michael Fuchs.
Fuchs: I was coming into chaos.
This is probably why I was given the job.
The board was sick of what was going on,
so I was told, "It's time to clean house."
Maybe they thought I should be more respectful or something, you know?
Iovine: We meet with Michael Fuchs.
He says, "For the next six months,
I'm gonna evaluate each and every one of you,"
and he points to me as well.
And he goes, "I'm the Michael Jordan of management."
So, I look at Michael Fuchs, and I said,
"But, Michael, this is baseball."
This guy went nuclear.
Jim Moret: Time Warner's music division
has been in turmoil for months.
Heads have been rolling as the new boss cleans house
while the company remains
under attack from foes of gangsta rap music.
Newsman: Fuchs spent the summer ousting the rap label's defender,
Doug Morris, from his chief executive post.
Michael Fuchs just panicked.
Fuchs: I fired Doug. I felt there was
a loyalty to the music industry,
but not necessarily loyalty to the company.
We were doing great,
and suddenly we're out the window,
going splat on the pavement.
Not him. Me first.
I hated the fact that it was me first.
The music business is very tight,
tight like a pack of thieves, you know.
You got some guys from Brooklyn in this war
with all of these enormously powerful entities.
And Time Warner's first instinct
was to buy the whole thing and attempt to clean it up--
Death Row Records-- which was an absurdity.
Iovine: I get a phone call at midnight from Suge Knight.
And he says to me, "Yo, who's the guy we hate at Time Warner?"
I said, "Michael Fuchs." He goes, "Yeah, that's him.
"They want me to meet him and Melba Moore,
and Dionne Warwick at Dionne's house tomorrow morning."
I said, "Where? Who?
Melba Moore, Dionne Warwick, and Michael Fuchs?"
"Yeah, and they're getting the mayor of Compton to come."
I'm like, "What the fuck is this guy doing?"
I was told to police the lyrics a little more.
Iovine: "Michael Fuchs wants to talk to me about a deal."
Fuchs: Dionne Warwick said, "Fly out here.
"Suge's like my nephew. He lives in the neighborhood.
He'll come over. You'll talk about things."
I'm a partner of his.
We own the label as much as he does.
For him to fly out and meet with one of our major labels
without calling us is unacceptable
in any form of business.
So I call Suge. I said, "Suge,
meet me tomorrow morning at Jerry's Deli at eight o'clock."
So, I go to Jerry's Deli,
I meet Suge and David Kenner, Suge's lawyer,
and I know that if Suge walks into that meeting,
Michael Fuchs-- he would do anything
to either put Interscope out of business
or get this thing done with these lyrics.
So, Suge and I were gonna stay in that restaurant
with David Kenner and just wait until Michael Fuchs left.
Dionne kept trying to call Suge.
Iovine: And Suge was incredible.
So every time, Warwick would call and say,
"Hi, baby, when are you getting here?"
He would say, "I'm down the street," and hang up.
And he'd say, "I'll take a chicken breast, Cheerios."
And another hour passed. (phone rings)
"Hey, where are you?" "I'm almost there.
I'm at the light." By three o'clock,
I realized Jimmy was hostile.
Iovine: She says, "Michael said if you guys want more money, it's cool."
He goes, "Yeah, I'm on my way," and he never goes.
Grubman: I don't even think it was just money.
I think it's a matter of principle.
By taking their money, he would've lost control.
Iovine: By five o'clock, Fuchs had to leave.
Who had time for that?
So she calls up, "You embarrassed me. (phone rings)
What are you doing? I looked foolish."
And Suge looks at the phone and goes, "Hey, you're the psychic.
How come you didn't know I wasn't coming?"
And hangs up. (laughs) (phone rings)
(ringing continues)
Don't worry about this.
(both laugh) Woman: Whoever's there.
So, you're saying that Death Row
does not present any negative images to black youth?
No, I think it's a positive image.
I think Death Row's
real positive to black youth.
Woman: Mm-hmm.
I mean, it's letting-- it's letting people know
you can be yourself
and still be a child of God,
and still be successful.
(wind blowing) (jet engines roaring)
(indiscernible radio chatter)
Dr. Dre: 1995...
was such a transitional period for me.
When I was in jail being isolated like that...
and not having anything to do except think for five months...
it forced me to reflect and think
about the people that were around me.
Were they helping me? Were they friends or foes?
♪ ♪
It also gave me the opportunity to realize
how much Nicole was in love with me
and how much I was in love with her.
Her visits were so important,
because she didn't have to do that.
We just started dating.
She could've said, "Fuck you. You're in jail."
She was just there for me.
♪ ♪
And then Eazy dies.
And, you know, me and him had been talking
about getting together, doing music again, but...
I got to the hospital and...
I saw Cube, me and him embrace.
We hadn't seen each other in a long time,
you know, throughout all the bullshit.
We hadn't seen each other until that moment.
And I went up to see E.
He was just laying there with this machine breathing for him,
this tube in his mouth.
♪ ♪ And...
it was really fucking me up, man.
It tripped me out a little bit.
So I reached over,
said a couple of words to him,
spoke a few words in his ear.
And... that was that. I left.
And that was the last time I saw him.
♪ ♪
You know, all these things happened around the same time,
but I would say it was probably in a month's period.
It was a lot to deal with.
And then we had the 1995 Source Awards.
That shit was crazy.
Snoop Dogg: ♪ La-da-da-da-dahh ♪
Dr. Dre: ♪ It's the motherfucking D-R-E ♪
Men: ♪ Dr. Dre, motherfucker ♪
♪ La-da-da-da-dahh ♪
♪ You know I'm mobbing with the D-O-double-G ♪ ♪ Say whut? ♪
♪ Straight off the fucking streets of C-P-T ♪
♪ King of the beats, you ride to 'em in your Fleet ♪ ♪ Fleetwood ♪
♪ Or Coupe DeVille rolling on dubs ♪
♪ Now, how you feel? Whoopty-whoop, nigga ♪ All: ♪ Whut? ♪
Okay, I'm good. All right. Cool.
Snoop Dogg: Twenty years ago in this building right here is where it all took place.
Dr. Dre: I haven't been in this motherfucker since that day.
Snoop Dogg: Are you serious? Yeah.
You know, that's the same spot
that Suge got up there and said that shit.
We were surrounded that night. I was itching that night. Oh yeah, everything--
♪ ♪
Nas: When The Source Award was coming up,
the whole city was excited. This was our Grammys, Oscars.
If you don't make your name today, you don't exist.
(cheering)
Yeah! Yeah! Check it!
Nas: At the time, Death Row was
the biggest money maker in rap, hands down.
Keep the hands raised!
Snoop Dogg: Death Row, we had our section right here.
Fifteen Bloods, 15 Crips,
fo' shizzle. Family members. Fifty people total.
And then right here you had Queens,
Brooklyn on the side, Bronx behind us,
New Jersey, Staten Island.
Every part of New York that you can imagine.
Dr. Dre: For me, it was the first time
the East Coast is really embracing
what we're doing on the West Coast.
The D.O.C.: You know, New Yorkers wasn't going platinum anymore,
because the generation before us, fizzling out.
But Bad Boy and Puffy were coming up.
They were about to be the next Death Row or bigger,
because Puff's a smart guy. His ear is incredible.
Sean "Puffy" Combs: Nah, nah, no phones allowed.
I need you to pay attention to me. The D.O.C.: And he fine-tuned
the business side more than anybody.
They need to see how meticulous
I take this flyness.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm from the East Coast.
New York, New York.
New York in this motherfucker!
Harlem, New York, we up in this bitch.
Straight up Brooklyn in the house!
Representing!
(cheering)
The entire night, the room was electrified with tension.
Everybody knew there was gonna be some shit
between the boroughs coming here to make a name.
The furthest thing from my mind
was any beef with Death Row.
♪ ♪
Dr. Dre: And then Suge Knight walks on stage
and says the most outrageous shit ever.
Just completely disrespects Puff.
Knight: And one other thing I'd like to say.
Any artist out there wanna be a artist
and wanna stay a star and don't wanna have to worry
about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos,
all on the records, dancing,
come to Death Row. (scattered shouting, cheering)
(tense music playing) (heart beating)
(heart beating faster)
(heartbeat stops)
I was like, "Oh shit. He done fucked up."
Snoop Dogg: For the spirit, we supporting him
and clapping 'cause he's with us.
Yay! (echoes)
But then nigga started to think,
"Well, what the fuck did this nigga just say?"
Nas: I thought it was gangsta
that he would be in New York and say that.
So for a few seconds,
I was loving it, because I was like,
"If we came here to rumble,
let's turn this thing into a rumble."
That's the worst shit to do,
is to disrespect a nigga in his home turf.
He's talking about me in the videos.
I'm like, "Fuck him."
Dr. Dre: In my opinion, it made
all the New York niggas start coming together.
Snoop Dogg: They loved us, but when that moment happened,
they hated the shit out of us just that quick. Like that. (snaps fingers)
It felt dangerous.
It felt like, "This shit is dangerous right here."
Snoop Dogg: It was just a room full of pit bulls and gorillas.
This was niggas that was wild. It was animals.
You know what I'm saying? Hyenas.
We got a bunch of niggas with us that was fresh outta the pen,
niggas with a lot of shit to prove.
You know, niggas that just love getting active.
Dr. Dre: And there's thousands of these niggas with guns and--
Nas: Death Row had things on 'em. Bad Boy had things on 'em.
I'm pretty sure Wu-Tang was prepared.
That night I saw the headlines next day,
"Stupid Source Awards
"Gathers Up Stupid Rappers
and They Shot Each Other."
Rap is done. A bloodbath.
Winner is... Uh-oh--
we're gonna have some trouble here-- the D-R-E, Dr. Dre.
(cheering) Nas: Then when Snoop got on stage--
bandana'ed up, braids--
it looked like he came for war.
Wait, wait, wait! The East Coast don't love Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg?
The East Coast ain't got no love
for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and Death Row?
Y'all don't love us?
(audience grumbling) Y'all don't love us?
So I'm like...
"Is he getting ready to say, 'Fuck New York'?"
Well, let it be known then, we don't give a fuck!
We know y'all East Coast! We know where the fuck we at!
The East Coast in the motherfucking house.
(loud grumbling)
Snoop Dogg: You match aggression with aggression.
But you match aggression with aggression with love, with asking.
Nas: Snoop had the power right there to make it go either way.
And nigga said, "You know what?
"For the sake of what that nigga just said,
"we're gonna let y'all walk up outta here.
But, nigga, y'all better hurry up and get the fuck outta here."
♪ ♪
Iovine: So, when all this stuff is going on at Warner,
this sort of war begins between Bad Boy and Death Row,
and that's when we all realized,
"Whoa, we're not in Kansas anymore."
♪ ♪
Nas: The Source Awards changed everything.
Now you realized where your power was.
There was no limits to where a CEO or a mogul can wind up,
so now it becomes more serious at the top.
♪ When the la-la hits ya, lyrics just splits ya ♪
♪ Head so hard, that your hat can't fit you ♪
♪ Either I'm with ya or against ya, format venture ♪
Snoop Dogg: The dialogue at Death Row now becomes
Suge is more vocal for what's being said and what's being done.
Dr. Dre don't work under nobody's schedule or demands.
Same shit, different toilet.
Berman: I was in the trenches with Suge.
A lot of my stuff was around "What was Dre gonna focus on?
Was Dre gonna work? What's he working on?"
Iovine: 'Cause Dre wasn't any faster then than he is now,
but when Suge told me, he and Tupac wanted to get together,
what I thought of is, Dre and Pac.
Tupac's in prison.
(door slams)
Man: Tupac, since your period
of incarceration in Clinton Correctional Facility,
have you taken the time to reflect on your gangster thug image?
(laughs)
Um, I don't see it as me having this gangster thug image.
Thug life would be more... accurate.
But it's not a image, it's just a way of life.
It's a mentality. I don't feel like what I did was so evil.
I just feel like what-- the way I was living
and my mentality was a part of my progression to be a man.
Nas: Pac was a different beast.
A lot of rappers like to claim they're Pac,
'cause they thugs. That's not Pac.
No doubt.
You know, this is a guy who saw a black person
being harassed by police officers and shot 'em.
You're not Pac until you're fighting with killers.
Whalley: But that was a moment in time where Tupac had fear in him.
Here's a young man accused of things he didn't do and put in jail,
and he didn't know who to trust anymore.
And somehow or another, he found that in Suge.
Iovine: Time Warner wouldn't allow us to bail out Tupac,
so what happened was we advanced Death Row the money,
and Death Row bailed out Tupac.
♪ ♪
Cohen: I imagine that Pac himself believed Suge bailed him out,
but the truth is we and Time Warner put up the money.
I mean, look. Shh.
I was definitely part of bailing out Tupac.
♪ California Love ♪
(man shouts indiscernibly)
(radio chatter)
(emphatically) Can you dig it?
♪ California ♪ (shouting)
♪ Knows how to party ♪
Berman: Now you got Tupac...
Tupac is back.
Berman: ...part of that Death Row fucking volcano.
♪ In the city... ♪
And they played "California Love" for the first time.
Tupac: A song with Tupac, Dre, and Roger Troutman?
Holy fuck! Start manufacturing, start shipping.
Man: Come on, y'all, that's worth your money.
Berman: Guys, you just made my job easy.
California, get up! Berman: You know an eruption's gonna happen.
♪ Keep it rockin' ♪
♪ Out on bail fresh outta jail, California dreaming ♪
♪ Soon as I stepped on the scene ♪
♪ I'm hearing hoochies screaming ♪
♪ Fiending for money and alcohol ♪
♪ The life of a West Side player ♪
♪ Where cowards die and the strong ball ♪
♪ Only in Cali where we riot not rally to live and die ♪
♪ In LA we wearing Chucks, not Ballies ♪ ♪ That's right ♪
♪ Dressed in locs and khaki suits and ride is what we do ♪
♪ Flossing but have caution, we collide with other crews ♪
♪ Famous because we program ♪
Dr. Dre: When Tupac came into the studio,
he just stayed in the booth,
wrote the song, laid the song,
put up another track. That was amazing.
He would just write about five or six songs before he comes out.
♪ But give me that bomb beat from Dre ♪
♪ Let me serenade the streets of LA ♪
♪ From Oakland to Sacktown ♪
♪ The Bay Area and back down ♪
♪ Cali is where they put they mack down, give me love! ♪
Snoop Dogg: Pac was like, "Fuck that. I'm on it. Right now.
"California Love," whoopdie whoop, do the video."
Nigga, you probably have never even seen Mad Max.
"I'mma put the suit on, nigga. Let's go."
And Dre is great at taking Tupac's built up frustration
and making that shit sound fucking awesome.
Iovine: And I said, "Dre, you nailed it."
You heard Dre take just another step in production.
Next year Death Row gonna start printing our own money.
We making so much, we need--
Iovine: But as success builds, as visibility builds,
as fame builds, people react differently.
Dr. Dre: Tupac. I did not see it coming.
♪ Shake, shake it, baby ♪ Iovine: When Pac and Suge got together,
it created a very volatile situation.
They were gonna do what they were gonna do,
and we couldn't control that.
I just wanna send a shout out to Bad Boy Records.
Iovine: It became about something that none of us
really understood. It became a street war.
We're coming to overthrow the government y'all got right now,
which is Bad Boy, Nas, and all that bullshit.
And we will bring a new government here
that will feed every person in New York.
Cool, man. All right, man. Peace. Thanks a lot. (crowd chattering)
Snoop Dogg: Now, Tupac was my friend,
so I had no problem with playing my role, you know.
"Nigga, you need to wear suits, nigga.
"Hugo Boss, nigga. Jewelry. Do this, do that.
Nigga, let your hair down."
But once he started badmouthing Dre,
I'm feeling like that's coming from Suge.
But still, it's still coming outta Pac's mouth.
I kinda pushed away from him.
The D.O.C.: I don't think Suge ever understood...
that the power behind everything great that was happening was Dre.
♪ ♪ Dr. Dre: I wanted to leave.
I wanted to leave Death Row and everything that was accumulated.
Peter Paterno: I was going, "Dre, this label's worth a lot of money.
You should get paid for it. You own half the label." He goes, "No."
Dr. Dre: I didn't want anything following me.
♪ ♪ Paterno: "I'm done. I'm done."
Iovine: So I called Dre. I said, "Don't break up the Beatles.
You keep the band together." You know?
And he said, "No, I can't do it.
There's nothing I can do about it."
Dr. Dre: Everything just changed.
It became a lot more violent. You know?
Engineers getting beat down, just random people getting beat down
and shot at in the studio, in the mic booth.
All kinda shit I was just... against.
Man: You saw some of this?
I'm not saying that on camera, Allen.
Snoop Dogg: There was always incidents that are secret
and that we will never speak on.
The D.O.C.: Power, control, celebrity.
It'll fuck anybody. Anybody.
And it happened to Death Row.
There's a story nobody knows about,
'cause they brought this person into my office of all places.
And the beating that they commenced to put on that dude,
there was blood everywhere.
And the dude is pulling on my pants leg.
You know, I just wanted to get out.
Snoop Dogg: No, nigga, you can't leave.
And if you do leave, nigga,
you gonna leave in a box.
♪ ♪
Man: That was Death Row?
Snoop Dogg: That's Death Row.
Iovine: I said, you know, "Gangstas spend
"their whole life trying to become legitimate.
"You guys are earning tens of millions of dollars legitimately.
Why get involved with any of this nonsense?"
I mean, look, I-- at one moment I said to my ex-wife,
I said, "Am I defending free speech
or am I funding Hamas?"
I was so confused.
It was so intense and s--
I was on a new page I'd never seen in my life before every day.
You know, on the news, every time we're watching TV, something would come on.
This thing happened, you know, this guy got killed or shot or--
you know, and... there was always a reason for it.
And I don't know if I justif-- I don't know what I did.
I was on a mission.
I was on a very, very intense mission.
Woman: What do you feel when you hear a record like Tupac's new one?
Man (on phone): I love Tupac's new record.
Woman: Right, but don't you feel like that creates...
tension between East and West?
He's talking about killing people.
"I had sex with your wife," And not in those words.
♪ Oh, I'll give you all the love ♪
♪ I want in return, sweet darling ♪
Grubman: I am sitting in the south of France
having a wonderful time, baking my body.
And then somebody comes over to me and says, "You have a phone call."
And it's from Jimmy Iovine.
♪ ♪
"Allen, listen, we're gonna have a meeting
over at Warner's with everything that's happening."
That was his signal to tell me to get my ass back.
Thank God for the Concorde.
♪ ♪
I take off at 10:30. I'm in New York at 9:30.
Iovine: So Ted, Allen, and Skip Brittenham
go over, have the meeting at 9:30.
And, you know, I'm banned. Right?
"We'll have the meeting, but he can't come."
They thought that they could manage Ted Fields and a lawyer.
Iovine: Ted's staying at the Four Seasons.
I'm at the Saint Regis with David Cohen.
They call us up at 10:30,
and Ted says, "I got great news!"
Warner's proposed to buy our share of the company
for $150 million. And I'm ecstatic.
I hang up the phone, and I run there.
(whooshes)
We go upstairs, and I say, "What did you say?"
Allen said, "Shut up. We all-- they gave us $150 million.
We get rid of Death Row. Nobody likes that music anyway."
Jimmy says, "No way, we're not doing that."
Allen says, "You idiot! You're gonna get all this money."
"$150 million."
"We can't do it. We're out." "Are you nuts?"
Iovine: "Fuck that." Are you crazy?
Iovine: "I've never been so sure."
"Are you fucking crazy?" "No. No. No."
We didn't do it.
Morris: Jimmy, against the advice of his attorneys,
had the courage to say, "No. I'm gonna ride
with Death Row. This is what we do."
Grubman: So then Time Warner decides
that they have gotta sell their share to us.
So everything is good. We're happy.
Iovine: Meanwhile, every time I'd call Geffen,
he would say, "You can't be this lucky
to get your company back."
I did say that. I said, "Jimmy,
this is the greatest thing that ever happened to you."
Grubman: 'Cause Doug now, by the way,
is no longer at Warner's. He's at MCA.
Iovine: And him, Geffen, and Edgar Bronfman
took our company in.
We bought it again. We bought Interscope.
Grubman: This was a defining moment,
and people lost, which was the Warner side,
and people won, which was the Interscope and MCA side.
Morris: The success was remarkable.
At one point, Interscope was responsible
for the top four albums in Billboard.
Stefani: He predicted it. Literally six years on the dot
from when Jimmy came up to me.
"Don't Speak" was number one around the world...
and I was a huge star.
Everyone did great but me.
♪ Don't speak, I know just what you're saying ♪
Fuchs: But when you think back,
what was the reason to be upset?
♪ Don't tell me 'cause it hurts ♪
(phone chimes) Iovine: Doug.
Morris (on phone): Hello? How you doing?
Yeah. It's crazy, right? It's gonna get worse.
I don't know what the hell's going on.
(Morris speaks on phone)
Stevie Nicks: I remember being at Jimmy's house
in the house he's in now
for something after some Grammys or something,
and he was supposed to go to this thing but he didn't go,
and there was a stabbing.
And I remember his oldest son saying,
"Dad, you better start to be careful now,
because somebody's gonna blow your head off."
And at that point I'm like, "This is really too serious now."
It was deadly serious
with Death Row and death threats.
Gordon: I felt like it was getting too dangerous
for Jimmy, his family, and me,
because one night he called me, and he said,
"I want you go to a premiere with me."
So I go over, we started to get in the car,
and he said, "Okay, you guys better put these-- put these on now."
I said, "Put what on?"
And we had to wear a bulletproof vest to the premiere.
And I've made a lot of movies, and I was head of a studio.
I've been to many, many premieres,
but I've never worn a bulletproof vest
going down a red carpet. That's Jimmy.
Whalley: I said, "You're making music.
This is-- wow. This-- how'd it get to this?"
Man: I remember riding in the car with Suge once,
and Jimmy had invested hundreds of hours
into the human being to really help him.
I said, "Jimmy has given so much of himself to you.
Why is it going to the place it's going?"
And Suge said, "It's what I know."
(crowd cheering) Tupac: Hey yo, I got some new shit for y'all tonight.
Nas: It was, like, "Forget how y'all knew rap before. This is a new day."
Oh yes. "Let's go all the way."
Tupac: See, it's this nigga named Nas,
and he kicking with these niggas named Mobb Deep,
and they kicking with some niggas named Bad Boy.
Nas: Fear is a good thing, 'cause it can keep you in check.
But I say fuck 'em all!
He crossed lines that you just knew somebody's gonna get hurt.
So I'm about to take this nigga beat
♪ ♪ and whoop his ass
with his own motherfucking beat.
(crowd cheering)
1996, everything came together that same year.
What? ♪ Menacin' methods label me a lethal weapon ♪
♪ Making niggas die, witnessin' breathless imperfections ♪
♪ Can you picture my specific plan ♪
♪ To be the man in this wicked land? ♪
♪ Underhanded hits are planned ♪
♪ Scams are plotted over grams of rock ♪
♪ Undercover agents die by the random shots, we all die in the end ♪
Berman: Tupac was two different people living in the same body.
♪ Fuck friends and foes ♪
Berman: This was one of the greatest poets of a generation--
totally gracious, totally engaged--
but you saw the fuel of what was driving him. He was almost manic.
♪ How can I show you how I feel inside? ♪
♪ We outlawz, motherfuckers, can't kill my pride ♪
Whalley: What made him great is that he was highly emotional,
but he's just lashing out.
Niggas shot me five times.
I came outta jail and sold five million.
Them niggas can't fuck with us.
Whalley: I could only interpret it
as that he was trying to figure out who the enemy was.
♪ Unh, gutter ways ♪
Combs: We never got into disliking any of the artists,
but we had a problem with Suge really disrupting our, you know, quality of life.
♪ "Westside" was the war cry ♪
♪ Bustin' all freely screaming, "Fuck ♪
♪ All y'all niggas," in Swahili ♪
♪ Pistol packin', fresh out of jail, I ain't goin' back ♪
It was just very sad, and... ♪ Say my name three times, like Candyman ♪
See, I can't answer. This is a slippery slope for me, you know what I'm saying?
♪ Send me to hell, 'cause I ain't beggin' for my life ♪
♪ Ain't nothing worse than this cursed-ass hopeless life, I'm troublesome ♪
Announcer: And now, ladies and gentlemen
in attendance, it's showtime!
Men: ♪ All you niggas die ♪
Iovine: I remember them going to the fights in Vegas,
and I always thought that was dangerous, you know?
And... they went to the fight that night.
♪ All you niggas die ♪ (ring announcer speaks indiscernibly)
(yelling)
(men vocalizing)
Iovine: There was this fight. Hey, hey, hey, hey!
♪ All you niggas die ♪ (shouting)
(vocalization continues)
Iovine: It's on video.
♪ All you niggas die ♪
Iovine: Everyone has seen it.
(vocalization continues)
Iovine: And... next thing you know...
♪ All you niggas die ♪
(gunshots) (glass shatters)
(car engine revs) (tires squeal)
(bullet casing clinks) ♪ All you niggas die ♪
(crickets chirping)
Snoop Dogg: I was in LA...
Me and Pac wasn't seeing eye to eye.
So, I got a-- a page.
Nigga was like, "Put on the news."
♪ ♪ Dan Rather: The rap singer Tupac Shakur
was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.
No one has been arrested in the killing.
Shakur was 25 years old.
(sirens wail) (police radio chatter)
So, I drove to Vegas to go, um-- to go see.
And his mama was in the hallway, and she was like,
"Go in there, say something to him, baby."
I'm like, "All right."
I went up in there and just, you know...
♪ ♪
Fucked up.
It was... just the worst thing that could happen.
You know, these are things that... everybody wishes
they could have prevented somehow, you know?
And, "If only, if only," you know? And...
There was no reason for Tupac to die, you know?
And... especially like that.
A life is lost, company's going down the hill,
everybody's in disarray,
and... Dre on the sideline watching.
And everybody's saying, "I see why you left, Dre."
Newsman: Los Angeles superior court judge ordered Knight into court
for violating his probation
and then raised troubling questions
about why Knight hadn't been locked up before now.
Iovine: Suge went to prison for a long time,
and that was the end.
Dr. Dre: I feel like the gangsta rap era's over.
You know, put out negative energy,
it's gonna come back to you, period.
Live by the gun, die by the gun.
♪ ♪
It's time for something else, you know?
I just been trying to put together a new family,
and... basically just start all over.
♪ ♪