HBO's 'The Defiant Ones' Reveals How Dr. Dre Almost Ruined His Apple Beats Deal

Sunday night marked the premiere of The Defiant Ones, a new HBO four-part documentary series about the relationship between Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. The Allen Hughes (Menace II Society) directed show touches on ideas of money, fame, and business, all of which are topics both Dre and Iovine are more than familiar with.

Iovine, head of Interscope Records, was the top music executive of the 1990s and 2000s; during that time, Dr. Dre was busy building the concept and business of gangster rap with N.W.A. and later as a solo artist. The two men have a surprising yet mutually beneficial partnership that has helped two kids from rough backgrounds create mind blowing and massively influential empires. The pair also famously worked together to finalize the 2015 sale of Beats Electronic to Apple Music for $3 billion, which turned out to be one of the biggest deals in the history of the music industry.

The story is told with the help of several interviews with key players in both Dre and Iovine’s lives, including Eminem, Nas, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, will.i.am and more. The documentary also benefits from exclusive footage from recording and writing sessions with artists like Eazy-E, Bruce Springsteen, and JJ Fad as well as N.W.A.

The highly anticipated episode sparked major reactions on Twitter. Dr. Dre and some of the celebrities featured in the doc shared posts before the premiere, but viewers didn't need any extra hype and flocked social media to share their reactions in real time.