Death Row Records vs Bad Boy Records | Interns & Intimidation | 2

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode contains explicit language.

In the 70 and 80s, the founders of Death Row and Bad Boy are coming of age. In the Los Angeles neighborhood of Compton, a young Dre is spinning records before he even learns to read. Dre desperately wants to be a hip-hop DJ, but Los Angeles barely has a hip-hop scene. In New York, on the other hand, rap is popping off. And an 18 year old called Sean “Puffy” Combs has B.I.G. plans for the Big Apple.

They don’t know it yet, but their struggles and successes have already begun to shape the egos and sounds of their multi-million dollar tug of war.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars at free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:11.8	A note to listeners this episode contains adult language and content.
0:16.2	It's August 6, 1989, at the Joe Lewis Arena in Detroit. Dr. Dre is on stage with fellow members of NWA.
0:29.9	This is the group to put Dr. Dre on the map, an elevated gangster rap from obscurity to mainstream.
0:37.5	20,000 fans are in attendance for the last night of NWA's national tour.
0:42.7	NWA's music has been the subject of media outrage since the album was released, and their song,
0:49.6	Fuck the Police, is called the Attention of the FBI.
0:53.2	Just a few days before this show, the group's management gets an ominously worded letter on the Department of Justice letterhead.
1:02.0	It reads,
1:03.3	Advocating violence and assault is wrong. Music plays a significant role in society,
1:09.8	and I just wanted you to be aware of the FBI's position relative to this song and its message.
1:16.6	Tonight, the Detroit Police Department is out in force.
1:21.6	They have a command center underneath the arena, and some 200 officers are there, many of them milling through the crowd.
1:33.7	Before the show, the cops have a talk with Dre in the rest of NWA.
1:37.7	They tell them there's one song that they absolutely must not play.
1:43.7	The band agrees to the deal, but every time there's a break between tracks, the crowd chance for it.
1:52.3	Fuck the police, fuck the police!
1:55.0	A line of officers flanks NWA on each side of the stage.
2:02.4	Dre exchanges looks with his bandmates. They're in agreement.
2:06.9	Dre looks to the lead MC, signaling him to come in on two.
2:11.4	One, two.
2:20.1	There's a series of cops. They sound like gunfire.
	...

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