Guy Ritchie’s Beats ‘Mixtape’ Tells the Defiant Tales of the World’s Biggest Footballers
Ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Beats by Dre has released a four-minute film directed by Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.).
The campaign, titled ‘Made Defiant: The Mixtape’, dramatises the inspirational background stories of four of the tournament’s biggest players - England’s Harry Kane, Germany’s Mesut Ozil, France’s Benjamin Mendy and Brazil’s Neymar Jr.
In classic Guy Ritchie fashion the film begins on the mean streets with a ‘cockney geezer’ narrating (in this case Peaky Blinders’ Paul Anderson). First we see a young boy in the host nation of Russia using his football skills to humiliate the local bullies, then we’re treated to a series of insights into the humble beginnings of the men who rose to become some of the world’s most celebrated footballers.
Beats athletes Serena Williams, Thierry Henry and Patrice Evra also make an appearance, as well as other footballers including David de Gea from Spain, Eden Hazard from Belgium, Gabriel Jesus from Brazil, Fyodor Smolov from Russia, and Raúl Jiménez from Mexico.
Soundtracked by Anderson .Paak's latest single ‘Bubblin’, it’s a dynamic work of branded entertainment that's already earned over 3 million views on YouTube alone.
It’s worth noting that the film makes no explicit mention of the World Cup. That’s because Beats is not a FIFA partner or sponsor. Naturally, that hasn’t stopped the brand from hitching a ride on the tournament’s hype train though, just like it did for the last world cup in 2014, when it released a film focusing on the pre-game rituals of footballers called ‘The Game Before the Game’.
