Everything You Need to Know About Kanye’s Documentary “Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy”
Image Courtesy: Strike FSU
No one knows Mr. West better than millennials, from Gold Digger and Heartless to I Love It, our generation has grown up to the musical genius that Ye has gifted us with. But now, with the growth of social media empires and Netflix binge obsessions, the producer and singer/ songwriter is releasing a documentary that encapsulates his expertise and the life of an up-and-coming American rapper titled Jeen-Yuhs.
Scheduled to premiere on Netflix on February 16th, the documentary covers the intimate details and experiences over twenty years in the making of a young Ye’s career. Beginning in early October of 2019, Coodie, a music video and documentary director and Ye’s creative partner, pitched the 22-year project to Time Studios. Since then, the pair have spent the last several years compiling footage and condensing it into three documentaries. The film includes years of unpublished footage, including the start of Kanye’s career, the death of his mother, Donda West, and the unsuccessful presidential campaign he launched in 2020. According to Coodie himself, the film isn’t inherently a musical documentary, but a faith-based journey. Coodie says that God himself has planted all of us on this earth to find our inner “Jeen-Yuhs.” The film hopes to celebrate the creativity and livelihood of Mr. West.
Image Courtesy: TIME
The documentary also hopes to shed light on and give context to some of the major life decisions that Ye has not publicly explained. The creative aspect behind compiling hours of footage and narrating it creates a God-like version of Kanye’s life story, which directors hope will shine a positive light onto the genius that is created through faith and music.
As the first part of the series premiered at the virtual Sundance Film Festival, talk spiraled around the unreleased film. The rapper himself had little to no involvement in the production of the film and fully trusted directors working on the project. Yet when the film became even more commercialized, Ye himself wrote on Instagram: “I’m going to say this kindly for the last time. I must get the final edit and approval on this doc before it releases on Netflix. Open the editing room immediately so I can be in charge of my own image. Thank you in advance.” The rapper himself was not allowed to be a part of the final edits for a film about his very own life. Netflix also ensured that the original two-hour docu-series was cut down to ninety minutes each for audience viewing. After the 16th, the release of the second and third parts of the trilogy are soon to follow. The trio is named Vision, Purpose, and Awakening.
Image Courtesy: Complex
While the editing and final cuts around the film may be quite controversial, I think that we can all agree that we are more than interested in seeing the ins and outs of the past twenty years of Kanye West’s life, his come-up, and the very beginning of his genius career.
Strike out,
Writer: Natalie DelleDonne
Editor: Roxy Rico
Graphic Designer: Luis Arriaga
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