Kanye West is a man who\u2019s experienced a lot of ups and downs in his life. Now, there\u2019s a new Netflix documentary detailing his journey to stardom called \u201cjeen-yuh: A Kanye Trilogy.\u201d The video features old videos of West, describing his journey to becoming a famous musician and household name. At one point in the trailer, West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, talks in a narration about the path of his life and his music career, saying that it had all been \u201cin God\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to a press release, the documentary features behind-the-scenes footage of West that was filmed for over two decades. The project\u2019s directors are Chike Ozah and Clarence \u201cCoodie\u201d Simmons, who started documenting West\u2019s journey in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n
Last month, Netflix\u00a0released a teaser and the\u00a0first-look clip\u00a0in September. The documentary will stream on the platform for three weeks, with the first act premiering on February 16, 2021, and the remaining installments dropping one at a time over the next two weeks. The streaming service released the trailer around the same time West and his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian West, made headlines for their public dispute over their 8-year-old daughter\u2019s use of Tik Tok.<\/p>\n
The documentary doesn\u2019t aim to correct many of West\u2019s infamous blowups with George W. Bush, Taylor Swift, Donald Trump, or his estranged wife. Instead, relying on casual footage chronicling the lead-up to and immediate aftermath of West\u2019s 2004 debut album, \u201cThe College Dropout,\u201d the four-hour-plus film lingers on quieter, pre-fame moments. It includes chats with his mother, Donda, about the difference between confidence and arrogance and the desperation to play his demo CD for disinterested peers.<\/p>\n
Initially, the documentary was supposed to end in the early 2000s, with West winning his first Grammy Award. However, as West developed from a nerdy Chicago beatmaker for Jay-Z to a polarizing, era-defining artist across music, fashion, and more, he grew apart from Coodie, an old neighborhood friend. He changed his mind about the project, leaving hundreds of hours of tape in limbo.<\/p>\n
Following some false starts and brief reconciliations, the directing duo Coodie & Chike finally found traction, and more time with West, in recent years, amid another uptick in controversy. West\u2019s\u00a0mental health struggles, unfortunate 2020\u00a0presidential run, and recent album\u00a0named for his late mother\u00a0all get some airtime in the third episode. The documentary also includes some personal input from Coodie, who talked about his metamorphosis and creative ambitions. In the documentary\u2019s trailer, Coodie mentions how he always knew that West would be a star but never knew how far West would go.<\/p>\n
\u201cjeen-yuh: A Kanye Trilogy\u201d shows West as his authentic self instead of the theatric person that the public has become familiar with in recent years. Perhaps the documentary will show how West became who he is, and the public will understand why he is the way he is. The first part of the trilogy releases on Netflix on February 16, 2021. Watch the trailer for the documentary below.<\/p>\n