[Film] jeen-yuhs is the canonization of Kanye West
Meditations after watching jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy.
i. A GoodAss Job
The premiere of jeen-yuhs’ first episode at Sundance was one of the most enthralling documentary experiences I’ve had in years. After catching the documentary’s first part, I couldn’t wait for the final two acts to drop. As Coodie Simmons, the primary filmmaker behind the documentary, mentions a few times throughout the documentary, the existence of this project is a serendipitous wonder. Picking an upcoming artist to follow around with a camera and that artist turning out to be Kanye West is a lifetime opportunity, and I admire the insight into culture and artistic potential that Coodie would have needed to pull that off.
As a novelty for hip-hop fans, jeen-yuhs succeeds as a captivating look into the unseen production footage behind his major works: the relentless ambition that produced The College Dropout is closely documented, and the process for later works like Kids See Ghosts and Jesus Is King also get some screen time. In fact, a highlight of the documentary is the studio footage, especially the scenes that showcase the electric chemistry between Jay-Z and Kanye early in the second episode (I live for fun, energetic flows, and this verse along with Kanye’s opener for 4th Dimension made me audibly cheer). The details of their relationship aren’t explored much past episode two, but their collaboration in the studio is an energetic combination of tutelage and camaraderie. While Kanye workshops his verse for Jay-Z’s The Bounce, it’s clear that he’s on the precipice of proving himself as a lyricist.
jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy | The Bounce Studio Session With Jay-Z Clip | Act 2: PURPOSE
The footage begins with him gaining a foothold into his verse, but encouragement from Jay pushes him just enough to uncover a tight, dynamic verse out of his ideas—Kanye’s tip of the hat to the iconic flow of Audio Two’s Top Billing in particular incites an enthusiastic “Yeah!!” from Jay. For Jay, talent and a sly, reflexive knowledge of hip-hop’s roots are the makings of a great rapper, and Kanye had finally fit the bill. Their complicated relationship is never extensively explained in jeen-yuhs, but Ye’s deification of, and eventual disillusionment with, Jay’s label Roc-A-Fella Records remains one of the most crucial parts of Ye’s personal evolution. Kanye being signed to Roc-A-Fella made his career what it is, and impressing his lifelong hero gave Kanye the motivation he needed to push the creative limits of The College Dropout, his award-winning debut.
I also can’t understate the importance of Donda West’s presence in the documentary. Not only was her influence the foundation of Kanye’s whole career, she was an influential figure in her own right. Her philanthropic and academic endeavors, including the creation of the Kanye West Foundation with her son, cemented her as a pillar in the world of black activists and influencers. Her passing marks a turning point in jeen-yuhs. The absence of Donda’s support, kindness, and positivity is palpable throughout the remainder of the documentary, and its toll on Kanye was severe.
ii. No More Parties in L.A.
Structurally, jeen-yuhs follows Kanye’s ascendancy purely through the eyes of his longtime friend, Coodie. When Coodie films Kanye in episodes one and two (Vision and Purpose), the familiarity and kinship of the two is felt by how and when Kanye is filmed. We get vulnerable (and quite graphic!) footage of Kanye’s facial surgery after the car accident that almost caused his death, and the interactions between Kanye and Coodie are unguarded and familiar. As Kanye drifts further into the limelight and further away from his day one clique, the film’s form flips completely.
Act three (Awakening) feels like the excursion of a newcomer into a foreign world. The quality and insight of his footage in this act compared to the early acts is almost tragic in its unevenness; the loss of familiarity while Coodie interacts with Kanye mirrors the experience of many “Old Kanye” fans, who felt Kanye’s trademark vulnerability and down-to-earth quality was lacking in his post-Graduation career. Much like them, Coodie, along with the viewer, can sense the distance forming between Kanye and his previous artistic identity. When Coodie doesn’t have access to Kanye during some portions of the third act, the documentary splices highlight reels of major occurrences in Kanye’s life in between Coodie’s sparse filming opportunities at Kanye’s estates or during his business ventures.
These scenes mirror the sensation of seeing an old friend again after a long time apart, but there’s also a palpable anxiety and worry that tinges Coodie’s narration in this episode. Kanye’s struggle with bipolar disorder had been worsening during some of the later footage in act three, and Coodie made the conscious decision not to film moments he was uncomfortable witnessing. Kanye’s behavior in these scenes left me baffled and confused more than anything else (a familiar sensation after watching his campaign speech from a few years ago). Coodie doesn’t offer any extended thoughts on how Kanye’s disorder affected his life and music in other ways (a lack of deeper commentary is a recurring part of Coodie’s narration). Perhaps this is one of the drawbacks of an artist’s own life story being filmed by an old friend like Coodie. With so much stake in Kanye’s past, he may have found it difficult to process the ways Kanye had changed.
Many act three scenes film Kanye from afar as he interfaces with his various creative teams, and there’s a distinct lack of the warmth and one-on-one interactions with Coodie that permeated the early episodes. Fuzzy footage of borrowed recording studios from the aughts is replaced with crisp shots of jam sessions in unimaginably palatial estates. In other words, the fabled “Old Kanye” has gone missing.
iii. The College Dropout
jeen-yuhs provides the necessary context for the wonder that was Kanye’s early success. Roc-A-Fella Records notoriously held out on signing Kanye, who had a reputation for beat production rather than rapping. Episode one and part of episode two document the lengths Kanye had to go to in order to record many tracks on The College Dropout, especially after the car accident that temporarily halted production due to Kanye’s hospitalization. Eventually, The College Dropout was a reluctantly released phenomenon.
Kanye overcoming Roc-A-Fella’s hesitance to sign him to their label is a major part of the narrative Coodie constructs in the documentary early on. This narrative that Coodie creates with jeen-yuhs is an extension of the commonly repeated mythos of Kanye’s career. Yet the documentary is missing an often omitted impetus for Roc-A-Fella’s hesitance to sign Kanye, which has more to do with the broader culture of black masculinity in music. YouTuber F.D. Signifier breaks this phenomenon down in his own video series, The Tragic Fall of Kanye West.
His videos dive into the socio-cultural implications of Kanye’s positionality of an artist rapping from a place of vulnerability and inventiveness in a genre propelled by braggadocio. F.D. Signifier’s work is a worthy essayistic companion to Coodie’s own as it explores Kanye’s life as both a product and architect of cultural expectations and the personal expression of Black men in the U.S., which is a framework that Coodie eschewed for a more generalized retelling of Kanye’s life.
The importance of the narrative as a means of success can’t be understated when discussing Kanye’s initial success and subsequent transformation in his post-Graduation era. Kanye’s career is arguably one dominated by narrative, with the clearest use of pathos and narrative impact present on his song Through the Wire, which was infamously recorded while Kanye’s jaw was wired shut after his near-death experience. Admittedly, Kanye has never topped lists of the greatest rappers and lyricists of all time (rap critics have already written about this, and I’m willing to defer to their analyses here because I don’t trust my own taste in rap lyrics), but this track remains one of the best songs he’s ever released. The sheer memorability of Through the Wire grips its audience and doesn’t let go until the last note. It, along with Jesus Walks, were huge contributors to Kanye’s Album of the Year Grammy win for The College Dropout in 2005.
As a general recounting of Kanye’s life, the documentary doesn’t explicitly breakdown the technical aspects of the lyricism on display, but it’s clear that, even to this day, Kanye’s strength lies in his visionary influence and strong personality more so than any virtuoso abilities. In the words of Rhymefest in episode three, “Maybe Kanye is brilliant, but Jay-Z is a genius.”
iv. Power
It’s a prediction of mine that jeen-yuhs could be a viable avenue for Kanye to regain the narrative cohesion he once had in culture, or at least cement his trajectory in the minds of younger viewers, like me, who never experienced Kanye’s rise first hand. But the future is nearly impossible for me to predict when discussing Kanye, and his narrative as a public figure has been complicated beyond any hope of straightforward interpretation.
The human mind is primed to connect to stories, and storytelling will always be one of the fastest ways to grab the public’s attention. I suppose that’s why I’ve invested myself even more in Kanye’s music after jeen-yuhs’ release. The canonization of Kanye's life is ongoing, and much like Coodie’s experience making the documentary, the public understanding of Kanye is constantly shifting. From notorious VMA incidents to ill-fated presidential campaigns, Kanye’s place as a public figure has lost any semblance of stability it originally had early in his career. How can one regain control of a narrative that’s no longer within their reach?
A footnote for fellow puppet enthusiasts
My love for puppetry and hip-hop have merged, and it’s all because of Kanye West and his cancelled project Alligator Boots. It would have featured the writing of an early Jordan Peele, a Kim K. appearance, and a host of raunchy, goofy muppets. How such a brilliant series got axed, I’ll never know!
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