New Documentary ‘Jeen-Yuhs’ Shows Kanye On His Best Behavior
Photo courtesy of Netflix.
(REVIEW) It’s difficult to talk about Kanye West like he’s a genius.
Over the weekend, he made headlines and trended on social media during the Super Bowl for cycles of obsessive, one-sided online fights, most of which have now long been deleted.
The first was a threat to pull out of Coachella over a situation completely unrelated to him. Then came attacks on comedian Pete Davidson — who’s now dating West’s separated wife, Kim Kardashian — and all of his friends, including Civil War memes, text screenshots and more. Interspersed in all of it was Super Bowl content, industry talk and posts about Kim and their children. He often emphasized he was fighting for his family to be together again.
One of the two posts that remain — as of Wednesday morning — is an apology from Kanye about using all caps because “using all caps makes people feel like I’m screaming at them.”
“Thank everybody for supporting me,” he wrote in the same post. “I know sharing screen shots was jarring and came off as harassing Kim. I take accountability. I’m still learning in real time. I don’t have all the answers. To be good leader is to be a good listener.”
Unsurprisingly, this sparked a lot of conversations about misogyny on social media, with many people justifiably decrying Kanye’s treatment of Kim and insisting on his intense immaturity.
Maybe it’s apt — or just plain irony — that this week also marks the release of the first part of “jeen-yuhs,” the documentary trilogy chronicling Kanye’s life, career and personal brand. Releasing weekly starting on Feb. 16, the documentary is chronological, from Kanye’s first days as a Chicago producer to where he is now.
Conceptually, the documentary is genius. Kanye is one of the largest public figures in the world in almost every possible way: his music, his politics, his shoes, his celebrity family. The revelation of 23 years of footage from Kanye feels like striking pop-culture gold, and director Coodie Simmons was a genius himself for noticing the clear talent.
“We had filmed a lot of artists, but there was just something different about Kanye,” Coodie says in the documentary narration. “Hearing his rhymes, seeing his confidence, there was no doubt in my mind he was going to be a star.”
At the time, Kanye was just a kid with braces making beats for Chicago’s rappers, but he had dreams to become a rapper, and the footage shows unequivocally that he had the talent to make that career shift. Kanye moved to New York, and Coodie followed him.
At MTV a few years later, while filming Kanye’s “You Hear It First” — a segment dedicated to up-and-coming performers — Coodie met Chike, and the two have been creative partners since. As well as directing “jeen-yuhs” together, they were also the directors of Kanye’s “Through the Wire” and other music videos and the ESPN documentary “Benji.”
The first episode of the documentary shows Kanye signing his first record deal and the creation of it, with significant time spent on the most standout track from that album: “Jesus Walks.”
The significance is helpful for those who are younger or just new to Kanye’s work — a reminder that Christianity was present in his music long before Sunday Services and “Jesus is King.”
“The amazing part about this doc is you can see this evolution — like, oh, this doesn’t come out of nowhere,” Chike told ReligionUnplugged.com. “You see seeds of this planted early on. I mean, it’s gotten bigger, he’s gotten more resources. But he’s been doing this since the inception of his career.”
The documentary also showcases Kanye’s character and personal life. In some of the first episode’s best scenes, he’s shown interacting with his late mother Donda, who’s cracking jokes and talking with quiet sincerity about Kanye’s future. A record label head describes Kanye as “spiritual.”
Kanye and Donda in “jeen-yuhs.” Photo courtesy of Netflix.
“He’s definitely a vessel, you know,” Coodie told ReligionUnplugged.com.
Thematically, the documentary is just as much about its storytellers as it is Kanye, and that works in its favor. Both Coodie and Chike are men of faith, and they approach the documentary with an artistic eye and an emotional sincerity that relays a story, at its heart, about the struggle, faith and success of Black men who want to be artists. The directors make it clear that this message of faith through obstacles is something they want their audience to be inspired by, too.
“You know, when you see all three parts, you understand that we all walk in faith,” Coodie said. “And when you trust God, you move with a certain confidence. You have no fear because God created everything.”
It may sound outlandish, in a way. Most viewers are likely looking to learn something new and exciting about one of the best rappers of this generation, not to relate to him. But that deeper inspiration is present throughout.
“It just so happened to be entertainment that was able to tell this story,” Chike said, “but, you know, the teacher is a genius. Doctors are geniuses. That’s one thing that everybody has to understand: that we all are geniuses. It just means doing what you love, what makes you incredibly happy.”
But for all that “jeen-yuhs” works as inspiration, it’s still a documentary about Kanye, who’s mistreated lots of people in his life and professional career — and more often than not broadcast his misbehavior publicly.
He’s portrayed as sweet, attractively cocky and devoted — a sometimes misunderstood genius. Maybe that’s because he’s friends with the directors, or because it’s easier to call a talented artist and flawed person a genius than it is anything else.
There’s just such a stark dichotomy between the Kanye shown in “jeen-yuhs” and the Kanye that exists for the world in the present, posting obsessively — and occasionally maliciously — on his Instagram. It seems like they’re two different artists entirely.
But who knows? Maybe “jeen-yuhs” understands Kanye better than anyone has yet — though that seems unlikely. Even Coodie and Chike said they weren’t interested in answering once and for all who Kanye is.
“It’s definitely more open ended,” Chike said. “You know, we didn’t even seek to get an answer with this doc. Really, this doc, for us, was just using the journey of two people — Kanye, who just happens to be one of the biggest icons to this day, and Coodie — as a vessel to be able to show people if you have faith in God, you can unlock your energy.”
“Jeen-yuhs” is available on Feb. 16 to stream on Netflix.
Jillian Cheney is a contributing culture writer for Religion Unplugged. She also writes on American Protestantism and evangelical Christianity and was Religion Unplugged’s 2020-21 Poynter-Koch fellow. You can find her on Twitter @_jilliancheney.