Netflix Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy Film Review

You'd suppose jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy would be pure hero-worship, forcing fans to bow before the almighty altar of Ye. This three-part, 280-minute Netflix documentary, the first of which aired online at the Sundance Film Festival, has plenty of that. But it also paints a clear and charming portrayal of the artist as a young Yeezy attempting to make it as a rap superstar. That he didn't achieve it easily, or at all, is a monument to his tenacity and invincible ego, rather than his natural aptitude.

Jeen-yuhs, directed by Chike Ozah and co-written by Clarence “Coodie” Simmons, offers a rare inside look at what it takes to succeed in the competitive world of hip-hop and the pressure it places on those at the top to stay relevant. This is a storey about a bright young guy whose quest for success drove him insane, leading to repeated onstage invasions at the Grammy Awards, online and televised outbursts, and a 2020 presidential run.

That's not to dismiss Kanye's legitimate mental health issues, which Simmons acknowledges in his own footage as a caring friend and admirer. It's easy to forget how hard West worked to be taken seriously as a rapper in his early days, how many doors were slammed in his face, and how he managed to finish The College Dropout despite having his jaw broken in three places in a car accident.

The film, which is divided into three 90-minute “acts” dubbed “VISION,” “PURPOSE,” and “AWAKENING,” is impressive, then practically exciting, before becoming tedious and obnoxious in its concluding moments. The best parts are those set between 2001 and 2004, where Simmons had unrestricted access to West, following him from Chicago to New York as he matured as a hip-hop producer.

At the time, Kanye was already famous for producing half of Jay-classic Z's 2001 album The Blueprint, along with tracks by East Coast legends Scarface, Cam'ron, Taleb Kweli, Beanie Sigel, and Lil' Kim. But he wanted to be more than a DJ: he wanted to be the next Jay-Z.

Sadly, only Kanye — and his beloved mother Donda, whose presence in the film adds warmth and humour — believed in him. He's brilliant, but Jay-Z is a genius. “He definitely doesn't suit the street image,” we hear a lot from Jay-Roc-A-Fella Z's records label, where Kanye is desperate to sign.

In “VISION,” Simmons follows West, then 21, as he crashes the Roc-A-Fella offices in Manhattan, going from office to office to play his solo demos. The record business officials are uninterested in his music, so Kanye has no choice but to return his CD and walk out in defeat.

The scene reveals how he would do everything to be heard - shame was not in his vocabulary. He got signed after forcing his way through Roc-A-front, Fella's rear, and side doors as an MC, not a producer. With his mouth in shambles from the automobile accident, Kanye cut a tune and self-financed his debut music video (“Through the Wire,” directed by Simmons and Ozah). By the time “PURPOSE” ended in 2004, Roc-A-Fella had cemented Ye's legacy (four-time platinum, Grammy for Best Rap Album).

The documentary then follows him from hip-hop hero to wearing a MAGA hat and ranting about the evils of abortion. Not to mention the Kardashians, West seems to have shut Simmons out of his life after his early achievements, working with bigger-name filmmakers for his videos and surrounding himself with an entourage of naysayers.

We never get to see the making of groundbreaking albums like 808s & Heartbreak or My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, where West took hip-hop to new heights.

Not everyone can stomach the last act, “AWAKENING,” which goes from rap sensation to med-bloated music-and-fashion billionaire. The final instalment, which spans from 2005 to now, follows Kanye's rises and falls through montage sequences, making it less engaging than the years where Simmons witnessed things directly.

It's hard to tell from Yeezy's antics, meltdowns, and late embracing of Jesus as his saviour what drove him over the brink, and the directors seem to struggle with this problem. One cause could be Donda's untimely death in 2007, who had a huge influence on her son. Like the mythological phoenix, Kanye seems to be perpetually engulfed by his own flames, only to be reborn.

Musicians and artists like Mozart and Michelangelo - figures Ye has compared himself to — experienced highs and lows in their creative and personal lives. The difference is that no one was around to document it all, so jeen-yuhs is similar to current bio-docs like Asif Kapadia's Amy, which follow an artist's rise to fame and eventual demise.

Not everyone will want to spend four and a half hours on Ye's rollercoaster, and you shouldn't watch if you don't like his musical taste, which is on full exhibit here. The sequence where West and Mos Def sing an impromptu duet is another highlight for hip-hop fans prepared to put up with the ego-tripping.

“It's a little egocentric or whatever, but fuck it,” Yeezy says early in the film about one of his many ideas.