Netflix’s documentary series on the career of Kanye West, Jeen-Yuhs, is coming out at an awkward time, to say the least. Episode one of the three-part series hit the streaming service on Feb. 16 in the midst of West’s public meltdown following the falling out between him and his estranged wife Kim Kardashian.
Despite the public drama, part one of Jeen-Yuhs provided tragically beautiful insight into the career of West. More than a decade before the public freak-outs, controversy and mind-numbing decision making, Jeen-Yuhs showed West’s humble beginnings as a producer and aspiring rapper.
Following West's every move was his filmmaker and friend Coodie, who, as far as the film’s concerned, seems to be one of the only believers in West’s ability to establish himself as a rap artist.
The first part covers three topics: Kanye’s early years in Chicago, his time in New York finding wild success as a producer and his relationship with his mother, Donda.
To say a 90-minute episode of Jeen-Yuhs could make one understand why Kanye is Kanye is a sort of ridiculous claim to make, but it comes about as close to achieving that as possible.
By far the most frustrating moment of the episode comes when Kanye attempts to show the Roc-A-Fella team the music he’s been working on. Keep in mind, at this point Kanye has produced Grammy-winning music for Jay-Z and hits for just about everyone else associated with Roc-A-Fella.
West doesn’t just show the team some of his early music or a rough cut of an unfinished song, he shows them the fully complete version of "All Falls Down,” a song that has more than 1 million streams on Spotify despite the fact it predates Spotify by more than a decade.
To watch this happen was absurd on its own, but throughout the episode, Kanye repeatedly demonstrates his potential as a superstar and is laughed off or treated as a joke. Most of Kanye’s worst moments are hard to excuse, but Jeen-Yuhs also makes it hard to blame West for becoming a narcissist.
Another gift delivered by episode one of genius is the demonstration of West’s relationship with his mother who passed away in 2007.
Following the repeated rejection by his colleagues and a shady situation where West was publicly dissed by one of his earliest mentors, viewers see West at his lowest. Dejected, he arrives at Donda West’s apartment and it seems all is suddenly well.
While any Kanye West fan is aware of the terrible impact his mother’s untimely death had on him, Jeen-Yuhs makes it clear there likely is no Kanye at all without Donda West.
The final truly notable aspect of the episode is the role it plays as a love letter to fans of West’s early work, especially College Dropout.
Throughout the episode, some of the album’s most memorable tracks are shown in the earliest stages. “Jesus Walks” is shown in development, an impromptu backstage performance of “Two Words” with Talib Kweli is shown and West even debuts the heartfelt “Family Business” for Scarface during his push for a record deal.
For anyone who’s a fan of College Dropout’s outro “Last Call,” this episode will seem inherently familiar. Kanye’s relationships with, Talib Kweli, Most Def, Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella, discussed in depth in the song, play out real-time. The lines discussing the industry perception of Kanye as a flop who was hoarding good beats are given a much deeper explanation.
Sadly, it is hard to walk away from the episode without wondering what went wrong. Kanye West remains one of the most talented all-around musicians in the history of rap, but the likable, relatable Kanye depicted in episode one of Jeen-Yuhs is long gone.
The episode concludes with Kanye finally getting his deal and accepting his Roc-A-Fella chain in his hometown of Chicago during Jay-Z’s tour.
Part two of the documentary, which will likely cover the total creation and release of College Dropout, releases Feb. 23 on Netflix.
