At the moment, Kanye West is bordering on inescapable. He’s in your Instagram feed, plastered across news sites and, courtesy of the DONDA 2 listening event, excerpts from his forthcoming new music are being poured over by devoted fans. To top it all off, he’s even intercepted the world’s leading subscription streaming service, Netflix.
However, rather than chronicling his modern-day exploits, misadventures, and pioneering use of new technology, Jeen-Yuhs, the three-part documentary series which intimately charts his rise to prominence, provides a window into a simpler, but no less crucial time in his life.
Kanye and friends the "Jeen-Yuhs" doc premiere - Johnny Nunez/Getty Images
Overseen by Clarence “Coodie” Simmons Jr and Chike Ozah, each episode takes us into the life of Ye from an insider’s perspective. After laying the groundwork for his both come-up and the experiences that forged him into the force of nature he is today with the first installment, episode two, subtitled "Purpose," gives audiences a ringside seat into the long-gestating road to the release of his debut album. Along the way, shedding light into its creation in ways that Ye’s legions of loyal fans will be eternally grateful to Coodie and Chike for.
So, without further ado, let’s break down what we learned in the latest episode of Jeen-Yuhs.
Changing perceptions
Kanye and Dame Dash, 2003 - Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images
By way of bringing us back into Ye’s world, episode two begins with the kind of scene that he depicts in "Family Business." Freestyling at a party as his relatives look bemused, this shot of Ye rapping as the world looks on with indifference sets the scene for what’s to come across this episode. While the first part may have concluded with him locking in his deal with Roc-A-Fella, the battle was only just beginning.
At a press conference for the 2002 Rocafella Films' Paid In Full, we see Dame Dash lavishing praise on Ye. Likely the first person to assign the distinction of "entrepreneur" to him, Dame gushes over the fact that he’s "promoting himself as we speak."
But even as Ye tells the press pack of his ambitions of "bringing an entire new market" to Rocafella, it quickly becomes clear that he has the issue of his label and his peers’ outlook on his worth to overcome.
Straight off the bat, Kanye showed that he had no desire to be aligned with Just Blaze or Bink! as part of the era's premier producers. When prominent Rocafella A&R Big Face Gary labeled him the "best producer-rapper," Ye saw it as a consolation prize and suggested that it was no different to being referred to as the best "kid rapper."
At this stage, West’s real anger and frustration about residing on the sidelines began to boil over, with Ye proclaiming that "I'm listening to what Hov doing."
In a very sleek editing segue, we cut to Kanye’s informal audition for Jay-Z's The Blueprint 2 track "The Bounce." After enquiring as to whether or not he could spit a verse, Kanye launches into full flow and gets the green light that he’s after.
With Ye looking ecstatic in the booth, we witness Hov and Guru helping to coach him through the delivery and teach him vital skills for the future. After he lays his verse down, Jay commends him for his brazen, self-starting attitude.
"Closed mouth don't get fed," Hov remarked. "If you hadn't said something, you wouldn't have been on that."
With the benefit of hindsight, this philosophy has been pivotal to Kanye's approach to the worlds of music, fashion, and everything in-between.
Derailed
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
After being permitted to lay down a verse on Roc-A-Fella posse cut "Champions," Kanye’s career was on an uptick. But when he was drafted to LA to work on the major label debut album from State Property’s Peedi Crakk– which would never emerge– Kanye would find himself on the receiving end of another cruel twist of fate. In fact, this fateful moment almost changed the course of musical history as we know it.
After driving back from a late-night session at the studio, Ye was in a car wreck that almost claimed his life. Thankfully, he escaped with only a shattered jaw in three places to show for it. While most people would focus on rehabilitation, Ye was distraught about what this meant for this career progression.
Hit with an ingenious concept that’d be instrumental in bringing him to the fore, Kanye laid down the early version of "Through The Wire," detailing his experience with his jaw still in tatters.
Marooned in LA, Ye was left exasperated by the process of recovery, as it was postponing the next chapter of his life at the worst possible time. During a consultation at the doctor’s office, Ye’s first question was whether his "mouth will look somewhat normal" for his video shoot in January.
Unrelenting in his desire to progress, Ye’s focus never wavered from figuring out how this could all he parlayed into work-- and even as he sat in the doctor’s office, he and Coodie began to plot out the video treatment for "Through The Wire."
Through to the present day, Ye has continually used his personal traumas as the launchpad for songs, or, in the case of 808s & Heartbreaks, entire albums, and it all starts right here.
Shelved
Kanye and Jamie Foxx - Jamie McCarthy/WireImage/Getty Images
As if the physical toll of the accident wasn’t enough, Ye was forced to reconcile with the fact that it led to his album being left in limbo. Relieved of his budget, West had to work on his debut record covertly.
Seen in a home studio with a young and fresh-faced Jamie Foxx, Ye relayed the concept of "Slow Jams" to an enthused Foxx in real-time. Complete with an unfinalized version of Ye's verse, the documentary footage also revealed that there was once talk of a verse from Foxx on the track in addition to his hook and intro.
Recorded without his label’s knowledge or consent, the episode really drives home the fact that The College Dropout, now a consensus classic, was made in a cloak and dagger fashion without any support from the label that'd make millions from it.
Fuelled by sheer drive and ambition, we then see that the recording of "Breathe In Breathe Out" with Ludacris was nearly hampered by the studio reception.
"He surprised the shit out of me, I ain't lying," said Luda as he recounted his past doubts. "Everybody already knew about his producing but didn't know about his skills and believe me, he got skills."
Much like "Slow Jams," the embryonic form of this track was a little different and initially contained a vocal sample of Biggie's "The What" embedded into the track. Later that same day, Ye played "Through The Wire" to Pharrell and alongside a gobsmacked reaction, he received some encouraging words from Skateboard P.
"You gon make it and when you make it, keep the same perspective," Pharrell proclaimed. "Keep the same hunger. The hunger is to always be man I feel, I gotta put it down. As long as you keep the conduit for those two places clear, for those two energies to come through, you're gonna be hot for the rest of your life. Once n***s tell you you're hot, still doubt yourself."
And while the latter part may have fallen by the wayside over the years, there’s no doubt that the hunger most definitely stayed intact.
In addition, he aired an early version of his prospective verse from what he referred to as the "girlfriend" record that 50 Cent was set to take off his hands. As it turns out, the record in question would go on to become Jay-Z and Beyoncé's "03 Bonnie & Clyde."
A new breed
Kanye receives a platinum plaque for The College Dropout - Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
Monologuing to the camera throughout the episode, Ye, still in buoyant spirits despite the setbacks, tells Codie that he is "the first of the hybrid of the ice in a backpack."
A clear reference to how he’d bridge the worlds of conscious and street rap throughout his career, Ye then claimed that his time in the hospital had compelled him to become the best-dressed rapper in the game.
"How can Kevin Liles tell me that I shouldn't be a rapper?" Ye said of his naysayers at the time. "He doesn't know what I have in me, I have the ability to learn. I might not learn myself up to DMX status in that time. But if I'm in the studio with Jay-Z, Ludacris and Scarface everyday, you think I'mma learn? My beats weren't at Blueprint level before... you can give me a deal for 200-something dollars now and I'mma make you $10 million later. Or you can wait. What Def Jam does, they wait until you prove yourself."
From here, we’re treated to a flash of Deray Davis recording his ionic skits as the dean from The College Dropout. Meanwhile, during the “Never Let Me Down” sessions, a provisional tracklist is made visible and shows that the album originally featured "Hey Mama." As we know, that track wouldn't surface until his sophomore album. Additionally, there were a whole host of tracks on that rough outline that'd never see the final cut including "Magic Man," "Arguing" and "Dream Killer."
If at first, you don't succeed...
Kareem Biggs Burke, Damon Dash and Kanye - Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images
Despite all of the production credits that he’d racked up, Kanye still hadn't convinced Dame Dash that he was worthy of a place in the release slate. During a trip to Dame’s hotel room, he played his rendition of "03 Bonnie & Clyde" and got a muted response. As Dash spurned Kanye’s efforts, it became abundantly clear that at that stage, Young Steff, who'd promptly fall into obscurity, was a bigger priority. Later on, Ye looks crestfallen at not only sessions with him, but Big V of Nappy Roots.
Undeterred
Kanye with Chike and Coodie, 2004 - Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images
Without any other recourse, we learn that Ye plotted to shoot his own video for "Through The Wire" and, bafflingly, had to send an audition tape in for Def Poetry Jam as though he hadn't already made them millions.
In addition, there is a glimpse into the recording sessions for his 2003 mixtape I'm Good. A means of drip-feeding music to the public, the most notable takeaway from this spell is that Mos Def voiced a desire to do "a whole joint" with Ye. Granted, the duo that Kanye offhandedly dubbed "Mos West" may never have come to fruition, but it can’t help but feel like a missed opportunity.
After the taping of his legendary Def Jam Poetry performance of "Self Conscious"-- more commonly known as "All Falls Down," Ye got some much-needed affirmation from his mother Donda as she tells him, "Kanye, that was so magnificent what you did, you snapped. You said some heavy political stuff in between."
Later, at the first screening of his "Through The Wire" music video, Kanye makes an impassioned speech, outlining his intentions for crafting this visual.
"I don't know if you know that the reason that I make tracks at this point is to pay for my t-shirts, to pay for my mixtape, this video cost me, me, $33,000 dollars. We made this to get the buzz going, so I can get me a release date."
Said in full earshot of Dame Dash, this scene really captures the stifling atmosphere that he encountered at Roc-A-Fella in a way that has gone undocumented before.
With over 300 people in attendance, the premiere was the stepping stone to the next stage of Ye’s life, with Coodie reflecting that "Dame saw the full vision at last and soon, millions of people did too."
From there, Jeen-Yuhs flits from the days of straining to be seen among Roc-A-Fella’s more hardened roster to the 11th hour of the recording process of The College Dropout. In this section, it is revealed that Kanye’s initial plan was to get the legendary Hype Williams to direct a "15-minute movie" to accompany "Jesus Walks," but this never materialized.
In one of the most revelatory quotes from the entire documentary thus far, Kanye explains how the significance of The College Dropout goes far beyond its multi-platinum sales figures and cultural gravitas.
"I used this whole album as my rehabilitation. Instead of staying in the hotel, I snuck in. And I made songs that inspired me. Songs that gave me life. I feel like this album was my Angel that helped heal me. It revived my spirits."
Late Registration
Kanye and his mom Donda at the Grammys - Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images
After the release of his landmark debut album, Kanye is suddenly receiving the adulation that he’d dreamed of. After going on tour without Coodie, the filmmaker tellingly dropped everything to record a third version of the "Jesus Walks" music video. Dissatisfied with the original two videos, Ye stepped away from the glossiness of a big production for a more lo-fi affair set in his native Chicago.
After, viewers are plunged headlong into the sessions for Kanye’s sophomore project, Late Registration.
Amid a snippet of the sample chop that would become "Gold Digger," Diddy is spotted in the studio. On top of referring to Ye as "Lil Quincy Jones," Puff proclaims that "I see a lot of him in me, a lot of me in him. Vice versa."
Seemingly shot in the lead-up to his first trip to the Grammy’s, Ye’s sentiments foreshadow his relationship with award shows to come. "I just want the opportunity to speak," he said matter-of-factly. "Even if I lost, I just want to thank people. I've been working on my speech."
Later, the original version of “Crack Music” is briefly aired. Taking on a vastly different form than its final composition, the track originally featured a different verse that even contained a name drop of Game’s soon-to-be estranged crew of "G Unit."
Reaching a crescendo with Ye’s triumph at The Grammy Awards in which he won Best Rap Album, Kanye’s words hone in on the one attribute he possesses that can't be quantified in sales or within a track session.
"There might be better rappers, better programmers, but I have the heart."
With only one part remaining, the concluding episode of Jeen-Yuhs has a lot of ground to cover, spanning from Graduation to the present day. Encompassing all manner of public scandals, successes, and tragedies, it’ll be hard to imagine them doing it justice without a five-hour runtime. But if the first couple of episodes have taught us anything, it’s that no one knows how to coax unimaginably candid moments out of Ye quite like his old friend from the Chi.