There’s no question or skepticism when it comes to the genius behind the man that is Kanye West. Ye is undoubtedly one of the greatest minds to ever step onto the creative scene and shake things up and around simultaneously changing and redefining the status quo of not only what hip hop music was but also how it sounded, ultimately shaping the music scene of today and paving way for some of the biggest names in music we have to this day such as Drake, Kid Cudi, just to mention a few. Yes, in order for us to relish in Certified Lover Boy vibes, with our hearts on our sleeves, Kanye’s triumph had to occur first, better yet, 808’s and Heartbreak had to be born first, which kind of sucks considering the album was inspired by the heartbreak and loss of his dear mother Donda West, whom we easily become fond from the cameos she endows in the documentary, littering us with bits of wisdom on matters of ego, the irony considering her son is one Kanye West. But still that doesn’t take away from the knowledge she spews like when she says, a giant looks in the mirror, and sees nothing.
But perhaps the real jeehn-yuhs when it comes to Ye is that he’s the product of progression from being untapped talent to establishing himself onto the scene first as the kid with the killer beats who claimed he could spit some bars that made Hov wanna hop onto his serato, to being the best producer rapper (a title he poignantly rebuked, equating it to being called the best kid rapper), and having to prove that he’s willing to die for this shit as put by Lamar by making a record through the wire with his jaw shut, and going as far as making a visual for the single, just to finally get the attention of Damon Dash he so greatly needed as an up and coming artist and the support of Rocafella, the record label we watch him grow into as the episode unfolds.
And perhaps what makes this so genius is that this is a story as old as tale, we’ve seen, watched and heard of the story of the underdog’s triumph whether this is in Karate Kid or in biopics like 8 Mile, Southpaw or 50’s Get rich or die tryin we know this story already. But to actually see it happen visually with your own iris, hits harder and serves a greater impact on your mental and reception of this old as tale story, and I guess we have Coodie to thank for that, as he started filming Kanye West and documenting his journey when Kanye was just a nobody walking through record label offices and playing his record for nobodies too, just hoping for some favorable positive outcome. He was desperate, aware of the talent he possessed and what he could do given the chance, a story that’s all too relatable residing in our sunny H town where nothing’s promised and every day presents itself as this obstacle course challenge. In a nutshell, the 3 part genius Netflix documentary of the jeehn-yuhs is about how a nobody became THE DUDE. The dude you love to hate, the dude who invaded the fashion industry by picking out the cotton himself, the dude who didn’t recreate his last album every time he put out a record, the dude you not only know by his first and last name, but just by his first name too, and better yet, simply known by the first 2 letters of his first name, the dude that is YE.
As the long awaited and anticipated Coode directed Ye documentary starts we’re bombarded with cameos and clips of the man that is Kanye on his various rants and rampages, one of my favorite epic moments being the I just told you who I thought I was…a god, contrary to the popular choice of his 2010 infamous Yo Taylor I’mma let you finish…Beyonce had the best videos of ALL TIME, which almost always takes the cup. But reason to justify why that qualifies as an all-time favorite Kanye moment is because following his rationale of how the world beats out the confidence out of you, by means of sucking the living air out of you, and given the backdrop of the longstanding battle of racial relations between black and white and all the barriers a black dude living in America with an Afro-exotic sounding name like Kanye that you already know for sure is about to be butchered by white folks in pronunciation (a footage in the documentary can testify) has to break through, this moment to me almost symbolizes a victory taken by force, echoing and foreshadowing a reminiscent moment of POWER, I don’t need your pussy bitch I’m on my own dick. Knowing the struggle myself, of having to work 10 times harder just to prove your worth, it forces me to be in discord with the rest of the world that seems to perceive Kanye as a man driven by ego, because to me, this is simply someone who’s pissing on everyone who ever doubted him’s graves, and what sweeter victory is there than to tell off the Thomases of the world.
Now Coode’s directorial skills are remarkable in this showcasing because within the first 3 minutes of the docu-series he has already presented everything about the jeehn-yuhs that probably comes to mind when anyone hears of the man Kanye West. That’s egomaniac, genius, ranting, and most importantly Donda, and this is pretty much some of the main points that Coode focuses on as he delves into this series episode by episode, and perhaps what’s uncanny and simultaneously mind-blowingly amazing is how Donda says there’s so many sides of Kanye, so many aspects of his life that people don’t know about, because as life continues posthumous the tragic Donda passing that had a significant impact on Kanye, we got to know and learn just what she meant by that, and thanks to Coodie, we actually get to see it for ourselves, because his genius, told him to document Kanye even when he was still record-label shopping and moving through the Rock-a-fella office playing his music for anyone and anybody who would listen and having white receptionists calling him Cayenne, with everyone playing him and not taking him seriously. Thanks to Coodie’s genius that told him even when Kanye was recording The College Dropout in his apartment in 2002, that this dude had greatness in him, we get to experience this 3-part documentary on a different level as it slaps on a different realm altogether. And in the words of Coodie, every great story, begins with a vision, and sometimes all it takes is for one to have that jeehn-yuhs in them to tell a caterpillar from a regular worm.
Shoutout to Coodie.
