He found the right balance in knowing when to document the moments where Kanye wasn’t in his best light, and recognising when to put the camera down.
Nothing was sugar-coated, even the most embarrassing or uncomfortable incidents for Coodie himself, like the time Kanye ‘forgot’ his name after years of being estranged, and when the rapper told him he was hiring Hype Williams to direct the Jesus Walks music video instead of Coodie himself.
The filmmaker clearly knows what makes compelling viewing without so obviously exploiting Kanye’s personal struggles for content.
However, the scenes of Kanye’s breakdowns that we are privy to in act three, are enough to know that fame probably wasn’t all that he hoped for when he finally got it.
From episode one, we see how hungry he was to be taken seriously as a rapper, not just a producer, and how desperately he wanted to be signed to Roc Nation with his idol Jay Z.
After years of genuine hard graft, sheer determination and, of course, his ego, Kanye finally got his big break with the College Dropout. From there, it was Grammy wins, sold-out tours and all the fame he could only have dreamed of.
However, Kanye then suffered the death of his beloved mother Donda who, as was so perfectly depicted in Jeen-Yuhs, was his backbone. If there’s any portrayal of how loving and supportive a mother should be of her child, Donda was the epitome.
So when she suddenly died in 2007, Kanye lost that support, his biggest cheerleader and the one person who could really ground him.
In one scene when his career as a rapper was just taking off, Donda is seen dropping a pearl of wisdom to her only child: ‘The giant looks in the mirror and sees nothing. Remember to stay on the ground, and you can be in the air all at the same time… Everybody else sees the giant.’
It’s poignant because in the following episode, we then see Kanye spiral. Whether that’s perceived as his ego getting out of control or his mental health struggles, it’s heartbreaking regardless to see him look so lost without Donda as that grounding force.
His mother, a respected professor, was able to build him up with all the confidence in the world, but also bring him back down to earth just as sharply.
It’s difficult to know exactly who Kanye became behind closed doors following Donda’s death as Coodie became estranged from him as the rapper’s career elevated. However, when they do eventually fall back into each other’s lives, Kanye’s inner circle is noticeably different.
Gone are many of those who were with him from day one in Chicago and, in their place, seemingly random music engineers, real estate moguls and designers. Of course, Kanye’s close friends could have just not been on camera (and Kim nor their children feature in the film) but there’s no denying he is a shell of his former self in episode three compared to the first two acts.
We’ve all witnessed Kanye’s Twitter and Instagram rants but it literally made me cringe to watch him in the beginning stages of a verbal tirade before Coodie rightfully cut the camera.
Those sitting there with him could do nothing more than just smile and watch on as he rambled and ranted, while Justin Bieber – understandably frozen with awkwardness – gave an occasional nod to appease him.
As we saw snippets of Kanye’s later life through Coodie’s lens, it came across as though Kanye was surrounded by ‘yes’ people, which didn’t seem to be the case early on in his career.
It’s a scary insight into how a celebrity’s circle often changes with fame – even Coodie who’d known Kanye since he was 17 was shut out – and just how isolating it can be.
In the first episodes of Jeen-Yuhs, we all cheered Kanye on as he fought against every obstacle to make it as a famous rapper but by the end of act three, we’re left wondering if it was all worth it.
Jeen-Yuhs is available to watch on Netflix.
Credit: Original article published here.You can read this post on My Celebrity Life.