KANYE

10 Big Revelations From Part 1 of Kanye West’s ‘Jeen-Yuhs’ Documentary

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Image via Netflix

  • Kanye always knew he was bringing something new to rap

  • He played “All Falls Down” to Roc-A-Fella employees, but no one cared

  • Lots of labels passed on signing Kanye, even after he had buzz as a producer

  • Kanye predicted shortening his name to ‘Ye’ almost 20 years ago

  • Kanye has had industry beefs (and misunderstandings with the media) since the beginning

  • Donda West was always sharing important words of wisdom and encouragement

  • Getting on MTV’s ‘You Hear It First’ was a really important moment for Kanye

  • Kanye referenced his porn addiction nearly 20 years ago

  • Kanye talks about Jay-Z’s recording process

  • Kanye wanted Scarface on “Jesus Walks”

Is Kanye West Involved In The Netflix Documentary ‘Jeen-Yuhs’?

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Jeen-Yuhs Kanye West Documentary
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The demand for more Kanye content seems to be a self-generating beast. But one of the latest projects is a Netflix documentary called Jeen-Uhs that takes a look at exactly what goes on behind the scenes with this hip-hop star. The documentary was first announced in September of last year, and since then, Kanye himself has had a lot to say about the creative film project that seeks to portray some of the biggest moments and pivotal releases in his expansive career. Although Kanye isn’t creatively involved with the project himself, in true Ye form, he’s been very vocal with his own opinions about what should go down in the visual feature. All the headlines have lead so many people to wonder, will the creators give him a say?

Is Kane West Involved In The Netflix Documentary Jeen-Yuhs?
From the start, the documentary has been a Netflix produced project about Kanye, not by him. It is directed by the duo, Clarence Simmons and Chike Ozah, aka Coodie & Chike, who have been working on it for close to twenty years. Though plenty of incredibly famous and powerful stars end up in control of their own film projects — Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance being a perfect recent example — so far, Kanye has not been given creative control in this visual. At least, not that the creative team involved have let on.

In a recent interview with The New York Times about the three-episode project, Coodie spoke on just that. “He said, ‘Let’s me and you do it,’ and I told him, ‘You have to trust me on this,’” Coodie told The Times. “Meaning no creative control. I said, “It would not be authentic if you have it.” He got all of that. And that was it.” That doesn’t mean Ye hasn’t floated plenty of ideas out into the ether anyway. His latest idea? That Drake should narrate the whole project. He’s also said before that he’s going to demand a final edit over the film. That’s probably going over about as well as the truckload of roses he sent to his estranged ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, on Valentine’s Day this year.

Kanye Wants ‘Donda 2’ To Soundtrack ‘Major Moments’ Like Funerals, Childbirth, Graduation Or Weddings

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kanye west homeless fashion show
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Now that Kanye is back in a prolific phase, releasing Donda last year and almost immediately announcing a follow-up, he’s got a whole new slew of producers and collaborators in the mix. That’s a good thing, Ye’s taste level in other artists has always been one of his strong suits — except for that whole Marilyn Manson fiasco — and now one of his new producers, Digital Nas, has spoken to Rolling Stone about his time working with Yeezy on Donda 2.

Digital Nas, aka Nasir Pemberton, said he initially traveled from his home in Atlanta to work with Kanye in LA, but ended up moving to the city of angels in the end. “I went out there on a whim, no expectations,” the 23-year-old told Rolling Stone. “Then it turned into me living out there. By the fifth day, my manager gets an email like, ‘Hey, we want Nas out here indefinitely.’ And we’ve been just rocking ever since.”

Not a bad way to kick off your career! As for what fans can hope for from Donda 2, Kanye is planning and hoping to have it soundtrack major moments in his listener’s lives. “These are the directives for the album: ‘If it cannot be played at a funeral, childbirth, graduation, a wedding, it will not be on our record,’” Nas said. “We learned a lot from Donda 1. We learned what hit. We learned what was sticking. So we took from there. It has to be able to be played at four major moments in people’s lives. That’s crazy, right?”

Check out the entire interview here, and keep an eye out for Donda 2, which drops in just a few weeks on February 22.

Kanye’s ‘Heaven And Hell’ Video Is Essentially An Eerie Gap Commercial

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In the newest phase of his career, Kanye has become more fashion-focused than ever before — and the music videos and live performances he’s released around his latest album reflect that. Considering Donda was unveiled over several different listening sessions, it makes sense that the artist now known simply as Ye is just getting around to introducing music videos for some of the project’s songs.

Tonight, he shared the video for Donda track “Heaven And Hell” as a traditional music video — albeit one where every faceless person in the video is wearing the black hoodie he designed for Gap — but also as a Gap ad itself, first aired on ESPN during the College Football National Championship game. If you’re interested in purchasing the hoodie, you can head to yeezygap.com, where you’ll be prompted to fill in your name, email and sizes. The hoodie currently comes in both adult and child sizes, and in either black and blue. It’s $80 for an adult and $60 for a child size.

Check out the full “Heaven And Hell” video above to get quite a few glimpses of the item. It might not be the puffer, but this looks like it could be another classic Kanye staple very soon.