Gate keeping culture in creative spaces, particularly with respect to the music business, is often looked at along the lines of supposed ‘insiders’ obstructing the journey of new comers they deem ‘unworthy’ of joining their ranks on whatever arbitrary rationale. Essentially, it is seen as when established artists or the ‘old guard’ withhold opportunities for aspiring artists. For the distant observer the motivation for such a practice is as simple as the former perceiving the latter as a threat. Naturally those guilty of resorting to such actions would admit it with most feigning ignorance under the guise of a vague set of ‘dues’ detrimental to success.
Such political maneuvering in the music industry is over simplified in gossip columns, with everything being clumped under trivial celebrity beefs. While the cut throat nature of the entertainment business as a whole is acknowledged unanimously, the complexity tied to it is often underestimated. For instance, the powers that be would seem to the casual observer as benevolent veterans providing opportunity and nurturing new talent, while in reality they would actually be exploiting and blocking the up and comers from new horizons. This is especially true for intersectional career paths, where an artist seen by the creative establishment as a utility player is looking to crossover into the turf of the ‘seniors’.
The Netflix documentary film ‘jeen-yuhs’, detailing the life and ‘struggle’ of hiphop mogul Kanye West, in many ways sheds lights on this phenomena wherein the loose machine the entertainment industry is, would bring ‘in’ talent just close enough to be utilised for modest marginal gains with the established acts being the primary beneficiaries while keeping the status quo intact.
The three part documentary being composed of archival footage collected over more than ten years, starts off with West already a sought after hiphop producer working his way to break out as a rap star. At the start, West has already made a name for himself in the hip hop world just fresh off from producing several tracks including Izzo on Jay Z’s The Blueprint, the album that according to many resurrected the latter’s career in the early 2000s. If one was to read a Wikipedia entry for Ye’s career, they would see this period of as him achieving ‘the dream’. However, Jeen-Yuhs paints it as a ‘rut’ and rightfully so.
Pigeonholed as a producer, West is seen buddying it up with rap icons of the era at one point, (mainly instances where he’s producing beats), and going to door to door , label after label only to be shunned as a nobody by the very artist he collaborating with whenever he brings up the subject of his own rap ambitions. Taking in scenes wherein record label executives are scoffing at the idea of West rapping might seem bizzare today given both the fandom and critical acclaims his work has garnered.
When he is eventually signed as a rapper at Roc a Fella, it is in fact because the label feared that if West were to sign with someone else, they would have a hard time resourcing his beats. There is a scene where West takes offense to an A&R exec hyping him as the best hiphop producer. Anyone looking to crossover and being met with patronizing comments disguised as compliments could relate to the rage West feels in this scene.
That being said, the inherent design of the loose machine can only for so long put preserving the status quo over once in a generation talent; especially when the latter keeps pushing forward. The hustle for West isn’t that of ‘selling’ himself like a marketer would. It is about making people aware of the ‘truth’ only three people are aware of at the start of the film; himself, his mother Donda West and Coodie, the person behind the camera. The film itself is something Coodie started working on during his initial encounter with West when the artist was trying to make it big as a rapper while those around him doubted him. Coodie wanted to be a standup comedian, who was documenting different happenings in Chicago like a modern day vlogger would as an extension of his own personality. Through this he would stumble on the Chicago hip hop scene and by chance meet with West, and all of a sudden decide to dedicate much of his life following a ‘wanna be rapper’.
West and Coodie’s dynamic , given the amount of confidence both express in the former could’ve easily seem akin to the relationship between a cult leader and a disciple if one were to view that in real time. Either that or like Coodie, one would in turn become a follower or ‘convinced of the truth’. This indeed happens in the course of the film with other hip-hop giants of that era such as Pharrell Williams, being blown away as West would start playing tracks from his debut album, The College Dropout.
In some ways the film is also about Coodie and how he found his calling as a filmmaker just by following around West. Towards the end of the second part, West is seen making his acceptance speech at the Grammy’s after winning and gaining several nominations for his debut album. Through the start of the film, West is seen talking about rehearsing his Grammy speech, it almost seems as though he wrote a script of a feature film that happens to be a documentary, as cheesy as it may sound.
While Coodie in the film alludes to how he initially though the Grammy’s would bring the story to its arc, the turns West’s life took beyond the world of entertainment would take the series on another ride. The third part which is set to be released on March 2nd would take the audience through West journey up until his 2020 presidential run. While as of late he maybe in the tabloids for unflattering reasons, after watching the beginnings of West’s journey, or as the fans would say “the old Kanye”, one could to a certain extent reconcile his madness with his ‘Jeen-yuhs’. As he would say in the song the Two Worlds
You know how the game be
I can't let em change me
Cause on Judgment Day, you gon' blame me
Look God, it's the same me
(The author is a digital media student and musician based in the US)