Photo: Chike Ozah and Coodie Simmons at the premiere of "A Kid From Coney Island" in New York, by: John Nacion/STAR MAX/IPx 2020 3/5/20. Jeen-yuhs still courtesy of Netflix.
The Kanye West Netflix series has been getting rave reviews by audiences. Titled “jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy,” the series features more than 20 years of rare, exclusive and never-before-seen footage of Kanye – who legally changed his name to Ye in August 2021.
The three-part documentary chronicles West’s life and career dating back to the 1990s. Among its most heart-provoking moments is footage of West with his late mother, Dr. Donda West.
The series is rated 93 percent by audiences on Rotten Tomatoes and 86 percent by critics. Add to that its buzz on social media among excited fans who feel privileged to get a more in-depth look into the hip-hip superstar and billionaire artist/entrepreneur’s life and the filmmakers clearly have a winner.
Sources familiar with the project told Billboard that Netflix paid “upwards of $30 million” to acquire the footage of Kanye from TIME Studios and filmmakers Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah, Billboard reported on March 6, 2021.
The actual amount paid hasn’t been confirmed by the filmmakers or Netflix.
“Good documentary. Good ROI m their time. (20+yrs) Powerful story of their patience paying off. 3rd episode felt a bit crash landed and easily could have been a 5 or 6 part doc,” Twitter user @Eyeamog wrote.
Affectionately known as Coodie and Chike, the duo directed two of Ye’s first music videos – “Through The Wire” and “Jesus Walks” – Billboard reported.
The duo said they cut down more than 400 hours of film to create the Kanye West Netflix series, which spans four hours. Their company, Creative Control, collaborated with TIME Studios to make the series.
“When you think about all those hours of footage, it could be quite daunting and intimidating to figure out where do you start. It’s like a needle in a haystack with all those footage and the right tape and the right moment,” Chike told IndieWire. “Some of the stuff you couldn’t even write, and it couldn’t be written better. We always say God directs our video, God is in control of our life, and He put the perfect story in front of us.”
“It was a team process,” Coodie told Reel Chicago. “We have brilliant editors, Max Allman and Jason Harper and Byron Leon, who dug into these tapes. They were finding things that I forgot that I had. You have to think about all the things that you have not seen yet. So we had to be real strategic about the storytelling.”
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“Jeen-yuhs” is also a story about friendship that is told in three acts: Vision, Purpose and Awakening, Coodie and Chike said. It’s why in some of Kanye’s most vulnerable moments, Coodie said he decided not to film them.
“I didn’t go out there to film, I went out there because I was concerned for him and I wanted to be around him and give him some positive energy,” Coodie said of the time he recently spent in Wyoming with Kanye. ”A lot of the footage in San Francisco is from an iPhone. But I was there as a brother, not as a filmmaker.”
While Coodie and Chike lost touch with Kanye for several years after his astronomical rise to fame, they have since reconnected and said he will always be their brother.
In addition to giving audiences the chance to learn more about Kanye, the filmmakers said they want to inspire others with “jeen-yuhs”.
“If you put your mind toward your passions and have faith in God, you can achieve anything. It doesn’t come without hard work; it doesn’t come without adversities; it doesn’t come without strains in friendship. But if you keep pushing through for years, you will eventually succeed,” Chike said. “Kanye’s a billionaire, but when we first start this film, Kanye’s not a billionaire by any means. So even just seeing that growth. It’s definitely empowering.”
Photo: Chike Ozah and Coodie Simmons at the premiere of “A Kid From Coney Island” in New York, by: John Nacion/STAR MAX/IPx 2020 3/5/20. Jeen-yuhs still courtesy of Netflix.
