While we really haven’t heard much from him directly in a while, Kanye West seems to be having a great year, at least professionally. He was recently named the wealthiest Black man in American history with an alleged net worth of $6.6 billion and now it’s been reported that Netflix has acquired the rights to his documentary for $30 million. On the net worth thing, Forbes refuted it, and I’m wondering if they will backpedal on their own words like they did a year ago. Kanye and all the Kardashians’ net worth really lives rent free over there.
Anyway, the doc is being produced by Clarence Simmons and Chike Ozah, otherwise known as Coodie and Chike. The pair directed the videos for old school Kanye hits “Through the Wire” and “Jesus Walks.” Apparently, they have 21 years’ worth of footage of Kanye. While Kanye hasn’t voiced his approval to the documentary, the fact he allowed them to film for so long is said to be indicative of his agency and approval. So at least we know we don’t have a Britney Spears situation on our hands, where we can’t tell if she liked the doc or not.
According to Complex, “The directing duo has previously directed ESPN’s 2012 30-for-30 film, Benji, and Netflix’s 2019 documentary on Stephon Marbury, A Kid From Coney Island. Their company, Creative Control, will reportedly produce the Yeezy doc alongside TIME Studios.”
According to Billboard, “Simmons has been filming Ye since his early days in Chicago in the late ‘90s. His relationship with Kanye will reportedly drive the series, and the filmmakers will touch on Ye’s early rise, the death of his mother, Donda West, his fashion work, and his 2020 presidential run.”
I’m already feeling like this will be great. First of all, Kanye is a sound bite guy. He’s constantly speaking his mind, and has been blessing (or cursing, depending on who you ask or what year we are talking about) us with one liners his entire career. And from what I’ve seen of old Kanye clips, he was even more unfiltered before than he is now. Whether you agree with him or not, the fact is, Kanye always gives great interviews. He has a throwback radio interview with Wendy Williams that I can only describe as iconic. Just a few months ago, footage of him cursing out Chance the Rapper without context was leaked. While it seemed slightly dehumanizing to Chance, it was really funny. Plus, they are notoriously close so maybe it was no biggie.
Then there’s his interview for the first episode of the second season of David Letterman’s Netflix show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction which was amazing. Even his big 2018 interview with Charlemagne that I thought was overhyped was totally watchable. And I always love his interviews with Zane Lowe. Kanye is passionate about everything he does, and that includes talking about what he does, and his favourite subject… himself.