ET spoke with the creators of 'Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy' about their decisions regarding the Netflix documentary.
While Kanye "Ye" West's marriage and now split from Kim Kardashian has dominated much of the last decade of his life, the 41-year-old reality star and their family together do not feature predominantly in Kanye's new Netflix documentary trilogy, Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy.
ET's Lauren Zima spoke with the film's directors, Clarence "Coodie" Simmons and Chike Ozah about why the makeup mogul was mostly omitted from the footage surrounding the 44-year-old rapper's life.
"I say if you wanna know more about the Kardashians, you can watch them on whatever network that is, but I feel like this family through my lens, through my perspective of being with Kanye, of all of us helping to get him where he is through fam or through, you know, it was a village of people that got him there, and I wasn't around with Kim Kardashian and the family," Coodie, who has known Kanye for decades, explained to ET.
Coodie was friends with Kanye at a young age and began recording footage with the "Praise God" emcee back in 1998. The first two installments of the trilogy take place ahead of the release of Kanye's hit 2004 album, The College Dropout, while the third follows him in his later years. Coodie and Kanye lost touch for several years and reconnected more recently. In the time apart, the pals both became fathers, a life-changing experience for both men.
"I just know he loves those kids, that's all I can say. I don't be around him like that, his family, but when I were around, I just know he really, really loves his family and that showed," Coodie said of Kanye's four children, whom he shares with Kim. "You know, just what you see, he's going through right now. But yeah, fatherhood, that be changing everybody. It just lets you know that you have more to live for when you're living for your child."
Kanye recently demanded final approval over the documentary on Instagram in January, writing, "I’m going to say this kindly for the last time. I must get final edit and approval on this doc before it releases on Netflix. Open the edit room immediately so I can be in charge of my own image. Thank you in advance 😊."
The film's creators, however, don't intend on giving Yeezy the control he desires.
"I mean, our company is called Creative Control, so that tells you a lot and that right then and there," Chike tells ET. "But input's always welcome. We'll use that input and take the best from it as it aligns with the film and objective goal of the film we're trying to make. But as far as Creative Control, Coodie can speak more to his conversations he's had in person with Kanye about that."
Coodie admits that when Kanye posted about wanting the final approval, he was "disappointed," adding, "But yet understood that that's Kanye."
"I said to myself, 'Trust God. God led you up to this point.' You got to continue to trust God and that was it," Coodie says. "And I know God's gonna work it out because this film is very important for everybody who has a dream, for everybody after us, around just period."
Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy premieres on Netflix on Wednesday, Feb. 16.
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