Kanye West: villain, jerk or voice of a generation?

When Kanye West’s mother died, so too did the parts of him that made him an international icon. The jury is still out whether Ye can stage a comeback, both politically and musically.

There is no denying Ye sowed some brilliance into the cultural soil since rising through the R&B ranks. He’s also a ‘jerk’.

When it comes to meltdowns, the music industry really produces some bangers doesn’t it? Britney Spears and the circus that surrounds the talented pop star continues, even after the powerful #FreeBritney movement. On the other end of the spectrum of spectacular climbs and falls from grace is the artist formerly known as Kanye West. He is now Ye, according to reports that he has legally changed his name to a syllable.

How do you go from a retainer-wearing art school drop out to musical genius to Kim Kardashian’s ex-husband to fashion icon to beloved figure of the alt-right and creeps of the dark web?

Well, dear reader, after spending more hours than I care to admit watching about the ups, downs, trails and trainwrecks ­involving (and caused by) Ye, there’s a few leads.

The first is the death of his darling mother Donda; the second is his attitude and drive shown during the early years of his career back in 2001. Arguably he should have channelled some of that energy into sport or an athletic pursuit to help his ailing mental health.

There is no denying Ye sowed some brilliance into the cultural soil since rising through the R&B ranks, producing for stars like Jay-Z and winning more than 21 Grammys for his albums and writing. His influence and ambition also saw him launch fashion lines and collaborations with brands such as Adidas. Those endeavours not only made him a billionaire, but also shaped global clothing and consumer trends and disrupted sneaker culture. He’s also a “jerk”.

“I’m not making the case that he’s a lovely guy if he takes his medication. He’s probably a jerk,” says poet Bassey Ikpi in a new documentary titled The Trouble With KanYe by award-winning journalist Mobeen Azhar. Ikpi became a mental health activist after she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She is one of the many people Azhar speaks to in order to gain an insight into how Ye got here – a noted anti-Semite and wannabe politician who reportedly lives with bipolar disorder.

The 90-minute doco follows Azhar as he heads to places such as Wyoming and Los Angeles to chart how Ye got to a place where he started his terrifying metamorphosis and began aligning himself with darlings of the alt-Right including Alex Jones and a bloke called Nick Fuentes.

The latter is the same one who dined with Ye at Mar-a-Lago with former president Donald Trump. The same guy, depending on who you ask, or what media and social media you consume, who has many controversial jobs, and is reportedly a key campaign officer for Ye 2024. I’d never heard of him until I saw the reports about the trio having tea in Florida. The doco points out that Ye has more that 31 million followers on X (formerly known as Twitter) and that whatever and whomever he deals with gets noticed.

The program also shows a clip where Fuentes lays out some of his tenets – “I believe organised Jewry is an extreme influence in the USA … I don’t support women’s rights, I don’t support LGBT rights, I believe in race and gender essentialism.”

The documentary is a compact look into how Ye became one of the most famous and creatively successful artists of his generation before slipping into condemnation and notoriety.

The Trouble With KanYe is the latest production about the master producer and follows last year’s Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy.

Look, watching this knowing what we now know, following more controversies, including more hate speech, a new relationship with an Australian woman and outfits that make Carl Williams look like Cary Grant, it’s still hard to not appreciate the guy’s incredible talent, drive and brain. His is an organ that clearly runs 24/7 – which makes his collaboration with Australian running brand 2XU a few years ago seem like one of the most rational business decisions he made – and possibly why he is now regularly spotted wearing tights without shorts.

Ye & Bianca in West Hollywood today pic.twitter.com/vHetCITNfu

— kanyewestaurant (@kanyewestau) May 14, 2023

This three-parter is immensely more watchable than the slick BBC-esque documentary, mainly because Ye actually participates and because it is the brain child of his long-time friends and personal photographers, Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah.

It includes archival footage of an era before smart phones, social media and when Ye was a struggling, yet immensely in-demand producer from Chicago just wanting to make it on his own. The program features home video footage that highlights the music star really is a once-in-a-generation creative talent. His rapping, his ear for sampling, his philosophy and determination to make music drastically departed from the R&B sounds of the time. Instead of the traditionally sexist troupes of rap music, he introduced thought-provoking subjects like racism and Christianity (his critically acclaimed post 9/11 hit Jesus Walks makes a cameo here; it originally was dissed and ignored by the biggest names in the game at the time like Scarface and Mos Def).

He’s self-assured, to be sure, even for a bloke with questionable dental hygiene who has retainers. But back on struggle street, as he was auditioning, pitching and persistently hustling to land his own record deal with Damon Dash and Jay-Z’s Def Jam label, Ye was charming, smart, articulate and funny.

Throughout the entire five hours of footage, the highlight is Donda West – the English-teacher and academic who raised Ye in Chicago and taught him to focus on his dreams of super stardom instead of a life of petty wheeling and dealing.

Mrs West, as fans of Ye already know, was a constant source of support and his sacred, wise counsel. “You can have your head in the clouds but your feet must always be on the ground,” she said. One quip that plays on loop is: “You need an angel to look over you.” It’s something she tells him after scolding him for buying a new piece of jewellery – a gold cherub necklace – instead of saving for a house deposit.

Her beaming pride in her son doesn’t preclude giving him another telling off about the difference between confidence and arrogance. It’s a scene that’s hard to watch without thinking that her untimely death in 2007 might have robbed her son of a few more lectures that wouldn’t have gone amiss.

The Trouble With KanYe is streaming now on Binge.

Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy is streaming now on Netflix.