How did Ye get here? Five things we learn in the new Kanye West documentary

It’s been over a year since Netflix released Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy, the three-part documentary series about Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. Rather than being a holistic portrait of Ye’s life and times (and controversies), Jeen-Yuhs was focused on the come-up. It told the story of a freakishly talented Chicago kid who would forever leave his imprint on music, art, fashion and culture.

Where Jeen-Yuhs didn’t go is precisely where a new documentary, The Trouble With KanYe begins, picking up the story in 2016 following the cancellation of Ye’s Saint Pablo Tour after a series of onstage breakdowns. In the aftermath of the abandoned tour, Ye was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, coinciding with a religious awakening.

Rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, is the subject of a new documentary, The Trouble With KanYe West.Credit: Washington Post photo by Calla Kessler

Written and presented by award-winning journalist Mobeen Azhar, The Trouble With KanYe examines the period between 2016 and the present day, where Ye has become associated with the far-right.

From dining at Mar-a-Lago with Donald Trump and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, to praising Hitler on Alex Jones’s Infowars, the documentary explores how Ye ended up in this position and what might happen next.

Ye had a 10-point plan for President

We all know that Ye’s run for Presidency in 2020 was spectacularly unsuccessful and seemingly conducted on the fly – but it turns out he wasn’t totally making it up as he went.

Azhar meets with John Boyd, who ran Ye West’s 2020 Presidential campaign and helped devise a 10-point plan for America that concerned education, freedom of religion, foreign policy, and national defence.

Journalist Mobeen Azhar meets with John Boyd, who ran Ye West’s 2020 Presidential campaign and helped devise a 10-point plan for America.Credit: Binge

At a 2020 rally in South Carolina, Ye ended up ditching the plan and instead delivered a highly publicised rant against abortion which Boyd described as a “train wreck”.

And he wasn’t wrong; the campaign failed to get off the ground and was hallmarked by increasingly odd policies (never forget the YZY SHLTRS for the homeless). Ultimately, Ye collected 60,000 votes out of an estimated 160 million.

He asked a man who lives in his car to be his Presidential campaign manager

Not content with running in 2020, Ye has been working on a 2024 tilt at the White House, and this time he has a new campaign manager: a guy living in his car.

Azhar travels to the Cornerstone Christian Church in California where Ye is a regular parishioner alongside white nationalist Nick Fuentes. He interviews a man known only as Mark, who lives in his car outside the church.

Mark confirms that Ye asked him to run his 2024 campaign, telling Mobeen: “They all said I was the most religiously erudite in the room, and Kanye started looking to me for my opinion on every topic that came up. He called me the following Monday and the first thing he said to me was, ‘I want you to be my campaign manager to run for president’.”

Ye’s anti-semitism dates back to at least 2019

Ye made headlines worldwide in 2022 for a string of anti-semitic remarks, including a now infamous tweet declaring he intended to go “Defcon 3 on Jewish people”.

But according to a former Ye collaborator, the artist harboured these views dating back to at least 2019.

Tech entrepreneur Alex Klein, who created Ye’s Stem Player (a disc-shaped MP3 player that allows users to easily remix their music) for his Donda 2 album, claimed that he turned down a deal that would make the pair $10 million, triggering a backlash from Ye.

“Kanye was very angry, you know, he was saying ‘I feel like I wanna smack you’, and ‘You’re exactly like the other Jews’ – almost relishing and revelling in how offensive he could be, using these phrases hoping to hurt me,” Klein tells Mobeen.

“I asked him, and I said, ‘Do you really think Jews are working together to hold you back?’ “And he said, ’Yes, yes I do”.

Ye’s friend believes he has thrown himself “on the pyre of white supremacy”

Long-time Ye collaborator Malik Yusef, who’s written and produced dozens of the rapper’s tracks, is under no illusions about what the rapper has done over the past few years. “He has thrown himself on the pyre of white supremacy,” says Yusef.

Despite his disappointment, Yusef claims Ye is receptive to hearing what his old friends think of his views, but the impact is short-lived. “When I express that [disappointment] to him, he’s accepting of it, but that’s in our circle,” says Yusef. “When he leaves and get around them, people like Nick Fuentes, and then he’s back, all fired up with that bullshit.”

Grammy award-winning producer and frequent Ye collaborator, Malik Yusef, opens up about his tricky relationship with the rapper. Credit: Binge

Ye answers his own phone

One of the more remarkable moments comes at the end of the documentary when Mobeen manages to get a hold of Ye’s mobile number through a contact. Given his chequered history with social media, Ye seems like the type who shouldn’t own a phone (let alone answer it), but when Mobeen calls, Ye picks up. The pair discuss how Mobeen got the number before Ye hangs up.

The fact the documentary ends with Ye refusing to have a conversation feels pretty apt, given the actual trouble with KanYe is that he appears to be more interested in talking than listening.

Ultimately, The Trouble With KanYe goes out of its way to offer a balanced view of Ye’s situation, giving fair weight to the role his bipolar disorder has played.

But by the end credits, its hard not to be reminded of a line from the 2016 track I Love Kanye from the album Life of Pablo: “I miss the old Kanye, straight from the ’Go Kanye, chop up the soul Kanye, set on his goals Kanye.”

The Trouble with KanYe, available from 9 August on Binge.

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