jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy Act 3 (Awakening) review

Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy part 3 is called “Awakening,” and it follows Kanye West’s rise to mega fame and the death of his mother. The directors of the documentary, Coodie, and Chike, were brilliant in breaking the documentary up into parts.

Act 1: “Vision” covers the earliest days of Kanye West, Act 2: “Purpose” was focused on The College Dropout and the success that came after the album, and Act 3: “Awakening” explores the good and bad that comes with success.

Many people will have a problem with part 3. Coodie and Chike got kicked out of Kanye inner circle for six years before being reunited. The directors made sure to show a quick highlight of everything after Kanye lost his mother. The mood throughout “Awakening” is nothing like its predecessors because of Coodie and Chike not having access to Kanye that they once had.

jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy Act 3 review

“Awakening” opens with Kanye being the Kanye fans seemed to love because he was so confident in his craft. Coodie and Chike captured Kanye get into an argument with a frequent collaborator and fellow Chicago rapper Rhymefest for saying that Kanye isn’t a genius yet.

“Genius is developed through experience and hardship,” Rhymefest says, “and I thought you were a genius before I saw Jay-Z make up a rap in five minutes.” Of course, Jay Z had many years of experience over Kanye before releasing the College dropout.

One of the saddest moments of the documentary came when Donda West died in 2007, taking with her the counterbalance and humbleness that reminded Kanye where he came from before the fame. Critics widely acknowledge Donda’s death in the media as the only one that could control Kanye, and if you’ve paid close attention to Kanye as much as I have, it’s easy to see why some might feel that way. Donda West’s absence from Kanye West’s life set him on a different path.

Throughout the documentary, some of the best moments are when Kanye and Donda are on the screen together. In part 3, we see Kanye and Donda singing “Hey Mama” together in his kitchen. Donda West was Kanye’s biggest fan, and she made sure the world knew that her son would be someone special.

Coodie and Chike begin to lose touch with Kanye even before Donda passes away. What became fascinating to watch is the distance that grows between the camera and its subject as Kanye becomes a giant star and brings new people around. As the years tick by without being a part of Kanye’s life, Coodie captured his memorable moments, such as the birth of his daughter and some of the final moments with his father.

Kanye gave Coodie a chance at the tail end of his Sunday Service live performances to recording once again. By the time Kanye and Coodie were able to reconnect, we saw a Kanye who wanted to make a change in the world and wanted to make only music that God would be proud of him for doing.

Kanye and Coodie decided to assemble 20 years worth of footage into film as Covid-19 shut the country down. Kanye brought Coodie with him to the Dominican Republic in July 2020 to capture footage of Kanye recording and how he allowed his religion, art, and culture to now drive his creativity.

Towards the end of the documentary, it becomes clear that the Kanye that Coodie knew at the beginning of the film isn’t the Kanye at the end. Coodie paints a picture of his former friend growing into his success and using his influence to help people. As the documentary concludes, the audience is shown a series of images of Kanye West from hip-hop prodigy, global superstar, and his outburst during his failed presidential campaign.

Act 3 of jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy has a purpose, and the goal isn’t to explore Kanye’s life as profoundly as it does in the first two acts. It’s to show the world that the old Kanye is still there. It’s just that version of Kanye West gets lost because of the behavior he displays in the public’s eyes.

What did you think of jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy on Netflix?