The second official trailer for the upcoming Netflix documentary series about Kanye West, Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy, dropped on Monday (Jan. 10), and this time viewers got a peek into directors Coodie & Chike’s 20-year journey to tell the story of the superstar rapper and fashion mogul.
The footage kicks off in New York in 2002, with Ye (as the rapper is now known) having a friendly back-and-forth with longtime collaborator Rhymefest about whether it’s OK for West — then best known for his production work on Jay-Z’s 2001 The Blueprint album — to call himself a “genius.”
“But who are you to call yourself a genius,” Rhymefest asks Ye, who turns to the camera flashing a wide grin at a time before he’d even released his acclaimed solo debut album, 2004’s The College Dropout. The three-part doc, featuring never-before-seen and rare home videos of West captured by the team of Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah, will debut on Feb. 16 on the streamer. Iconic Events will release Act 1 of the series exclusively to theaters nationwide on Feb. 10.
Among the indelible images in the preview of the TIME Studios production are shots of West humming through a mouth full of gauze, presumably in the aftermath of the October 2002 car crash that left him with a shattered jaw, and eventually led to the composition of the autobiographical track “Through the Wire.”
“Everybody is born with a genius. When GOD blesses you with a vision and you move with belief in your purpose, you’ll be awakening to the fact that no matter what obstacles you face you will see that vision become reality! Trust GOD … Period,” Coodie said in a statement. Iconic Events Releasing CEO Steve Bunnell added, “For any fan or student of music today, this documentary is a must-see event and should be experienced in a movie theater with state-of-the-art sound systems. Through his work as a performer, producer, and entrepreneur, few artists or businessmen have had a greater impact on worldwide popular culture than Kanye West over the last twenty years.”
At one point, Pharrell Williams praises Ye’s studio genius, saying, “Very rarely do you encounter self-contained people … this man can do everything himself.”
The rest of the footage bounces between West triumphantly rocking the stage in front of thousands and revisiting his modest childhood Chicago home. Jeen-Yuhs will have its premiere at the virtual Sundance Film Festival later this month.
The previous first-look preview from September was a two-minute glimpse of West and Mos Def freestyling in the studio.
Check out the new trailer below.