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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy

One of Kanye West’s distinguishing traits as an artist is that he approaches music the way a professional athlete approaches his sport. That is, not for the sake of individual mastery, or as a demigod practicing his craft in the service of some lofty, abstract ideal, but for dominance. Music is a competition for Kanye, and, like Ali or Jordan, he has always striven to be the best. Though the light of Kanye’s egomania has lately fallen on much more than music—from fashion to Julia Fox to childrearing—his appetite for dominance remains undiminished, and if Jeen-yuhs successfully makes one point, it’s that supremacy has always been the artist’s raison d’être. In fact, the grainy video footage from his College Dropout years goes to show how little Kanye has changed in the 20-or-so years he’s been famous. Looking back at an artist’s career before it’s over can lack a degree of satisfaction, like studying the moves in a chess match before a victor has emerged. But in Kanye’s case, the absence of a fixed conclusion is a nonfactor because by his standards a victor has emerged. You can’t beat someone who will never quit. Like West or not—and you may do the former after watching this documentary—he will not go away. —Nathan King

A still from “Jeen-yuhs.” Photo courtesy of Netflix.