The trailer for In Whose Name?, Kanye West’s upcoming documentary, has arrived — and it’s as confrontational and intimate as you’d expect.
Opening with the 48-year-old pacing around a circle of Yeezy sneakers — a scene that appears to be from his 2019 Forbes cover shoot — the rapper announces, “I’m off my meds for five months now.” What follows is a series of tense and emotional moments, including one where he shuts a door marked with Kim Kardashian’s name as she tells him through tears, “Your personality was not like this a few years ago.”
There’s also a shot of Kanye and his eldest daughter North, 11, riding in the back of a vehicle before he snaps, “Never tell me I’m gonna wake up one day and have nothing.” In another exchange, Kim says, “We can talk about that later, but—” only for Kanye to cut her off: “It ain’t no but!”
{{/usCountry}}There’s also a shot of Kanye and his eldest daughter North, 11, riding in the back of a vehicle before he snaps, “Never tell me I’m gonna wake up one day and have nothing.” In another exchange, Kim says, “We can talk about that later, but—” only for Kanye to cut her off: “It ain’t no but!”
{{/usCountry}}Directed by Nico Ballesteros, the documentary captures six years of Kanye’s life — from his 2020 presidential campaign, including the South Carolina rally where he claimed he and Kim almost aborted their daughter, to his public breakdowns, brand fallouts, and ongoing mental health battles. “I would rather be dead than be on medication… Either they destroy me or I destroy it. They’re killing our ability to think outside of the box,” he says in the teaser. The clip ends with Kanye declaring, “You know the best thing about being an artist and bipolar? Anything you do and say is an art piece.”
“This began as silent observation and evolved into a profound journey of artistic and personal growth,” reads the film’s synopsis. “(Ballesteros) bore witness to brilliance and breakdowns, triumphs and turmoil; but also observed the paranoia and intensity that increasingly shaped Ye’s world.”
“For a shy kid, the camera became both a shield and a window, a way to channel my introspection while still engaging with the world,” Nico says. “Ye has always had someone filming him too, a lens between him and the noise. Maybe that’s why we understood each other without saying much,” he added, as reported by Entertainment Weekly.
A statement about the project says the title “examines the evolving nature of idolatry, both in Ye’s cultivation of public idolatry and in his pursuit of various idols, from luxury brands and celebrity to faith and family.”