Kanye West is offering an intimate glimpse into his life, amid growing psychological struggles, in a new documentary titled In Whose Name?.
The film, from 18-year-old filmmaker Nico Ballesteros, features exclusive, never-before-seen footage of West — now known as Ye — captured by Ballesteros across six years.
The documentary’s first trailer, released Wednesday, opens with the rapper declaring in a voiceover: “I’m off my meds for five months now.”
“Your personality was not like this a few years ago,” West’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, responds, audibly distressed.
“It’s a calling by the universe,” the “Flashing Lights” artist’s voice continues over a montage of him in an open flatland and riding in a car next to his and Kardashian’s eldest daughter, North. “Never tell me one day I’m gonna wake up with nothing,” he adds.
An additional sequence of clips follows, showing West hosting one of his infamous Sunday Service events, visiting a prison, holding up a homemade “Ye4President” poster, and telling a crowd at a 2020 rally that he “almost” had his daughter aborted.
“I would rather be dead than be on medication…” he vows. “Either they destroy me or I destroy it.. I’m almost like a masochist… I write whatever I want when I want! It’s words!”
The teaser concludes with West noting that “the best thing about being an artist and bipolar” is “anything you do and say is an art piece.”
West — who in recent years has suffered a public downfall over shocking antisemitic and racist social media rants — first spoke about his “mental condition” when promoting his 2018 album Ye. In the song “Yikes,” he described his bipolar disorder as a “superpower.”
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He has since insisted that the previous bipolar diagnosis was inaccurate and that his erratic behavior is due to autism.
In Whose Name? “reveals a side of Ye the world was never meant to see — raw, unfiltered, and suspended in the complexity of fame, faith, mental health, and power,” an official description reads.
“What began as a silent observation evolved into a profound journey of artistic and personal growth,” it adds. “Immersed in Ye’s world of extremes, [Ballesteros] bore witness to brilliance and breakdowns, triumphs and turmoil, but also observed the paranoia and intensity that increasingly shaped Ye’s world.”
In Whose Name? is set to release in select theaters September 19.
