What's going on guys, I'm Speedy Morman.
And on behalf of Netflix, this is a Jeen-Yuhs talk.
I'm joined by someone who certainly fits that bill.
He's an icon, a mogul, and maybe the best
Twitter philosopher in the history of the internet.
Biggs is in the building,
Biggs, what's up man, how are you?
What's going on, fam?
"Jeen-Yuhs", it is the three part documentary series
about Kanye West.
It kind of documents his entire life
from the beginning of the journey,
through the "Roc-A-Fella" era
and now into super stardom and his genius era.
And so let's just take it back to the beginning.
What can you tell me
about meeting Kanye West for the first time?
What do you remember about a young Ye from Chicago?
Hungry, talented, comedic.
You know, I had that accident
and almost died and everything, right?
So I used to be sitting up in the hospital bed
for the first seven days and I'll just be watching TV, man.
I just came to the like, just some revelation,
people like, "Yo, you almost died.
What came from this?"
And I just sit back
and just decided that I'm gonna be the best
the best dressed rapper in the game
because I was watching these kids get, like, crazy whack.
Now his thirst to get on was like unmatched.
You know, even for the people that we had
down with us, you know, we had a lot of talent with us
but not the hunger that he had.
Yeah.
Put it this way.
He would play a beat for Jay
and then start rapping to, you know, I mean, his own verses.
He was like, look, you gonna take this beat
with me, without me, or whatever it is.
And nobody else would do anything like that.
Or even have the balls to do something like that.
You know what I'm saying?
Closed mouths don't get fed.
You wouldn'ta said nothing,
you wouldn't been on that.
Just a long ass way from
fuckin' rapping in my mama's crib.
As a viewer of it, I'm watching the young genius
at this time, walk around the office, trying to
get people to listen, trying to get people to believe.
And as Coodie said in the voiceover,
First time I heard Kanye's music,
I thought it would win Grammy's.
But Roc-A-Fella just wouldn't take him seriously
as a rapper.
I did.
Did you?
Hell yeah.
The talent was something in the sound sonically.
He had brought something that we haven't heard at that time.
Even to the point that Dame didn't believe in it.
Mm.
You know, so Dame was like, 'look, let's just
make this first project a mix tape and put everybody on it.'
And I was like, this project is too special.
The talent is too special.
So I had to, I fought for that, you know
so he can have that solo album.
So it can be a full Kanye project.
What was it that made you take it serious?
I mean, with Ye,
You gonna definitely get the energy sometimes, you know
Kanye, he gonna play a song and he don't care if you
on the phone or what's happening.
Yeah. He gonna be right there rapping
in your face until you put that phone down in
One second.
Literally he would jump on a console,
jump on a table. You know what I'm saying?
And rap every lyric to whatever it is that was playing.
I mean, Kanye would play it as many times as you let him.
You know, he made sure that his presence was felt,
the song was felt, the production was felt.
And you left there knowing who Kanye was.
Okay, cut the camera, please.
Being in the Roc office at that time,
I imagine some surprising things happened.
Some weird things happened.
What comes to mind as a memory from that time?
I mean, look, you got, you know, some people in the
in the open office, they did bagging up weed.
You got, you know, some
A and R'S listening to music next door.
Then you got people on the side,
smoking weed in the back.
And, you know, I mean
there was nobody complaining, it was just all love.
And it was like a family atmosphere, you know
everybody from different neighborhoods,
streets or whatever.
But I guess, because we were all alike
and coming from that same community, we can relate.
You had a team of geniuses that kind of
helped breed this company that we now know as Roc-A-Fella.
So how important would you say it is to have
fellow geniuses or fellow future geniuses around you?
Very important.
You know, because everybody, it was iron sharp and iron
you know, like Jay said and feeling it, everyone
was each other's crutches.
Mm.
So nobody could fall off,
but we also applied that to everything, you know?
So we were all each other's strength, you know?
So it eliminated a lot of weaknesses that we had.
You know what I mean?
Because we came together as a unit.
For you, Biggs.
How is it that you are able to kind of see genius
in someone?
That's a good question.
And it's funny because a lot of people tell me that,
but I don't know if it's my superpower.
Maybe that's my genius,
Mm.
But I am able to see things
in people that they might not necessarily see in themselves.
Mm.
And you know, and I could see some talent.
That's gonna last a long time, obviously in building that
you know, in the company with the artist that we did.
Why do you have that capability?
What gives you that genius?
I didn't wanna lose, you know what I'm saying?
So when I see something
and I believe in it, I'm gonna go all, you know
I'm gonna go as hard as I can for it.
Hmm.
So I remember, when he got
into the accident, Dame was like, yo, we gotta
give him some money to buy MPC
so he could make some beats.
So I think me and Dame put up like $10,000 a piece,
not even outta Roc-A-Fella money,
our personal money, to give him a beat machine.
And then that's when we did Through The Wire.
So you believe so much that you dig
it into personal pocket.
A hundred percent. Yeah.
Is that a Testament to like what you're willing to
bet to win if you really believe in something
That's a Testament to it. Yeah
Really?
Yeah.
Is there a limit to that?
No, it's no limit if I believe
because I know I'm gonna get it back and that's how I look
at whatever it is I'm building, you know, if it's one
of those things that I can't take my mind off of
then I know it's something that I'm gonna be attached
to and I'm gonna give my all to.
So even like now starting over, you know
there's only two artists, right?
There's Mez and St. John. Right?
And these are the only two people that I gravitated
to it because the multihyphenate individuals
that has talent that I believe is gonna be
the next biggest brands going forward.
What does genius mean to you?
Its I'm sitting there listening
to something that's amazing.
And then he's talking about three projects ahead.
Yeah.
Names, singles and had everything laid out.
Yeah.
That's genius,
man. What you need to understand is when I do
this album, it's gonna be the realest shit you ever heard.
He's not just talking about it.
He's proving it at every single point.
So you're able to see the genius.
It's not like somebody just like, oh, this is what I am.
And you don't see any results after that.
You see the results from Kanye.
And I thought he was a genius early on.
Why she always lying though
telling me them diamonds,
when she know they rhinestones.
man, I get her mind going.
Yeah!
You know, like I said, the comedian comes out,
the lyricist comes out, and the song making ability comes
out.
Right.
And you didn't really have a lot
of people with that trifecta. At that time, I knew
that he was gonna be one of the
biggest artists of all time.
And not only that, as we got to know him
we knew it was gonna be the biggest brand of all time.
Hold on. The blame chain.
What are some of those things that you once heard
Kanye say that he has now brought into fruition?
I'm gonna be the best I'm gonna win Grammy's.
People are gonna recognize me.
They're gonna know my name.
You know, it's like the question is what didn't he say
That he brought into fruition?
Yeah.
That's my thing.
Willing to beat the negative perception that they try to
throw on a confident black man,
because they haven't seen
that before.
I'm gonna tell you how I feel about me.
I am the greatest.
And you should feel that way about yourself, too.
Kanye is so special.
It's not like he's, he's one
of the best artists of all time. In history of music.
You know what I'm saying?
So to think about what we did in a short amount of time,
relatively speaking, to how long music has been around
or even hip hop, you know, 1996, which is what? 26 years.
And Kanye came in probably seven years
after that, you know
to have that time and to win the accolades that he have.
Not only that in fashion, in film,
the way he sees things visually on every level,
it has to be perfection.
It's just crazy to see where we at right now,
the impact that they're having, you know,
not even only on music now it's on culture.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
So the Roc has moved culture into a place where it's
about building brands, authenticity and doing it
on the biggest levels period.
Mm.
and letting them go.
A lot of people don't want to do that.
Right.
They wanna hold onto that forever.
I was proud to be able to let him go
and for him to do his own thing with everybody else.
Yeah.
So it was about building artists to a point to say
this is how you can do it on your own.
And no one else was doing that.
We was given those gems.
The documentary is a finite amount of time.
You can't have everything in it.
I'm wondering just you through your eyes.
What's been
or what is your favorite memory
on this journey of Kanye.
Introducing him to Europe.
Because he didn't want to go, you know.
Kanye didn't wanna go to Europe?
He did not want to go to Europe.
Why not?
Like literally we had to go get him
and force him in the car to put him on the plane.
And I remember a few years ago,
Virgil, God bless. The year before we was actually
at a Louis Vuitton party before he got that gig.
And he was like, yo, thank you for bringing Ye
to Europe because that opened it up for all of us.
We had this party at the house
and I remember him and Mos Def going back and forth.
You know what I'm saying?
In a rap battle, kind of, you know what I mean?
M-hm.
They were just spiting, but you know how it is.
Yeah.
they both of them so competitive.
He fell in love with Europe and that actually opened
up everything for him, fashion wise.
Right.
Which actually built him more
of a brand and made the music,
you know, more expansive.
So that right there is one of my,
one of the great memories
because he fought tooth and nail, you know, against that.
Wow, appreciate you, man.
I've soaked up so much game that I'm definitely taken
with me for the rest of my life.
Thank you.
Not only for, you know, sitting with us, but
for your journey and for impacting this generation and
for helping create and cultivate one
of the greatest geniuses we've ever seen in Kanye West.
So
It's, it is a pleasure man, you know, thank God
Before, I was listening to the project too.
And I, you know, I forgot all about this shit, but.
What you think?
Even after I started, I got something
for the kids. Drug dealing and just,
you know what I'm saying?
Like the shit. Yeah. And you be like.
That shit is...
You know what I mean?
Four or five or six.
Do I like this?
I think so.
Is he, you know what I'm saying?
You uncomfortable.
Yeah. Evokes emotion, everything he does.
Yeah.
It was real.
Yeah. I'm just saying he does that better
than anybody.
You know what I mean?
I call him like the Dave Chappelle of rap.