Six years of Ye’s life are unpacked in In Whose Name?, a new documentary from director Nico Ballesteros hitting theaters Friday.
The film offers raw, often uncomfortable access to pivotal moments in Ye’s turbulent journey with fame, the music industry, and public perception. Mental health takes center stage throughout, a theme long tied to Ye’s work. At one point, he states he would “rather be dead than to be on medication,” referencing his reported bipolar diagnosis.
One especially tense scene shows Ye confronting Kris Jenner, mother of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, over speculation surrounding his health.
“No one from the family has taken any responsibility for my hospital visit,” Ye tells Kris. “But if you were to go online, that’s 50 percent of what people say, at least. Am I lying?”
Kris replies, “It doesn’t matter,” prompting Ye to shout back, “It do matter! It does matter! It does matter!”
Clarifying, Kris adds, “It matters to us and you. It doesn’t matter what the internet says. It matters what we think, Ye.”
As Ye begins to walk away, he turns back with a pointed question: “So what do you think, did you have an effect on my mental health?”
Out of frame, Kris’s voice cracks as she seemingly holds back tears: “Yes, yes, yes. I’m saying yes, and I love you. I love you. I don’t want you to be not perfect. I love you and I want my daughter to love you the way you want her to love you.”
In Whose Name? also spotlights two tense confrontations, including one involving Saturday Night Live’s Michael Che, who challenged Ye over his 2018 MAGA hat appearance on the show.
“We look up to you,” Che tells Ye backstage as Consequence looks on and later steps in. “We love you. What you got against us?”
Che pushes further, saying that “airing it out like that without letting us be able to reply” was “kind of foul.” At that point, a behind-the-scenes staffer, seemingly tied to the SNL team, interrupts to tell director Nico Ballesteros to stop filming.
Another heated moment shows Swizz Beatz confronting Ye about the wider harm caused by him rocking the MAGA hat. These instances stand out in the doc, as very few in Ye’s circle are shown challenging him directly.
Emotional exchanges with Kim Kardashian are also captured, with Kim pleading for Ye not to push away those closest to him and risk alienating himself from the music industry. Like with Kris Jenner, Ye responds with defiance, raising his voice.
The film closes with more recent footage, including Ye asking — and then answering with a “yes” — whether it was worth blowing up his deals with Adidas and Gap. By then, he was about two years removed from his infamous Alex Jones interview praising Hitler. While Ye later posted an apology on Instagram, he continued invoking Nazism as part of his shock-value playbook as recently as this February.
The documentary also features appearances from Pharrell, LeBron James, Lady Gaga, Elon Musk, Marilyn Manson, Chris Rock, Jay-Z, and others. Ballesteros pulled from more than 3,000 hours of footage to shape the film, which closes with Ye questioning how audiences might interpret its final cut.
Perhaps the strongest takeaway from In Whose Name? is that fame — especially at Ye’s level — emerges as a profoundly lonely and isolating experience.
