Watch Kanye West’s ‘In Whose Name?’ Teaser Trailer

Key Takeaways:

• The documentary In Whose Name? captures Kanye West’s evolution through six years of intimate and public moments.
• Viewers get a behind-the-scenes look at pivotal events like Sunday Service and Ye’s presidential campaign.
• Director Nico Ballesteros uses iPhone footage to explore Ye’s mental health, fame, and creative process.

Ye’s billion-dollar documentary, In Whose Name?, finally has a release date. On Wednesday (Aug. 13), the film’s official trailer dropped with nearly six years of material condensed into just over a minute.

“I’m off my meds for five months now,” Ye says at the top of the clip, followed by what seems to be Kim Kardashian’s voice: “Your personality was not like this a few years ago!” Moments later, the Chicago rapper reflected on how his Sunday Service concept came to him while hospitalized.

“I’ve just been embarrassed or ashamed to cry, man,” he voiced over footage of himself in tears during Sunday Service at 2019’s Coachella. “When we’re at the prisons professing how Jesus can set you free, it’s true.” Unfortunately, things only go downhill from there, with the teaser capturing his turbulent presidential rally debut and him engulfed in flames during a DONDA listening party.

“I’d rather be dead than to be on medication,” Ye continued. “Either they destroy me, or I destroy it.” Watch the full trailer below.

In Whose Name? was helmed by director Nico Ballesteros, who spent six years shadowing Ye with nothing more than an iPhone. According to Deadline, he “would shoot thousands of hours of material” during that period. The end result, albeit messy at times, is expected to unpack the “overlapping influences of corporate exploitation, racial complexities and psychological struggles inherent in the American dream.”

“What began as a silent observation evolved into a profound journey of artistic and personal growth,” the synopsis reads. “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.”

For fans looking to relive Ye’s polarizing journey, In Whose Name? is set to hit roughly 1,000 theaters on Sept. 19.