New Ye documentary 'In Whose Name' offers raw look at crumbling Kim Kardashian marriage

USA Today

5 hours ago

A new documentary is providing an intimate and unfiltered look into the life of the controversial Grammy-winning rapper Ye.
The teaser trailer, released Aug. 13, shows Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, wrestling with the decision to go off medication for his bipolar disorder. In a series of quickly stitched together scenes, the rapper is seen arguing with his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, delivering controversial remarks amid a failed campaign for president, and conceiving a church, which would later become his faith-based concert series "Sunday Service."
The film, titled "In Whose Name?," will hit theaters Sept. 19. It was shot over six years by Director Nico Ballesteros, who compiled 3,000 hours of never-before-seen footage, which he began capturing at 18 years old, when Ye invited the aspiring filmmaker into his inner circle.
'In Whose Name' documentary trailer: Watch
The film promises an unprecedented look at Ye's crumbling marriage to Kardashian, who can be heard at one point in the trailer saying through tears: "Your personality was not like this a few years ago." The pair divorced in 2021.
"This film presents a raw and often unsettling portrait, without commentary or conclusion, leaving viewers to interpret the events for themselves," Simran A. Singh, a producer on the film, said in a release alongside the trailer. "Nico was living alongside Ye, camera in hand, not fully knowing what he was capturing or where it would lead, and that's exactly what makes the footage so powerful."
Always an outspoken public figure, in recent years Ye has become more erratic and, at times, hateful, often spewing antisemitic theories online and claiming slavery was a choice. He has been hit with several lawsuits alleging antisemitism and sexual harassment in the workplace, and has been dropped from several major brand partnerships over his increasingly polarizing rhetoric.
The latest lawsuit, filed originally in October and amended in July by a former personal assistant, alleges Ye subjected her to sex trafficking, assault, battery and false imprisonment. A representative for Ye claimed at the time that the suit was an extortion attempt.
"They're killing our ability to think outside the box," Ye can be heard yelling in the teaser trailer, offering insight, perhaps, into the version of the rapper viewers will begin to see at the end of the film.
"I'd rather be dead than to be on medication," he says. "The best thing about being an artist and bipolar, anything you do and say is an art piece."